It's still January, and until now you probably successfully stuck to your new year's resolutions, congrats if you did! But all good things come to an end, and it's time to pause your new diet for a day and indulge with these incredibly rich chocolate and caramel cookie sandwiches. Don't worry though, I have healthier recipes coming to make up for this one!
This recipe is inspired by my Soft chocolate chip snickerdoodles, but taken to another level.
Tender vanilla cookies filled with a soft chocolate ganache and a gooey layer of date caramel. I honestly don't think you can make heavier cookies, but they are so good it doesn't even matter.
It starts with the cookie dough, that is gluten-free and sweetened with coconut sugar, it's what gives the cookies their golden brown color. The addition of applesauce and almond flour in the dough makes these cookies extra soft and tender with a cake-like texture.
While your cookies are baking you make the chocolate filling and the caramel, the chocolate filling requires only two ingredients: dark chocolate and almond milk. It's made exactly like a ganache, almond milk is heated in a saucepan and poured over the chopped chocolate to melt it.
The caramel flavor comes from medjool dates (natural candy in my opinion). When I reach for a candy or energy bar, I like to swap it out for a big and gooey medjool date, best snack ever and 100% natural!
So, the caramel is simply medjool dates that are processed until smooth and creamy. If you don't have moist medjool dates on hand, you can use other dates and soak them in warm water for about 1 hour. Next comes the fun part, sandwiching the cookies! Spread one layer of chocolate ganache on a cookie, top with date caramel and sandwich with another cookie. That's it.
Am I going to far if I suggest you dip the cookie sandwiches in more chocolate? Probably, but well...I did it, and it was amazing. You get a thin and crispy chocolate shell with that soft, chocolatey, moist, [put other awesome adjectives here] inside.
If you are a chocolate lover I'm sure you will love these cookie sandwiches, especially if you dip them in more chocolate! Kids will devour these in no time!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe and don't hesitate to tag @fullofplants on Instagram if you take a photo!
Caramel Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Soft and tender vanilla sandwich cookies filled with a rich chocolate ganache and a gooey date caramel. Dip them in dark chocolate if you dare!
- Yield: 12 large sandwich cookies 1x
Ingredients
Chocolate ganache filling
- 5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup almond milk
Cookies
- 1 cup rice flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot
- 2 tbsp almond flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp applesauce
Caramel
- 1 cup medjool dates (about 12 dates), pitted
- 1 tbsp water (optional, I didn't use it)
Chocolate shell (optional)
- 10 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
Chocolate ganache filling
- Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl, set aside.
- In a sauce pan, heat the almond milk over medium heat. Just before it starts boiling, remove from heat and pour it into the dark chocolate bowl. Let sit about 3 minutes to let the chocolate melt. Whisk well to combine the melted chocolate with the milk.
- Let it cool at room temperature while you prepare the cookies and the date caramel. After about 30-40 minutes it will have thicken and have the consistency of a paste. If it's still too soft, place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Caramel
- Place the pitted medjool dates in the bowl of a food processor and process until you get a smooth paste. Add the water only if needed, if your medjool dates are very moist you won't need it. You want a thick and smooth consistency. Set aside.
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, arrowroot, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder and coconut sugar.
- Melt the coconut oil over low heat until just melted. Combine the coconut oil with the almond milk, applesauce and vanilla extract.
- Slowly pour in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined using a wooden spoon. The dough will be soft but you don't need to chill it.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Transfer the dough to a piping bag and pipe 1.5-2-inch rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, 3-4 inches apart since the cookies will spread. You will probably need to cook them in 2-3 batches.
- Bake 9 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Let cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet.
- Spread about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate ganache onto the flat side of a cookie. Spread a tablespoon of date caramel on top of the chocolate ganache and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
Chocolate shell (optional)
- Melt the dark chocolate with the coconut oil over a double boiler over medium heat.
- Gently dip each cookie sandwich in the melted chocolate. You can use a fork or a dipping tool to make things easier. Make sure to tap your fork on the side of the bowl to let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Transfer the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let cool at least 1 hour.
- Store the cookies at room temperature in a airtight container for up to 3 days, or 5 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
If dipping the cookies, make sure to use a chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter (70% dark chocolate for example), it will result in a thinner coating.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 (without chocolate coating)
- Calories: 238
- Sugar: 24.5g
- Fat: 9g
- Carbohydrates: 38.5g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Protein: 2.4g
Good thing I'm not doing the Whole30, because these cookies would definetly cause me to cheat! You can never go wrong with chocolate + caramel +cookies 😉
Haha 😉 Totally agree!
These look so good!!!
Thanks Bethany!
OMG those cookies look good! Gonna make them this weekend!
I will let you know how they turn out.
Hi,
I can't find arrowoot here. Can I sub it for something else? Potatostarch for example?
Hi Inge,
I think cornstarch, tapioca starch or even potato starch would work!
found the arrowroot, so made them today. They are easy to make and they taste delicious!
My chocolate ganache wasn't as thick as yours, but still okay. I dipped some of them in chocolate, but that is a bit to much. So next cookies are gonna be dipped only half in chocolate and I will halve the size... this american cookie size is way to big. I like to eat more cookies instead of having enough after eating one.
thanx for the recipe!
★★★★
I also like to make smaller cookies! Concerning the chocolate dipping, you need to make sure you are using a high percentage cocoa butter chocolate so the coating is thinner.