My Riff on a Crumbl Copycat of Twix Caramel Cookies

Crumbl Copycat Twix Caramel Cookies (Riff'd) - made January 22, 2022 from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

Good quality caramel or make your own by melting 7 ounces caramels with 1/4 cup heavy cream

Chocolate topping

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1 cup feuilletine or Rice Krispies

1. Make the cookie base: In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla; mix to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add in two additions to butter mixture, mixing after each addition until just combined.
3. Portion dough into 8 even-sized portions and pat into a thick disc. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass but keep thick. Cover and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space chilled dough discs. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly golden and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Cool 10-15 minutes.
5. Warm caramel slightly so it's pourable but still thick and not runny. Place a generous spoonful over each cooled cookie.
6. Make Nutella crunch topping: In the top half of a double boiler over hot water, melt generous 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips and scant 1/2 cup of Nutella. Stir until completely melted and combined. Add feuilletine or Rice Krispies, stirring to coat completely. Top a generous spoonful over caramel and smooth into an even layer.

You're probably going to start seeing a lot of Crumbl copycat recipes in the foreseeable future. I'll explain why in a later post. For now, let's go with this one for the Crumbl Twix cookie.

I've never had the real thing at Crumbl as they weren't on offer the few times I've been passing the closest one to me over the mountain pass of the Sierra Nevadas on my way to and from the Bay Area. Even I won't drive almost a hundred miles "just" for a cookie. Don't think I hadn't thought about it but my sweet tooth lost that common sense war.

However, I did have this jar of caramel that I needed to use before it expired and it seemed like the perfect time to try a copycat recipe of that Twix cookie: shortbread cookie base, caramel layer and chocolate topping.

I say in the directions to let the cookies cool completely before adding the caramel. You can see I advise that based on my own (impatient) mistakes. I wanted to try the cookie somewhat warm so I rushed that whole caramel spreading process. Oops. You definitely want to click on the blog post to go to the original recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie so you can see how neatly it's supposed to be done. Mine look a little more, er, homemade.

Where I did my own riff of this was in the chocolate topping. Rather than plain chocolate or a simple ganache, I melted chocolate chips and nutella (equal parts) then added feuilletine flakes for crunch.

They were amazing. If you don't have feuilletine flakes, Rice Krispies will do. They will just look a little more chunky but will add the crunch just fine.

When the cookies cool, the toppings do firm up, as the chocolate sets. For maximum enjoyment, I recommend warming up for 10-15 seconds in the microwave to let the chocolate topping soften. 

I also liked the shortbread base of this cookie, firm but not hard. Chewy with good butter flavor (use fresh butter and real vanilla extract, please). I can't swear how authentic it is but like I always say with all of the Crumbl copycat recipes I've tried so far, they're good cookies in their own right.