Oozing with rich, buttery caramel, these soft chocolate caramel cookies topped with flaky sea salt are completely irresistible!
Stuffed cookies are what it’s all about! I love all of my stuffed cookie recipes like Oreo stuffed cookies and strawberry cheesecake cookies because each cookie has a delicious surprise inside.
These rich and gooey salted caramel chocolate stuffed cookies are the best yet! The sweet and salty combination in these rich, fudgy chocolate caramel cookies is simply divine.
For more caramel and chocolate, try my carmelitas recipe. They are gooey, sweet caramel cookie bars that everyone loves. And if you love a decadent sweet and salty treat, be sure to check out this recipe for bacon cookies too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- An Impressive Cookie – These aren’t just cookies – they’re cookies with caramel inside! You’ll wrap the cookie dough around soft caramels to create this awesome effect.
- Salted Caramel Cookies – It’s one thing to combine chocolate and caramel, but it’s next-level-delicious when you also add sea salt to the mix.
- The Best Soft Chocolate Cookie – This recipe makes chocolate cookies that are like extra fudgy brownies. They’re made with buttermilk and brown sugar to keep them soft and have lots of melty chocolate chunks too.
Ingredients In Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Here’s what you need to make salted caramel chocolate cookies:
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Caramels: Buy soft caramel candies to add to the centers of your cookies. I’m using Werthers so they’re extra soft, but you can also use Kraft caramels if you prefer.
- Chocolate: Use a bar of semi-sweet chocolate, and chop it up into chunks and shards. We don’t want chocolate chips in this recipe, because we want the chocolate to melt into the cookies as they bake.
- Butter, Eggs, and Buttermilk: These ingredients add moisture and fat to the cookie dough, and help to keep it tender and fudgy. If you don’t have buttermilk, use yogurt instead.
- Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, and Cocoa Powder: These are the dry ingredients for the cookie dough.
- Brown and Granulated Sugar: We need some of each type in this recipe, and they both have a purpose. Brown sugar helps to keep the cookies moist and soft, while white sugar lets them crisp up a bit on the edges.
- Vanilla Extract: Every good cookie recipe has some of this in it. Vanilla elevates all of the other flavors here.
- Flaky Sea Salt: There’s some salt in the dough, but the real salty punch needed for salted caramel cookies comes from a sprinkle of flaky salt right after the cookies come out of the oven.
How To Make Stuffed Chocolate Caramel Cookies
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Cream Butter: Use your stand mixer, or another mixing bowl with a hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Then add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for 1 more minute until well combined.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix again until just combined. Then stir in the buttermilk to finish the cookie dough.
- More Chocolate: Fold in the chocolate chunks, then cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
- Portion the Dough: Use a medium cookie scoop to make dough balls and then flatten the dough into thick disks. Add a caramel to each disk.
- Wrap: Gently wrap the chocolate cookie dough around the caramel, forming a ball. Then chill the cookie balls again for 15 minutes before baking.
- Bake: Bake for 10-12 minutes rotating the pan halfway through. The cookies should be set on the outside and very slightly underdone on top. Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt as soon as they come out of the oven, and let them cool for 10 minutes on the pan. Then move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tip!
Stuff the cookies with caramel in small batches so that the cookie dough stays chilled throughout the process! If the dough gets too warm it can be sticky and hard to work with.
Recipe Tips
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients: Cookie dough mixes together more smoothly when all of the ingredients, and especially the butter and eggs, are at room temperature.
- You can replace the caramels with other candy. Try mini Reese’s cups, Dove chocolates, Rolos, or even homemade caramels.
- It’s Important to Chill These: If the cookie dough is too warm, the cookies will flatten too much and the caramel could seep out. You should chill the dough after making it, and chill the cookies again before placing them in the oven.
- Don’t Try to Make Them Small: You need to have enough cookie dough around each caramel so that there’s room inside for the caramel to live. If the dough surrounding the candy is too thin, the cookies might explode!
- Add More Chocolate! Dot the top of your cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips before putting them into the oven.
- Don’t Use Table Salt: The salt that you add to the top of the cookies should be large flakes. I use Maldon sea salt flakes.
Storing Tips
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, and enjoy them within 3-4 days for freshness.
You can also freeze cookies for up to 3 months.
Serve chocolate caramel cookies at room temperature, or give them a few seconds in the microwave to re-warm and re-melt the caramel inside.
To Make Ahead
Make the dough for chocolate caramel cookies and keep it covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bake as directed when you’re ready.
The stuffed cookie dough balls can be also be frozen on a sheet pan, then transferred to a freezer bag, and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 3-5 minutes of additional bake time.
More Amazing Chocolat Dessert Recipes
Sometimes dessert just must be chocolate! Here are my favorites:
- Chocolate Jello Pudding Pie
- Chocolate Oreo Truffles
- Better than Sex Cake
- Molten Chocolate Mug cake – for when you only want to make dessert for yourself!
FAQs
These are best when enjoyed shortly after baking, but you can freeze them for later. Store them in an airtight freezer container for up to 2 months. Let them come to room temperature before eating.
Try adding caramel baking chips or chopped almonds to the cookie dough for extra flavor!
Cultured buttermilk makes these cookies amazingly soft and delicious, but regular plain yogurt will give you a similar outcome too. In a pinch you canuse whole milk mixed with a splash of white vinegar to equal a half cup.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookies are decadent and irresistible! Everyone is going to love this recipe, so be sure to save it so you can make it over and over again.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Equipment
- Electric Hand mixer or Stand mixer
- Cookie sheet
- cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 2 cups (285 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1⅓ cups (150 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup/8oz) (225 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (115 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (300 grams) light brown sugar lightly packed
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 12 ounces (340 grams) semi-sweet chocolate bar chopped into chunks
- 28 soft caramels such as kraft or Werthers
- Flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt).
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with sugar until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla, and beat again for 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix again until just combined. Then add the yogurt or buttermilk and mix again until just combine.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate chunks, cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Use a medium cookie scoop, scoop out dough balls and flatten into disks. Do this in batches to keep the dough chilled.
- Wrap the cookie dough around each caramel, and chill again for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 350°F/180°C, then place the chilled cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes rotating the pan halfway through.
- Sprinkle the cookies with sea salt right after you remove them from the oven, then cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes:
- Use Room Temperature Ingredients: Cookie dough mixes together more smoothly when all of the ingredients, and especially the butter and eggs, are at room temperature.
- Chill the Dough: If the cookie dough is too warm, the cookies will flatten too much and the caramel could seep out. You should chill the dough after making it, and chill the cookies again before placing them in the oven.
- Don’t Try to Make Them Small: You need to have enough cookie dough around each caramel so that there’s room inside for the caramel to live. If the dough surrounding the candy is too thin, the cookies might explode!
- Instead of soft caramels, stuff these cookies with Rolo candies instead!
- Don’t Use Table Salt: The salt that you add to the top of the cookies should be large flakes. I use Maldon sea salt flakes.
- To Store: Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, and enjoy them within 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: You can also freeze cookies for up to 3 months. Serve chocolate caramel cookies at room temperature, or give them a few seconds in the microwave to re-warm and re-melt the caramel inside.
- To Make Ahead: The stuffed cookie dough balls can be frozen on a sheet pan, then transferred to a freezer bag, and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 3-5 minutes of additional bake time.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Daphne Fletcher-Strampp says
Made these today with Reese’s miniatures. They are scrumptious!
Little Sunny Kitchen says
That sounds amazing! Thank you.