Phenomenal Phoods

Halloween Shortbread Cookies Sandwiched with Quick Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

For the shortbread cookies

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup rice flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger

For the caramel sauce

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil*
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup cookie butter*

Instructions:

For the shortbread cookies

1. Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla just until combined, and the butter is smoothly incorporated. Do not over mix.
2. Add the flours, salt and spices and mix just until combined. The mixture will look crumbly. At this point, I like to just use my hands to form a dough to prevent overworking the dough with the mixer.
3. Separate the dough into 3 discs, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes to an hour before rolling out.
4. When ready, preheat oven to 300 degrees F and line a few baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface (a pastry mat works wonders for this) and cut out shapes. Cut faces into half of the cookies, if you like (see notes for tips). Place on baking sheets about an inch apart.
6. Place cookie sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking. This will prevent them from spreading out and losing shape when baking.
7. Bake at 300 degrees F. for 20 minutes until golden brown. If you made your cookies super thin when rolling, start checking them at 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before sandwiching.

For the caramel sauce

1. Use a fork to mix all ingredients until smooth (no lumps should remain).
2. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the caramel sauce onto each of the bottom cookies (no faces cut into them).
3. Top with the face cookies to make sandwiches. Let the caramel set before stacking to store in an airtight container.