Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

How to Make Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Ingredients for Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies:

• High-quality white chocolate – More on this below.
• All-purpose flour – Measured correctly to avoid cakey, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
• Baking soda and baking powder – Check out my Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder article for more on how these leaveners differ, and how to test for freshness.
• Salt – I prefer the flavor of fine sea salt, but regular table salt is fine.
• Butter – I always recommend unsalted butter in baking. Your butter must be at a cool room temperature. If it’s too warm, your cookies will spread and flatten. Your butter should give slightly when pressed with your finger, but still hold its shape – about 67°F is perfect.
• Sugars – A combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar is added for moisture, flavor, and texture. Brown sugar adds to the caramelized flavor and texture, giving these cookies a chewy butterscotch taste. Using all granulated sugar would result in cookies that are too sweet. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here!
• Egg – One egg, at room temperature. Be sure to use a large egg, about 56 grams in shell.
• Vanilla extract – For flavor.
• Raspberry extract – Don’t skip, this adds a delightful depth of flavor to these cookies.
• Freeze-dried raspberries – Adds tartness and a slight crunchy texture. More on this below.

What is Caramelized White Chocolate?

If you have never tried caramelized white chocolate, you’re in for a treat! It takes the lesser-used chocolate in baking (white chocolate) and transforms it into something magical that even white chocolate haters will love. It adds a beautiful amber color and a deliciously toasty element, almost butterscotch in flavor and considerably less sweet than regular white chocolate.

Caramelized white chocolate can easily be added to other cookies, cakes, ice cream, or buttercream. You won’t be able to stop eating it!

How to Caramelize White Chocolate

Caramelized white chocolate is one of the easiest recipes you can make in your kitchen. It requires just one ingredient (white chocolate), two tools (heat-proof bowl and spatula), and 10 minutes of your time. I promise it’s worth the extra time!

Below are instructions for how to caramelize the white chocolate, but I highly recommend you also check out Cupcake Jemma’s great video tutorial here.

1. Prepare your pan – Line a half-sheet pan with either parchment paper, wax paper, or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. Melt the white chocolate – In a microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate until melted, about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Adjust times based on the power of your microwave. If your microwave is higher wattage than 1000W, use 70% power. Stir until smooth.
3. Continue to heat, stirring frequently – Place back in microwave at 15 to 20 second intervals, stirring between each interval until smooth again. Use a hot pad when handling the bowl as it will become increasingly hot the longer it’s microwaved. Don’t panic as the chocolate will become thick and may look dry. It may even feel like it’s starting to seize up or even look like it’s about to burn, but keep stirring – it will eventually smooth out. Continue heating and stirring until the chocolate reaches an amber color, about 10 minutes. Time will vary based on the power of your microwave. Use the sensory indicators and not timing to confirm. You’re looking for an amber color (almost like melted peanut butter), a lightly toasted smell, and you should be able to smooth the chocolate completely.
4. Spread onto prepared pan – Using a spatula, spread chocolate onto prepared baking sheet as evenly as possible, to ¼-inch thickness. Place in the fridge to cool completely and solidify, about 20 minutes. Chop the chocolate into bite-sized pieces, measuring out 150 grams. Reserve remaining chocolate for topping cookies.

What Type of White Chocolate Do I Need?

High-quality white chocolate with at least 28% cocoa solids, like Callebaut White Chocolate, works best when caramelizing. However, this recipe has been successfully tested by Team HTH using Ghirardelli Baking Chocolate, which is 20% fat content. The lower the fat content, the dryer the chocolate will be in the process of melting. It will still work, but you may need to stir longer after each interval and trust the process that much more faithfully.

You can alternatively purchase pre-caramelized white chocolate:

• Callebaut Finest Belgian Gold Chocolate comes in a 5.5-pound bag. You’ll get plenty of batches of these cookies out of that bag!
• Valrhona Dulcey Blond Chocolate Feves are large and will need to be chopped, but it comes in a ½ pound bag, which is perfect to make this recipe once.
• Valrhona Dulcey Blond Chocolate Feves also come in a larger 1-pound bag.

Can I Use Regular White Chocolate Instead of Caramelized?

Yes, though your cookies will be slightly sweeter as the caramelization process drastically lowers the sweetness of the white chocolate. Using white chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks or chopped white chocolate baking bars works fine as a 1:1 ratio in place of the caramelized white chocolate, if preferred.

Can I Use Fresh or Dried Raspberries Instead of Freeze-Dried?

This recipe has not been tested with fresh raspberries, frozen raspberries or dehydrated raspberries. Freeze-dried raspberries contain no excess moisture and pack a very concentrated punch of flavor. Substituting fresh, frozen or dried raspberries will drastically alter the moisture content and flavor of the cookies and would likely create adverse effects. Freeze-dried raspberries are available at Target, Trader Joe’s, and also online here.

Can I Use a Different Freeze-Dried Fruit?

• We haven’t tested this ourselves to see how the flavor would be, but it should work just fine to swap the freeze-dried raspberries (and possibly the raspberry extract, depending on the substituted fruit) for another freeze-dried fruit.
• Freeze-dried strawberries are available at Target and online here.
• Keep in mind that some fruits will be naturally sweeter than raspberries, so the overall sweetness level of the cookie will change.

Can I Make This Recipe With a Hand Mixer?

Yes, a hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer.

Can I Halve or Double This Raspberry Cookie Recipe?

Yes, that will work just fine. Simply halve or double all ingredients.

Do You Need to Chill This Dough?

No, it’s not required for this recipe. Immediately baking after mixing will result in delicious cookies. In testing, Team HTH didn’t notice any improvements in flavor after an overnight chill, but the cookies were slightly thicker and chewier. Wrap the pre-portioned dough balls in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container before refrigerating, and refrigerate for up to 72 hours. Bake as directed below. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.

How to Store Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Store cookies with a tortilla or piece of bread to keep them soft for longer.

Can You Freeze Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies?

Yes! Freeze the pre-portioned balls of Caramelized White Chocolate Raspberry Cookie dough in a freezer-safe container or Ziptop bag. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge or for 30-60 minutes at room temperature, then bake as directed below. Check out my How to Freeze Cookie Dough article for step-by-step instructions (and how to bake from frozen).