Gooey caramel thumbprint cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup/ 120g pastry/ all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons corn flour/ corn starch
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup/113g margarine or butter
• 3 tablespoons caster/ fine sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon almond essence/ extract
• caramel sauce for filling
• 50 g chocolate
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter

Instructions

1. 1

   Whisk together pastry or all purpose flour, corn flour and salt together, set aside.

2. 2

   Using a stand mixer, hand held mixer or wooden ladle and a mixing bowl, beat margarine or butter and fine sugar together until combined and creamy. Mix in almond essence, turning the speed to low, add the flour, mixing to form a smooth dough.

3. 3

   Chill in the fridge for thirty minutes to forty-five minutes for the margarine or butter to set.

4. 4

   Preheat an oven to 180˚C/ 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with baking or parchment paper.

5. 5

   Take about a tablespoon of dough and shape one inch ball. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing them apart. Make a deep indentation in center of each ball enough to fill a generous amount of caramel .

6. 6

   Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes till barely golden around the edges. The cookies will be very soft and hole made might have come up, press it down while still hot from the oven.

7. 7

   Scoop about half teaspoon of the caramel and put in each indentation whiles cookies are cooling on the baking pan.

8. 8

   Melt chocolate with butter or margarine. Pour melted chocolate into a piping bag. Secure the open end of the piping bag and tiny cut the closed end. Randomly drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies in a zig-zag fashion.

9. 9

   Place in the fridge to set. Caramel thumbprint cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to seven days.