Caramelized sugar in Cookies

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

Has anyone tried using caramelized sugar to make cookies?   I recently tried this - I made some caramelized sugar and ground it up in the food processor and used it to make some cookies - it was a total disaster and I don't know why.  I am a pretty experienced home baker and can't figure out why this experiment failed - if anyone more knowledgeable knows why caramelized sugar won't work I would love to hear why.    I used melted butter to make the batch of cookies and realized something was wrong as I tried to combine them.  As I am typing this I wounder if it would work better if I creamed the butter and sugar.  TIA

[pastrygirl]

Failed how?  What happened when you 'tried to combine' the butter & sugar?

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

On 4/16/2023 at 5:55 PM, pastrygirl said:

Failed how?  What happened when you 'tried to combine' the butter & sugar?

It basically seized for some reason i don't know - I haven't tried again since but might circle back and try it with creamed butter instead of melted butter.

 

[pastrygirl]

Hm.  A couple thoughts while I'm waking up this morning - granulated sugar is a crystalline structure but I believe caramelizing changes that, so maybe instead of staying dispersed/distinct or dissolving in the water available in the butter like granulated sugar would, it goes sticky and clumps? 

 

You could try browned or clarified butter to eliminate that water, or try adding your softened (whole) butter to the food processor, that might combine them better than a mixer (or could still be a disaster but faster 🤷‍♀️). 

 

Or try toasted sugar, which has some caramelization without the physical change of melting into caramel.

https://www.seriouseats.com/dry-toasted-sugar-granulated-caramel-recipe

Edited June 9, 2023 by pastrygirl (log)