How cute are these salted caramel heart center snickerdoodles – just adorable right? Each little cookie boasts a heart shaped brown butter caramel filling. Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving would be perfect for making these sweet vanilla bites but then again, they’re ideal for pretty much any occasion! These salted caramel and cinnamon cookies will become a family favourite and always get rave reviews. I know you will love this caramel snickerdoole recipe.
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If you’re looking for a caramel snickerdoodle recipe, this is one of the best. These easy salted caramel and cinnamon cookies are so good – one is never enough!
Ingredients for Salted Caramel Heart Center Snickerdoodles
The cookies are made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt. These are all pretty much standard ingredients for cookies. However you might be wondering about the cream of tartar, both what it is and what it does in this caramel snickerdodle recipe.
Cream of tartar is a by-product of winemaking. This multipurpose ingredient helps baked goods to rise, acts as a stabilizer in beaten egg whites and stops sugar crystallizing. It’s acidic, unlike baking soda which is alkaline. This recipe includes both. The cream of tartar gives snickerdoodles their unique tangy taste which makes them taste different to plain sugar cookies.
The sugar coating is made with sugar and cinnamon and you have the option of adding some pumpkin pie spice too if you want. For the caramel you’ll need sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk, along with salt.
How to Make These Heart Shaped Cookies
The first thing to do when making salted caramel heart center snickerdoodles is to beat the butter and sugar. Next you can add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Mix in the flour and you should get a dough. Next up in this Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving cookie recipe, you can make the sugar coating. All you have to do for that is combine the listed ingredients.
Shape the dough into balls then roll them in the sugar coating. Arrange them on parchment paper-lined baking trays. Press them down and add some more of the sugar mixture on top. Now you can bake them. When they’re done cut a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut the middle out of each one.
To make the brown butter caramel, bring the brown sugar, butter, sweetened condensed milk, and corn syrup to a boil and then stir in the vanilla. Pour the brown butter caramel into the heart shaped cut-outs. Be quick else it might set before you’re finished! Sprinkle over a little salt and your salted caramel heart center snickerdoodles are done.
How to Store this Caramel Snickerdoodle Recipe
These salted caramel and cinnamon cookies should be fine for up to 5 days in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Keep them at room temperature. You can also freeze them for up to six months if you’re making a batch ahead for Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving! Either thaw them on the countertop or enjoy them straight from the freezer.
Snickerdoodle Cookie FAQs
Are you curious about how these salted caramel and cinnamon cookies got their name? Well, it’s believed the name might have come from ‘Schneckennudel’ which means ‘snail noodle’ in German. This German yeast dough roll is more like a cinnamon bun though, so ‘snickerdoodle’ is likely just a nonsense, fun word! And by the way, these treats have been around since the 1800s.
The brown butter caramel is one of the best parts of these salted caramel heart center snickerdoodles. Although caramel isn’t hard to make, it’s important to get the temperature right when making it. Don’t let the heat go over 245 degrees F else it will get tough. Also bring it to a minimum of 242 degrees F to ensure it will be firm enough to set. You will need a good candy thermometer to ensure your temperatures are correct.
Don’t waste them. You can make mini cookies with these cutouts, either to serve as they are or to top with caramel. These mini heart cookies are nice for decorating an ice cream sundae or you could give them as gifts.
Salted Caramel Heart Center Snickerdoodles Recipe
Salted Caramel Heart Center Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
- 1 Cup unsalted butter
- 1 Cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel
- 1 Cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup unsalted butter
- 7 Oz sweetened condensed milk
- 4 Oz corn syrup
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- flake salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 cookie trays by lining them with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a mixer, add the butter and sugar.Using the paddle attachment blend together until combined, then while the mixer is still running add in one egg at a time.
- Add the vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar, mix well.
- Mix in the flour, and mix until everything is combined and a dough has formed.
- In a small bowl mix together the ingredients for the sugar coating.
- Scoop a large scoop of dough into the palm of your hand. Roll the dough to create a ball that is roughly 2” in size.
- Roll the ball of dough into the sugar coating then place onto the prepared cookie tray.
- Continue this process until all of the dough has been used. Place no more than 4 to 6 cookies on each tray, keeping plenty of space between each cookie.
- Gently press each ball down with flat fingers so they are about ½ the height as they were. Sprinkle a little extra of the sugarcoating onto the flattened cookies.
- Bake in a preheated oven for approx 15 minutes. If you are baking 2 trays and the same time, be sure to rotate the trays halfway through.
- Once the cookies have finished baking, remove from the oven. While the cookies are still warm, but not too hot to burn you, use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut the center of the cookies out. Then let the cookies cool completely.
- When the cookies have cooled, place all of the cookies close together on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper. Have a second empty cookie tray lined with parchment paper set aside as well.
- Put all of the caramel ingredients, except for the vanilla, into a medium sized pot (you want enough space in the pot for the caramel to bubble up comfortably)
- Heat the caramel over medium low heat, stirring frequently. Staying on medium low heat bring the caramel to a boil, once boiling only stir occasionally. Once the caramel has reached 242 degrees F, it remove from heat and immediately stir in the vanilla.
- Working quickly, but carefully, fill each heart space with the caramel. If you have left over caramel, pour onto the second cookie tray that you lined with parchment paper. (see notes below for a fun idea for the leftover caramel)
- Let the caramel in the cookies cool for a few minutes then sprinkle the tops with flake salt.
- Let the cookies cool completely before serving.
Nutrition
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
You will love these salted caramel heart center snickerdoodles. They’re great for Valentine’s Day or Thanksgiving. This caramel snickerdoodle recipe is easy to make and the finished cookies are just so cute!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a storyteller, food lover, dog mom and adventure seeker living on the Pacific coast. She shares her passion for food, dogs, fitness, adventures, travel and philanthropy, in hopes of encouraging followers to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places and stand for a cause. Bella lives with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
so cute with the heart center. i have not seen ones like this before.