Still baking cookies for Christmas? You just found the perfect recipe…cinnamon caramel, coconut, almonds, marshmallows, and over a pound of butter in one giant sheet of bar cookies.
Definitely not healthy, but definitely rich and delicious. And easy to make!
I made up this recipe years ago. I don’t even remember how I came up with it. But I’ve been making it every year since that first time I put it together.
This year I’m not doing my usual assortment of about a dozen different kinds of cookies. I’m scaling back. Way back. (That’s what happens when you have two kids. No time for cookies.) I decided to make only one kind of cookie this year.
That’s right. Just one.
And this recipe was the chosen one. That’s how good it is.
So here it is, folks. The one and only cookie recipe coming out of my oven this holiday season. From my kitchen to yours…
Bottom Layer:
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Top Layer:
1 and 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup coconut
First prepare the bottom crust layer of the Caramel Heavenlies. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together all of the bottom layer ingredients. This is much easier if your butter is softened, so make sure it is!
Everything will come together, forming a spreadable dough. Dump it onto a jelly roll pan and the press the dough into the pan. Try your best to spread it out evenly in the pan.
Bake the bottom layer for 20 to 25 minutes, until it’s golden.
Once the crust is out of the oven and cooling down, prepare the topping.
Heat the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon on the stove top.
Cook it over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and it comes to a boil, stirring frequently.
Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Then immediately pour over the bottom layer crust. It should look like a lake of caramel and smell like heaven (hence the name Caramel Heavenlies).
Sprinkle the marshmallows over the caramel.
Then toss on the coconut.
Followed by a generous scatter of almonds.
Then pop the pan bake in the oven for another 12-14 minutes. Keep an eye on it while it’s baking – you don’t want to burn the caramel. When the marshmallows and coconut are just starting to brown and the caramel is bubbling, it’s ready. Take it out of the oven and cool in the pan.
I feel like I need to explain once again why these bar cookies are so phenomenal. So to recap:
- They taste really, really good.
- They are easy to make.
- I made up this recipe all by myself!
And another reason that I haven’t mentioned yet:
They get better with age. Don’t you just hate those cookies that taste amazing straight out of the oven but turn into sawdust an hour later? No need to worry about that with these cookies. They taste great an hour after baking or four days after baking. Which means you can make these ahead of time if you’re one of those smart and fortunate people who plans ahead (i.e. the opposite of me).
Since these cookies are so rich and you probaby don’t want to send someone to the hospital, I recommend cutting them into small squares, no larger than 2 inches by 2 inches.
A little bite of heaven.
I think I just heard a choir of angels while eating one of these. Better eat another one.
Happy holidays and happy baking!
