Salted Caramel Shortbread Cookies

Have you gotten on the Salted Caramel bandwagon yet? I sure hope so, because it's leaving without you.  I can't take credit for baking these cookies, my friend Annie did during our 4 hour baking marathon last weekend. I warned her that cutout cookies can be a bit of a pain, but she handled them with quite ease and the cookies seemed relatively easy to make. And they are really, really good. YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO MAKE ONE MORE CHRISTMAS COOKIE. Don't quit now.

Shortbread

• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups flour

Caramel Glaze

• 1 bag of unwrapped caramels
• 2 tablespoons milk

Chocolate Drizzle

• 1/2 bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Sea Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter and sugar together, then slowly add the flour. We added a touch of water here to help the dough come together. Place the dough in between two large pieces of parchment paper (easier if you divide the dough in half and roll out two batches), and roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Using a circular cookie cutter (or an enchilada sauce can if that's all you have), cut out circles and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, until just barely golden brown.

Once cooled, prepare the caramel. Microwave the caramels and milk in a bowl in 30 second increments, stirring until totally smooth and melted. Glaze the cookies. Melt the chocolate and butter in 30 second increments until smooth (don't burn!), then drizzle over the top. Sprinkle generously with sea salt. Word of advice: do not stack these cookies on top of one another on your cookie stand.  They may never come apart, and you may never be able to share them with anyone because that's precisely what you did. Layer them between pieces of wax paper.