Gochujang Caramel Cookies
If you're a long time subscriber to NYT cooking, you saw these come through about 2 or 3 years ago- they kinda blew up after that. It seems like everywhere I went for the next year people were making these cookies or some version of them. It's for good reason- these are really, really good cookies. And if you made the Gochujang dressing last week for your farmers market farro bowls, then you probably have some left over. In any case, this is a good one for the Paprika library.
If you're gonna make these, take a sec and watch Eric's how-to video:
Recipe
Gochujang Caramel Cookies
Total Time: 45 min | Servings: About 8 large cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons)/115 grams unsalted butter, very soft
2 packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon gochujang
1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups/185 grams all-purpose flour
Directions:
In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon butter, the brown sugar and gochujang until smooth. Set aside for later, at room temperature.
In a large bowl, by hand, whisk together the remaining 7 tablespoons butter, the granulated sugar, egg, salt, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Switch to a flexible spatula and stir in the baking soda. Add the flour and gently stir to combine. Place this large bowl in the refrigerator until the dough is less sticky but still soft and pliable, 15 to 20 minutes.
While the dough is chilling, heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. In 3 to 4 separately spaced out blobs, spoon the gochujang mixture over the cookie dough. Moving in long circular strokes, swirl the gochujang mixture into the cookie dough so you have streaks of orange-red rippled throughout the beige. Be sure not to overmix at this stage, as you want wide, distinct strips of gochujang.
Use an ice cream scoop to plop out ΒΌ-cup rounds spaced at least 3 inches apart on the sheet pans. (You should get 4 to 5 cookies per pan.) Bake until lightly golden at the edges and dry and set in the center, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Let cool completely on the sheet pan; the cookies will flatten slightly and continue cooking as they cool. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.