Old Bay Caramel Cookies
Cookie of the Month Club #3
Welcome to the third installment of Cookie of the Month Club, where I’ll be concocting an inventive new cookie recipe every month. (And as always, you all will be the first to know about them.) To keep it fresh I’m going to organize the series into themed seasons. The season for the next few months: “United States of Cookies,” where I’m making cookies inspired by different U.S. states. We’ve already done Ohio and Massachusetts. Follow along to see if I develop one inspired by yours!
As part of my ideating for this series, I keep a big long list of all the U.S. states. Next to each one I write what I know they’re known for, or what the commenters tell me they think they’re known for, and for Maryland, two food items kept coming up. The first: Berger cookies, the cake-y vanilla cookie topped with a mountain of chocolate frosting, almost reminiscent of a black and white cookie. The second: Old Bay, duh.
Old Bay on toasted pita chips and crab dip? Yes, absolutely. But Old Bay… in my cookies? Let’s just say that had I never done this series, this never would have happened. But Berger cookies are already cookies, and I like to make things hard for myself…
I knew it was going to be hard to steer the overpowering, somewhat herby, and super savory flavor of this spice blend in a direction that would make sense with sweets. I’ve seen it done with cheddar (check out my peanut butter cheddar cookies) gochujang (should out to Eric Kim’s recipe) but this seemed like a stretch. The exact formulation is secret, but Old Bay is a combination of celery salt, paprika, red pepper, black pepper and other herbs and spices. So how do you fight something really savory? Balance it out with something really, really sweet.
I tried three variations of the swirl before landing on one. The first was a combination of butter, sugar and Old Bay (taking inspiration from Eric Kim’s recipe). That held its shape well, but it was still way too salty and bold, and the color was an unappealing salmon hue. I tried a combination of the seasoning, honey and butter, which had a more balanced flavor and more vibrant color, but didn’t hold its shape well. Then I started seeing listings for Old Bay caramel corn in my research (this cookie was almost a caramel corn cookie) which inspired the caramel swirl.
The smokiness of the caramel plays nice with the savory Old Bay, the amber caramel color helps the color of the seasoning shine through, and the sweetness factor is high enough to bridge the gap between a seafood boil and a sugar cookie. And a little lemon zest and (optional) extract in the cookie dough gives it a subtle brightness to lift up all those other heavy flavors. And I will still say: They’re still not for everyone! If you don’t like Old Bay, you won’t like these cookies!
Listen, these cookies are not the prettiest girl at the prom. Because caramel expands in the oven, there will be caramel blowouts, and though I have tried to mitigate that as much as possible, it’s just become part of the charm of this recipe. (Tip: Using a cookie scoop will help them stay as round as possible.) You can tidy up any misshapen cookies by either slicing off the lacy caramel skirt with a knife or by pushing it back into the cookie with a rubber spatula. You can also run the rubber spatula along any misshapen edges to make them more circular. Perform both of these cosmetic tricks while the cookies are fresh from the oven.
Lastly, the recipe makes about double the amount caramel you need for the cookies. Don’t be tempted to add more to the dough — the cookie will disintegrate. I compromised here to avoid bizarre measurements and the pain of cooking a very small amount of caramel. But it means you can slice and wrap little bite-size pieces of the caramel once set, so there’s that!
More from United States of Cookies
More Fun Cookies
Makes 14 to 16 large cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (293 grams)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus two tablespoons granulated sugar (240 grams)
Zest of 2 lemons
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, gently melted (170 grams)
1 large egg
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoons lemon extract (optional)
Old Bay caramel
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (123 grams)
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons corn syrup (30 grams)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (75 grams)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes (43 grams)
1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon for table salt)
5 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
Directions
Make the caramel. Have all ingredients measured out and ready to go. Prep an eighth-sheet tray or a 9x5-inch loaf pan by greasing it with butter and lining with greased parchment paper.
Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, undisturbed, until the sugar is dissolved, the caramel reaches a deep amber color.
Immediately add the cream and butter, stirring vigorously with a whisk or rubber spatula until smooth. Stir in the Old Bay seasoning.
Return the saucepan to the stove and cook over medium heat until the caramel reaches 250°F. Immediately pour into the prepared vessel and set aside to cool slightly — but don’t let it sit around to completely firm up.
Right away, start on the cookies. Stir together the lemon zest and sugar and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Gently melt the butter in the microwave just until liquid there are a few pads of unmelted butter, about 30 seconds. Do not allow to bubble. Whisk in the lemon-zest sugar until combined.
Whisk in the egg, vanilla and lemon extract.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and continue mixing until the last streaks of flour disappear.
Spread the dough along the bottom and up the sides of the bowl. Dot the surface of the dough with tablespoon-dollops of half of the caramel, and swirl them into dough to create ribbons of caramel. You don’t need to swirl that much here: Over-swirling will mean you will lose the variation of color and flavor. Reserve the remaining caramel to cut into candies and wrap with wax paper or parchment.
Measure out about 2.5 tablespoons of dough for each cookie (a 1.5-ounce, #24 cookie scoop really helps here) to form about 14 to 16 balls. Chill the dough balls, uncovered, in the refrigerator, until very firm, about 2 hours.
When the cookies are almost done chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half-sheet trays with parchment paper or silicone mats and place 5 or 6 dough balls on one.
Bake one tray on the middle rack for about 14 to 15 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. At this point caramel will likely be seeping out of the cookies and some might look misshapen— that’s okay. The cookies are done when they are crisp and golden on the edges, and their centers should be just set.
Clean up the cookies by either slicing off the lacy caramel skirt with a knife or by pushing it back into the cookie with a rubber spatula. You can also run the rubber spatula along any misshapen edges to make them more circular.
Allow the cookies to cool on their trays for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to complete cooling.
Repeat in two more batches with the remaining dough balls on a cool, lined tray, or store them, covered, in the fridge or freezer to bake later.
Hey if those miso gochujang ones can go viral these also can! I’m excited to try them!
Eric this is nuts but I trust you