Chocolate - Caramel Thumbprints

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted, cooled
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup finely chopped PLANTERS Pecans
18 KRAFT Caramels
2 Tbsp. milk

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add chocolate, egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour; beat until well blended. Cover. Refrigerate 1 hour or until well chilled.
SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in pecans; press pecans gently into dough to secure. Place, 1 inch apart, on ungreased baking sheets. Make indentation in center of each ball with your thumb.
BAKE 12 to 14 min. or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets to wire racks; cool completely.
MICROWAVE caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until caramels are completely melted, stirring after 30 sec. Spoon evenly into centers of cookies; cool until set.

KRAFT KITCHENS TIPS
Cooking Know-How For best results, do not substitute margarine for the butter in this recipe as it will cause the dough to spread excessively on the baking sheet as the cookies bake. Also to help minimize the spreading, make sure that the dough is well chilled before rolling into balls.Storage Know-How Store cookies in single layers in a tightly covered container with sheets of wax paper between each layer to prevent the cookies from sticking together.

Source: www.kraftfoods.com