Salted Caramel Cookies are chocolate chip cookies with a caramel center baked with salt sprinkled on top for a sweet and salty treat. Try my Salted Caramel Sheet Cake and Salted Caramel Brownie Marshmallow Hi-Hat for more chocolate and salted caramel desserts.
Salted Caramel Cookies
It all starts with the perfect chocolate chip cookie in this salted caramel cookie recipe. Then, the cookie is taken to a new, flavorful level with caramel added to the cookie batter. Finally, speckles of salt are added on top of the cookies and baked for a salted caramel delight.
Cookies Ingredients
Cake Flour: Cake flour brings more softness to cookies. It is lower in protein than all-purpose flour, which gives baked goods a delicate, fine crumb. You can easily make your own homemade cake flour if you don’t have any on hand.
Bread Flour: Bread flour is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to cake flour in a matter of protein. Bread flour is generally over 12% protein (whereas cake flour is 6-8%), which helps make the dough more sturdy.
Room Temperature Ingredients: Using room temperature ingredients (especially butter and eggs) will help you get the best results when baking these cookies. Butter is at room temperature at 65°F. Don’t put it in the microwave to soften it; simply cut it up into small pieces and let it sit out if you forgot to take it out of the refrigerator.
Caramel Candies: After unwrapping each caramel, roll it into a ball before adding it to each ball of cookie dough. If you leave the caramels as squares, the cookies will not look as perfectly round. If that is not a problem for you, you can just add the cubed caramel to the cookie dough ball. If you are feeling motivated, make your own homemade caramels.
Tip for Salted Caramel Cookies
Serve (and eat) while the cookies are warm. If the cookies cool completely, warm them up in the microwave for about 15 seconds before biting into them. (Trust me on that…I bit into a cooled cookie and it was tough to bite through the hardened caramel.)
Freezing Cookies
Cookie Dough
Most cookie doughs are great for freezing. To freeze the dough, scoop the batter onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Place the dough balls with the caramel centers in the freezer for 1-2 hours. After the dough is completely frozen, store them in a freezer-safe zipped bag until ready to bake. To bake from frozen, simply add a couple of minutes to the baking time.
Baked Cookies
If you have already baked these Salted Caramel Cookies, let them cool completely before freezing. Place the cooled cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet. Put them in the freezer for 1-2 hours. After they have frozen completely, place them in a freezer-safe container. If they are stored in layers, separate each layer with parchment paper.
Salted Caramel Cookies
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups (208 g) cake flour
- 1⅔ cups (208 g) bread flour
- 1¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoon coarse salt
- 1¼ cups (2½ sticks / 284g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1¼ cups (225 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups (336 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 24 caramel candies, unwrapped and shaped into balls
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy (3 to 5 minutes).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.
- Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips by hand.
- Drop spoonfuls (2-3 tablespoons) of dough onto a baking sheet.
- Place caramel in center and form dough around the caramel candy. Place back on the baking sheet.
- Sprinkle cookies with salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Let cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Serve warm. If the cookies have cooled completely, warm them up in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften the caramel.
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Made these today for my family.They are AMAZING! Hands down some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. Followed the recipe to a tee. Half of them have already disappeared within one day!
Is ok to use plain flour as I do not have two separate flour?
Hi, Niyati! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. You could substitute all-purpose flour for the bread flour, but the cookies will not have the same texture. For the cake flour, here is a recipe to make your own cake flour. I hope this helps, and have a great day!
I have tried using the square caramels in cookie recipes before and they didn’t melt at all. They stayed a hard square lump in the middle of the cookie, altho the cookie spread and baked as usual.
Follow the instructio. Cookies came out flat, tasted ok but not presentable.