Christina Lane’s grandparents had the ultimate candy jar. Though it was usually tucked away in the pantry, when Lane visited the jar would always be displayed prominently on the counter, packed to the brim with every sweet under the sun. Her favorite post-lunch activity was plucking two perfectly wrapped Werther’s Original caramels from it and smuggling one to her grandfather when her grandmother’s back was turned.
In summer, visits to her grandparents’ house involved wandering in their garden, looking at squirrels, and waiting for her moment with that beloved candy jar. And come fall, Lane’s grandmother would transform the Werther’s treats into caramel-dipped apples and sweet caramel drizzle for her persimmon strudel: “My grandparents are Czech, so we made a lot of strudel,” she says. “They had a persimmon tree in their backyard, and they would pick them and lay them on the porch windowsill to ripen.” Now that she’s a mom of two, Lane loves to incorporate those juicy autumn fruit flavors and rich, sweet Werther’s caramels into her own family’s baking, which transports her back to her grandparents’ Texas backyard and the baking memories they shared.
The blogger behind Dessert for Two, Lane has written four cookbooks all about small-batch baking. “It’s not as simple as just cutting a recipe in half,” she says. “There is so much food science behind it. I like to do the work so that you don’t have to.” She’s the expert—and that’s why she’s sharing her small-batch recipe for Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Puddle Cookies, which yields just 12 (but—trust us—they’re so rich, you’ll only need one to feel satisfied).
This recipe is special, Lane says: “I created it in 2015, after my first cookbook was released. I appeared on a national morning show to celebrate the launch, and after the taping I walked over to a bakery and ordered a giant chocolate chip cookie with huge puddles of caramel.” Nothing could have tasted better than that warm, melty caramel-coated chocolate chip cookie on that cool fall morning in the wake of a long-awaited life milestone. “It was the perfect cookie, in the perfect moment.”
She used that moment as inspiration for these cookies, amping hers up by stuffing them with ooey-gooey Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels and topping them with flaky sea salt. “They have just the right amount of chewiness,” says Lane. “They melt in the oven, but when they cool off, the caramels are still soft and chewy. They don’t get hard like some caramels can.” To create the signature puddle, she saves two extra pieces of caramel per cookie and places them on top after baking.
“Sugar is so amazing,” she continues. “You can melt it into a clear liquid, or you take it a little further and it’s chewy, like a Werther’s Original Chewy Caramel. Take it even further than that, and it’s a sucker.” But it’s no simple task to take sugar from form to form—at least, not without a little help. That’s where Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels come in: They’ve got the right amount of chewiness right out of the bag, so you don’t have to wrestle with a candy thermometer to get the perfect cookie topper. Lane loves their flavor, too. “They’re sweet, but they’re not too sweet.”
“It was the perfect cookie, in the perfect moment.”
Fueled by those treasured memories of baking with her grandparents, Lane welcomes time in the kitchen with her kids. (And she still keeps her grandparents’ candy jar well stocked, placed low enough for her kids to reach easily.) “My son is almost 4, and my daughter is 8. Cooking with them is a little bit like being a referee,” she jokes. “They stand right next to each other, because they don’t want to miss anything—and there had better be at least two eggs in a recipe, because if she cracks an egg, he has to crack an egg.” Despite the occasional chaos, Lane cherishes these moments, because she knows that one day, her kids will remember her grandparents’ candy jar as fondly as she does.
