Chocolate Caramel Chews—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I’m not sure if these should be called candy or a no-bake cookie, but they are good and are my choice for this week’s 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  They were super simple to make and really would be something perfect to add to your holiday goodies.  The original recipe are just called Caramel Chews and as written, don’t have chocolate, but while I was rolling them into balls, I couldn’t help but think they should be dipped in chocolate, so they are Chocolate Caramel Chews.  I actually made some of them “plain” (no chocolate) and I covered some of them completely in chocolate and just drizzled some with chocolate as well.

I have a two sided sheet of paper with a bunch of no-bake cookie recipes on it, it looks older, like it was from years ago (70’s/80’s?) and says “Dorothy Dean’s No-Bake Cookies”, recipes from Dorothy Dean’s Taste Testing Kitchen, from The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington).  I have no idea where I got this sheet of paper.  I looked online for information about Dorothy Dean and found an obituary (just from this past April) for someone who was dubbed “Dorothy Dean” as she was the head of the Homemaker’s Services for the Spokesman-Review.  The thing that sort of baffles me about this paper full of recipes is that I really have no idea where it came from and even why it just showed up here.  Did my mother give it to me years ago?  Hmmm.  Whatever the case, it’s got a number of fun recipes on it and I do like that it is a good no-bake go-to page.  Some of the recipes are Chinese Ting-a-lings, Skillet Date Cookies, No-bake Brownies, Porcupine Cookies and the Caramel Chews were among them and some others as well.

Here’s the recipe and my only adaption was just adding the chocolate to some of them

Chocolate Caramel Chews

36 caramels, unwrapped

3 tablespoons cream

1 cup crushed corn flakes

1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

4 ounces chocolate, melted (I used almond bark, but any chocolate would be good)

Melt the caramels and cream in the top of a double boiler, stirring frequently until smooth.  Put the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.  Pour the caramel over the mixture and stir well until everything is coated in the caramel.  Shape into 1 inch balls and set on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Melt the chocolate in 20 second intervals in the microwave in a glass dish, stirring in between each time.   Dip the chews one at a time in the chocolate and spoon it over to completely cover them.  Set on a lined baking sheet until chocolate is hardened.   Put a small amount of the melted chocolate in a plastic zip top bag and snip off a little corner and drizzle chocolate over some of the chews.  Optional—set each in a mini muffin paper liner to serve them.  Makes about 3 dozen.

I love the combination of flavors in these and the texture with the crunch from the corn flakes, Rice Krispies and nuts and the chewiness from the caramel and coconut.  If you don’t like coconut, you could leave it out and just add an extra cup of Rice Krispies.  I think it would even be good to just use all Rice Krispies.  These make a great 1-2-3 bite treat!

Try them with your upcoming holiday goodies!  This is Week 6 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!