Caramel Fudge Swirls

... and in between eating spoonfuls of caramel syrup by itself over the last few weeks, I also managed to bake with it.  (I know.  I am a pillar of restraint and virtue.  I managed to find a way to add more butter, sugar, and chocolate to the syrup before eating it.)

And these were amazing.  Caramely, fudgey, self-decorating, and just generally awesome.  Easy as pie (well, easier -- pie is sometimes a pain to make!), and completely delicious.  If you have a Christmas party coming up, definitely bring a batch of these along.

Caramel Fudge Swirls

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup caramel syrup

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or less, as needed)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, the baking soda and salt, add them to the creamed mixture. Divide the dough in half and place each half into a separate bowl.

For half the dough, mix in the cocoa powder until the dough is unformly colored. For the other half, add the caramel syrup and enough extra flour that the dough is not extremely sticky -- about 1/4 to 1/3 cup. Roll each half of the dough into a half-sheet pan-sized rectangle (about 16" by 12") and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Place the cocoa-flavored sheet of dough on top of the caramel one, and roll them together into one log. Refrigerate the log for an hour. After 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

When the cookies are ready to be baked, cut the dough into 1/4-inch slices. Place each cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with silipat. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 30-35 cookies.