Week 1 Part II

The success of Barb's Roman Apple Cake yesterday has left our house without baked goods. So, today I went ahead and made another item from the cookbook.

Caramel Chews ☆☆☆☆ [page 92 HFC]
These "cookies" go together quite easily but caramels and chow mien noodles aren't considered staples in my kitchen so I would have to plan to make them. I like that the oven does not have to be heated up to make the cookies, and if a person uses a cookie scoop to actually shape them, they are really a snap to make. I opted to microwave the caramels to melt them, and it is possible the caramel mixture would have been smoother if I had melted the mixture on the stovetop. I used a quart size plastic Ziploc® bag to apply the chocolate topping (which I also melted in the microwave).

I admit to trying the cookies before they were properly chilled and then again later. They are better cold since the caramel is quite sticky at room temperature. After one bite it was apparent that this recipe should be in the miscellaneous section with other candy items.  They are particularly sweet, but that might be in part because I had a hard time determining 1.5 ounces of noodles as I had purchased a 14 oz bag of noodles vs the 3 ounce can.  Certainly, the sweetness could be diminished by adding more noodles and/or peanuts. I used store brand caramels, and I regret that. Kraft caramels are not only easier to unwrap, but they have better flavor.

Overall, I liked the chocolate topping but the caramel/noodle/peanut mixture is just so-so. The cookies have good texture but I was disappointed in the actual caramel flavor. This could be attributed to my decision to use store brand caramels. I have pondered chilling the caramel/noodle/peanut part and then dipping them in chocolate to totally cover them, but I don't really like the work of dipping stuff to get the final product. I have consumed four of these little cookies so they are certainly tasty and so I give them four stars.

Tom concurs on the four stars. He states "...I would eat them every time you made them, but they are not something you must make again."