SALTED CARAMEL COOKIES MARTHA STEWART RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour and salt together. Coarsely chop 1 cup cashews; set aside. Process remaining 1 1/2 cups cashews in a food processor until finely chopped. Pour in oil. Process until mixture is creamy, about 2 minutes.
• Put cashew mixture, butter, and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour mixture. Mix in reserved chopped cashews.
• Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls; space 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 6 minutes; gently flatten with a spatula. Bake until bottoms are just golden, 6 to 7 minutes more. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
• Melt caramels with cream in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring. Let cool. Using a spoon, drizzle caramel over cookies; let set. Store airtight in single layers.

Steps:

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, kosher salt, cinnamon, and allspice. In another bowl, combine milk and vanilla. 
• In a large bowl, beat butter with granulated and brown sugar on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with milk mixture. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until just combined, about 10 seconds. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch round tip (such as Ateco #808).
• Pipe 2 1/2-inch-diameter mounds onto 3 parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 3 inches apart (no more than 8 per sheet). Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies spring back when lightly pressed, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Caramel: In a small high-sided saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons water, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook, without stirring, and washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming, until caramel is a deep amber, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Carefully whisk in cream (it will spatter), then butter, until combined. Let cool completely, about 45 minutes.
• Buttercream: Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium; add sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating after each addition, until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
• Beat caramel into buttercream on medium speed, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, until smooth, about 3 minutes. Makes 2 cups.
• Put buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with the 5/8-inch round tip. Pipe 2 tablespoons onto flat sides of half of cookies, then sandwich with remaining cookies. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, stir together rock salt and sanding sugar. Roll edges of sandwiches in sugar-salt mixture. (Whoopie pies can be refrigerated in airtight containers up to 3 days.)