Gingerbread Salted Caramel Sandwiches

Salted Caramel Ingredients:
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
6 Tablespoons (90g) salted butter, room temperature cut up into pieces
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

**Caution** Making Caramel can be dangerous, I highly recommend that you have all of your ingredients and tools easily accessible before you begin. The sugar mixture reaches a really high temperature and could cause serious burns if you are not careful.  Do not start this process and walk away at any time. 

Directions for Caramel:
In a heavy lined saucepan, place the sugar and turn the heat on medium. Allow the sugar to cook without touching until it begins to turn brown and melt in the pan, using the handle of the pot, gently whirl the sugar around the pan as it melts. Careful not to burn the sugar. If you do burn it, let it cool down and throw it out and start again. Once the sugar has melted, carefully add the butter. Adding the room temperature butter to the very hot sugar will cause it to bubble up, don’t panic just allow it to calm down a bit then carefully using a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon stir the butter into the sugar. Cook the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium without stirring, then carefully add the vanilla extract and heavy cream (again because these two ingredients are a lot cooler than the caramel, it will bubble). Stir the mixture until it’s mixed together and allow it to boil for another minute without stirring. Remove from heat and allow it to cool slightly before transferring to a container. I prefer to use a glass mason jar to store my salted caramel.

Gingerbread Cookies
Recipe adapted from Gimme Some Oven
https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/chewy-ginger-molasses-cookies/

Cookies Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (224g) granulated sugar
1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (175g) 125ml molasses
2 large eggs room temperature
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups (639 grams) all-purpose flour
4 tsp. (26g)  baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground ginger (yes a full tablespoon, trust me!)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt

Directions for Cookies:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream together the softened butter for about 2-3 minuets until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugars and continue to mix another 3-4 minutes until the mixture light and fluffy. It should also be slightly pale yellow.  Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla followed by the molasses. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes before incorporating the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture in two or three batches, just barely mixing in each addition. You do not want to over mix this dough. 

Transfer the dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until the dough is completely chilled. You can make this dough a day or two ahead of time, but I find its best used the same day. You can also freeze the dough. 

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out balls of dough and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, be sure to leave space between each cookie because they will spread as they bake. I try to bake 6-8 max cookies per sheet pan. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, depends on the size of the cookie. You want them to just start to crack on the tops and brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before moving on to the next step. You could do this a day ahead, and just store baked cooled cookies in an airtight container until you are ready to fill them. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream:
2 sticks unsalted butter room temp
4 cups (485g) powdered sugar
3 tbsp. homemade salted caramel
Pinch of salt

Directions for Buttercream:
In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, add the vanilla extract and salt and cream together. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar until it is mixed in. Add the salted caramel and mix until combined. You can add more salt if you feel that the buttercream is too sweet.

Assembly:

First step is matching up the cookies. They may not be perfect, but try to find pairs of similar size and shape cookies. Drizzle and Spread about a tablespoon of caramel on one cookie, and pipe or spread the buttercream on the other. Then gently sandwich the two cookies together.  Repeat until all the cookies are put together. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container for 3 days on the counter. You can also store in the refrigerator for 5 days in an air tight container. If you do store in the refrigerator be sure to take them out and allow them to come to room temp before serving or enjoying. 

A little more about the recipe…

I wish I could take credit for creating this wonderful combination, but sadly I cannot. While at Disney World we took a day to explore Epcot. If you have not had the chance to go, I would highly recommend it. My favorite part about Epcot is the food! You can literally sample foods from all over the world. I had seen that a lot of bloggers were talking about this delicious cookie sandwich found at the Karamell_Kuche at the Germany Pavilion so I knew I had to try it. I waited in line for about 20 minutes and of course ordered a few items. We had just had lunch so I wasn’t hungry at all, but they package the cookie sandwich in a plastic container that I just slipped into my backpack. Later that night when we were back at our hotel room and I was craving a little something sweet, I pulled out the cookie sandwich. I took one bite and was blown away at how delicious it was. The gingerbread cookie was perfectly spiced, the filling was creamy and sweet but not too sweet, and then the gooey layer of salted caramel just took it over the top. My husband doesn’t care for things that are too sweet, but even he was shocked at how delicious this treat was. 

I knew right then that I needed to recreate the cookie when I got home. So I took a few more bites and took mental notes and started brainstorming the recipe. I did some research online and could not find a recipe for this cookie ANYWHERE! I saw a post on Reddit where someone was asking if anyone had the recipe, but nobody shared it. So then I began researching chewy, soft, gingerbread cookie recipe and I stumbled across Give Me Some Oven’s recipe and knew it was a winner. I already knew how to make salted caramel and buttercream, so once I found the perfect cookie recipe, I was ready to tackle this challenge. 

As I went through the steps to make and assemble this cookie, I was getting so excited and eager to try the final product. Not to toot my own horn, but it only took one attempt to duplicate what I had at Epcot! I took the first bite and I think I actually did a little jig out of pure excitement that I had done it! I had recreated the recipe exactly! I packed up the cookies and took them to work the next day to test them out on my co-workers. Their reaction confirmed how amazing this cookie and recipe is! Everyone loved them. I continued to share them with friends and family, and everyone had the same reaction! So now I am happy to be able to share it with you. I do hope that you give this recipe a try, it might seem a bit intimidating, but it’s really not difficult. I highly recommend you read through each step a few times before you begin. I also recommend that you measure out all of your ingredients and be very organized when baking. Honestly, anyone can bake if you plan and organize yourself and follow the recipe! 

Be sure to watch the full tutorial on how to make these cookies by clicking the video below… 

If you want to see how popular these cookies are, check out the google images of people posting their cookies from the Karamell-Kuche.