Salted pumpkin caramel thumbprints

I recently delved into new territory. I made my first caramel! This was to fill the pumpkin caramel thumbprints my cousin and I have been curious to try ever since we saw them in a magazine. They came from the same article that had the recipe for the dark chocolate and pumpkin swirl cake.

The night I made them, I couldn't decide how I felt about these cookies. They were good, but I was disappointed. The caramel was an interesting consistency. Was that because this was my first caramel or because there was a half cup of pumpkin puree in it? It tasted good. The cookie part alone tasted okay, but really it's just a vehicle for delivering caramel to your mouth.

The next day was a different story. I let them sit in the fridge overnight. They were very tasty the next day. Even the cookie part tasted better. It was a big improvement over the night before. They tasted like mini pumpkin pies with shortbread crusts.

I'm still not sure if I'll bake these again. Thumbprints are great, but they're a pain to make. If I'm going to go to the effort, they better be delicious, like the chocolate mint thumbprints. Those are some of my favorite things to eat. Even though these didn't live up to my expectations, I'm glad I gave them a try.