Working in healthcare is for a special type of person. Sometimes I question if I am that person. It’s a high stress environment with frequent burn out and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t often find myself daydreaming of ways to get out of healthcare. My ideas are always silly, niche small business ideas that shockingly all relate to food in one way or another. I’d also be deceitful if I didn’t mention that I love my job most days. It’s exhausting, emotionally draining, fully consuming but it’s also challenging, rewarding, and never boring.
Anyway what does this have to do with Vegan Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies? Well as you can imagine, morale can get pretty low in a hospital especially over the last 2.5 years. So one thing managers and supervisors love to do to increase morale is give us raises! Ha! I wish. No, they typically shovel treats at us in hopes we’ll cope with a little sugar rush. Is it effective? Honestly a little bit. One of my supervisors at work started to keep a nicely stocked candy jar a few months ago and the fact I get to eat a mini Twix or Snickers whenever I feel like can help on a bad day. And in healthcare, no one is going to judge you for a 10:00am chocolate break.
It’s an especially good day at work if I can snag a Twix, the best candy in the standard candy realm (we’re ruling out any of the fancy schmancy stuff). And Twix are what inspired these Vegan Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies. I adapted parts of these cookies from a couple fellow bloggers. I used the same ingredients from Nora Cook’s Vegan Shortbread Cookies recipe and adapted the ratios for my desired texture. I’ve seen a lot of variations of vegan caramel on the internet but Minimalist Baker’s Date Caramel caught my eye. I chose this method for this recipe because it creates a thicker caramel which was necessary to stand up to being sandwiched between two cookies. She has a great video on her site if you want help with the process. The chocolate is simply melted with a touch of coconut oil and then sprinkled with flaky sea salt.
To assemble, take the shortbread cookies, spread with date caramel, drizzle with chocolate, and sprinkle with flaky sea slat. You can keep these at room temp but fair warning if you live in Texas, your chocolate drizzle may melt quickly because of the low melting temperature of coconut oil. Even if it wasn’t summer, these cookies are really delicious straight out of the refrigerator so that’s typically where I store them. Either way, they’re a sweet treat that can be a bright spot in even the darkest days.
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Vegan Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Vegan Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies are inspired by Twix with buttery shortbread cookies, date caramel, chocolate drizzle, and flaky sea salt.
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookies:
- 1/2 cup softened non-dairy butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
“Caramel”:
- 10 dates, pits removed and soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
- Non dairy milk or water
- Salt
Chocolate:
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate (I used Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer, combine all the cookie ingredients and mix until just combined. Mixture will be crumbly but when squeezed together it should stick together. If it doesn’t, add a teaspoon of water.
- Sprinkle a flat surface with flour. Using a rolling pan, roll dough out into a ¼ thick round. Using a small cookie cutter (or shot glass in my case!), cut out small circles and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. These cookies won’t spread much so they only need to be ½ inch apart.
- Bake for 12 minutes until edges are just beginning to darken slightly.
- Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. These cookies are small so they will cool quickly while you prepare the caramel and chocolate.
Caramel:
- After the dates have soaked, roughly chop or tear (they should be that soft!) and place in the food processor with a pinch of salt.
- Start the food processor on high and while it’s running, begin drizzling in non-dairy milk or water very slowly. The “caramel” should begin to come together. When a thick paste has formed, let the food processor continue on high for 2 minutes to achieve smooth texture.
Chocolate Drizzle:
- Combine chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat at 50% power for 30 second increments, stirring in between, until completely melted.
Assembly:
- When cookies are cool and caramel and chocolate are ready, assemble cookie sandwiches by spreading a layer of caramel on one cookie and topping with another cookie. After you have all your cookie sandwiches assembled, drizzle with dark chocolate and immediately sprinkle with sea salt.
Notes
Store in a cool, dry place or in the fridge!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: Dessert
Keywords: vegan caramel sandwich cookies, vegan caramel, vegan desserts
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