Toffee & Caramel Mallow Cookies
Here’s one of my tricks to making a show-stopping holiday cookie: start with a classic cookie, and give it a few tweaks. In this case, I gave the classic mallow cookie a toffee-and-caramel spin.
Toffee and Caramel Mallow Cookies
To start things off, I tweaked the shortbread cookie by adding some brown sugar and toffee chips to make a toffee variation. From there, I gave the marshmallow filling a gooey caramel center, and then finished it all with a chocolate dip like the traditional mallow.
I’ll admit these cookies take awhile to make, but trust me when I say you won’t be sorry. They are wonderfully delicious and present beautifully.
These are one of my favorite cookies to gift, so from my kitchen to yours—happy baking and happy holidays.
Mallow Aftermath
Toffee & Caramel Mallow Cookies
Ingredients:
Shortbread
- 1/3 cup of confectioner sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1/4 cup shortening, butter-flavored
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/3 cup toffee chips
Marshmallow Filling
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 whole vanilla bean, split open and seeded
Caramel Filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoon butter
- ¼ c heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Glaze
- 2 lbs. chocolate
- 2 tablespoon shortening
Directions:
To make shortbread
- Place butter, cream cheese, shortening and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour and beat until combined. Fold in toffee chips. Place dough in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
- Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out the dough to a 1/8 of an inch in thickness. Using a two-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies. Place stamped-out cookies on parchment-lined bakesheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
To make marshmallow filling
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar; bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form, and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla seeds and continue whipping until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag.
To make caramel filling
- Place sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Dissolve any crystals forming on the side with a wet pastry brush. Once sugar has dissolved, increase heat to high.
- At this point, do not stir the mixture directly. Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute or so. After 3-4 minutes the mixture will turn from light amber to medium amber. Add the butter and heavy cream and stir to combine. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Set aside to cool completely.
To make chocolate glaze
Place chocolate and shortening in a bowl over simmering water. Gently stir until melted and combined.
To assemble
- Fill pastry bag with marshmallow filling and pipe a small ring around perimeter of cookie. Spoon caramel unto the center. Return to marshmallow filled pastry bag and pipe a large dollop of marshmallow filling on top of caramel, making sure to completely cover the caramel surface.
- Chill cookie for 20 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and dip in chocolate glaze. Or, place cookies on a cooling rack with a large microwave-safe bowl underneath and pour chocolate over the cookies. Reheat chocolate as needed to finish pouring over all cookies.
Marshmallow Filling (via Tartlette for Daring Bakers) Chocolate Glaze (via Tartlette for Daring Bakers)
For more recipes in the 12 Days of Cookies series, follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #BlogHerCookies.
This post is part of the BlogHer 12 Days of Cookies editorial series. Our advertisers do not produce or review editorial content. This post is made possible by Bank of America and BlogHer.
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I would love to smoosh some of those beautiful domed marshmallow tops right into my mouth! Gorgeous, as usual! :)
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I have never experimented with this type of cookie before but you’re certainly inspiring me to try making these. They look so pretty!
Happy holidays!
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These look so glamorous, that chocolate twirly glaze is to die for. I might just forget the pies and serve these for Christmas dessert!
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I so love the aftermath pics!
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Yum, these look amazing! So impressive. :) And, I love caramel with marshmallows. Terrific!
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I love everything about this … the look, the flavours … everything! :)
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What a beautiful cookie, they’re almost to beautiful to eat! :) These are a treat for sure and would make lovely gifts any time of the year. Happy Holidays to you and your family!
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Awesome! How much toffee chips did you add to the dough? Thanks.
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I love shortbread – add caramel, marshmallow, and chocolate and I’m in heaven!
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These look wonderful — but I don’t see toffee chips in the ingredients, even though you say to add them to the shortbread dough…. How much should we add?
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Ahhh so cute!
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wow – that seriously is a show stopper! happy holidays, Naomi!
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Oh. My. Gosh! Gorgeous!
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Hi! I bet I will love these because they remain me of the high hat cupks and I really love them, so I will be making them soon but would love to know how long will they last, just want to know for gift giving purposes??
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Most beautiful cookies but I’m sure I would not be able to resist eating them all!
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These cookies are just incredible, Naomi. Happy holidays!
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How much toffee chips?
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Naomi replied: — December 24th, 2012 @ 3:37 am
Keri, Janna, Laurie- Ijust added it to the recipe. It’s 1/3 cup of toffee. Thanks for asking! Happy baking, ladies!
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I kid you not, I have these cookies (with the exception of the toffee and caramel, which are totally awesome BTW) sketched up and was planning on making and blogging them in January. I just about died when I saw them pop on my screen… in a good way!! Your are much more beautiful than mine would have been and I just love your recipe. Great job girl!
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Naomi replied: — December 26th, 2012 @ 9:32 pm
Amanda-No doubt your’s will awesome. You aren’t capable of turning out crap food. :)
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These look just phenomenal. When I’ve come out of my sugar coma from all the Christmas cookies these are going to be made!
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I can’t imagine these would last long at any party! They look scrumptious.
The chocolate dip reminds me of the DQ cones.
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I used to eat the store bought version of these cookies years ago. This is such a great update. I bet they are so much better than the ones of my youth.
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These are brilliant. And gorgeous. You rule, lady.
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Naomi replied: — January 6th, 2013 @ 8:51 am
Ashlae-Thank you!
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They look delicious. I could not resist them …
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I do not know if it’s just me or if everybody else experiencing problems with your site. It appears as if some of the written text in your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a issue with my internet browser because I’ve had this happen previously.
Thank you
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