These caramel chocolate chip cookies are the ultimate chocolate chip cookie! They are both stuffed and topped with soft caramel. These are the perfect cookie that have crisp edges and a gooey, chewy, and melty center. They are topped with flaky sea salt to balance out this sweet cookie.
Choosing The Best Caramel For These Cookies
When I was first making these caramel chocolate chip cookies, I was deciding if I wanted to add fresh salted caramel or use store bought.
Eventually I decided to use Werther’s Soft Caramels (not an ad) because they visibly show off how gooey the caramel is. Fresh caramel would bake right into the cookies. We want to see the gooey melted caramel! It is part of the charm!
An important note is to not use the Kraft caramel. Only use the Werther’s brand because they have the best quality of caramel.
How To Keep The Caramel Inside The Cookies
These caramel chocolate chip cookies are stuffed with the soft caramels. So, the worst thing that could happen is to have the gooey caramel to spill out all over the baking sheet!
The key to prevent that is to chill the cookie dough! First, you will roll up the cookie dough balls with the caramels (more on that later). Then, chill the dough for at least 2 hours.
A cold dough does 2 things:
- The butter chills and prevents spreading. When the butter is too warm, that’s when the cookie will become flat and spread out on the cookie sheet.
- The caramel will also be cold. Cold caramel will also take longer to become the gooey caramel we all know and love.
Basically chilling the dough is extremely important for these cookies.
How To Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
This chocolate chip cookie recipe is my base chocolate chip cookie recipe. It is just that good! It has both regular chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips. Also, it has extra brown sugar and cornstarch to make this a chewy cookie! Here is how to make it:
- Make sure butter and eggs are room temperature- Pull the butter and eggs out at least 2 hours before baking. Room temperature butter will be easier to aerate which creates a fluffier cookie. Since this dough gets chilled, it’s okay that the butter is room temperature.
- Dry ingredients- Sift all of the dry ingredients together. Use a sifter to get rid of any flour lumps.
- Wet ingredients- First, beat the butter and both sugars together. The key is to get very light and fluffy butter. Then, add in the vanilla and eggs. It should be pretty runny at this point.
- Add in the dry ingredients- Slowly add in the dry ingredients. A typical cookie dough will form. You will notice it is a bit sticky, which is why we chill it!
- Mix in the chocolate chips- Why do I use both regular and mini chocolate chips? The mini chocolate chips evenly disperse throughout the cookie. More chocolate per bite!
Once the dough is ready, it is time to fill them!
Filling The Chocolate Chip Cookies
You will want to fill the cookie dough first before chilling the dough.
These cookies are best baked large. Large cookies mean more caramel in the middle!
You will need a large ice cream scoop. I prefer this one because it creates large cookies.
First, scoop the cookie dough. Then, use your thumbs to press into the dough and create a big hole. Next, place a whole soft caramel plus 1/4 of another caramel.
I tried baking these cookies with just 1 soft caramel. While it was full of caramel, it just needed a little bit more.
Once there is caramel stuffed into the cookie dough, roll it into a smooth cookie dough ball.
Then, place it on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Now it is time to chill for 2 hours!
Chilling The Dough Overnight
You can definitely chill the dough overnight. If you are, cover the cookie sheet with foil.
Then, 20 minutes before baking, pull the cookies out of the fridge. When chilling overnight, the dough will become too cold. We want a chilled dough, but not too cold.
Now, you can bake as normal.
Baking The Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
After the cookies are chilled, bake them on a large cookie sheet.
Another tip to help prevent the cookies from spreading is to use silicone baking mats. The mats have tiny little texture that the cookie grips on to. They are worth it!
Since these are large cookies, place only 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet.
Bake for 13-15 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden brown on the edges and slightly underdone in the middle. It will finish cooking when the cookie sits on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes.
Topping The Cookies
While the cookies are still hot, top the cookies with extra chocolate chips and small caramel pieces.
I will cut 1 caramel into eighths, because then it is small enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the cookie. Since you are placing the caramel on the cookie while it’s warm, it will melt and become gooey like the photos you see here.
What takes these cookies over the top is a bit of flaky sea salt. The little bit of sea salt helps to balance out this super sweet cookie.
Another baking tip: If you want perfect round cookies like mine, use a large biscuit cutter to round out the cookie while they are warm.
Storing The Gooey Cookies
The cookies are best enjoyed warm, but they still taste great at room temperature. Store them in an air tight container for up to 5 days.
Can I Freeze The Cookie Dough?
Yes! Instead of freezing a baked cookie, I recommend freezing the cookie dough ball. Then, you bake fresh cookies when ever you want!
Wrap each cookie dough ball in cling wrap and then store in an air tight container.
Then, let it sit on the counter for 1 hour before baking.
Other Cookie Recipes To Try
- Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Monster Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Make sure to tag me on Instagram @stephaniesweettreats and leave me a review below if you made these cookies. I hope you loved it! To get more ideas follow me on Pinterest.
Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup Brown sugar packed light or dark
- 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 2 Large eggs room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup Mini chocolate chips
- 20 Soft caramels use werthers not kraft
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt. Set aside
- Using a mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together for 2 minutes. The butter should be light and fluffy. Add in vanilla and mix again. Add in eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl and mix again for 15 seconds.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until cookie dough is formed. Add in chocolate chips and mix.
- Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a large ice cream scoop to scoop cookie dough. Use your thumbs to open up the cookie dough ball. Fill it with 1 1/4 soft caramels. Roll the cookie dough back into a ball. Place on cookie sheet. Fill the rest of the cookie dough.
- Chill for 2 hours or overnight. If overnight, cover with foil. Then, let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare 2 large cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Place 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet and bake 13-15 minutes. It should be lightly golden brown on the edges and slightly under done in the middle. If you have a large biscuit cutter, you can use it to make the cookies circular. Top with little caramel pieces and chocolate chips.
- Let cookies sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling. These cookies are best enjoyed slightly warm.
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