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Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies are your new favorite cookie! They’re loaded with chocolate chips and stuffed with gooey caramel pieces. These cookies are super thick and soft with crisp edges, and come together in no time, in just one bowl!
I mean, how can anyone resist that stack of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies! Get me a glass of milk and watch me dive into that pile! These are the best cookies – you’ll instantly fall in love and forget all about regular chocolate chip cookies. They have the perfect balance of salty and sweet
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe:
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies – These cookies are super soft, thick, and chewy with crisp edges.
- Chocolate and Caramel– Chocolate and caramel are a match made in heaven! Melty chocolate chips and pools of gooey caramel mingle together in these cookies.
- Easy to Make – These cookies take almost no time to whip up, thanks to store-bought caramel candies – and are made in one bowl for ease.
Ingredient Overview:
As always, the full ingredient list can be found in the recipe card below.
- Salted Butter – I always use salted buter for the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if you prefer. Make sure to use room temperature butter, not cold butter.
- Brown Sugar – Brown sugar adds depth of flavor and keeps these cookies soft.
- Granulated Sugar – Granulated sugar helps balance the flavor of the brown sugar.
- Chocolate Chips – I used semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Caramel – Use Werther’s soft caramels for this recipe. They’ll stay soft in the oven and taste fabulous.
Recipe Variations:
- Chocolate Chips – Feel free to use dark or milk chocolate chips, or even chunks if you prefer.
- Caramel – For best results, I recommend the type of caramels mentioned above. Homemade caramel sauce will cause the cookie to melt everywhere, and other brands like kraft caramels bake up too firm to chew. However, I think caramel bits will work if you need an alternative.
- Caramel Skillet Cookie – If you’d like to mix the caramel pieces into the dough, you can do that and bake it as a skillet cookie. Add to a well-greased 10-inch oven safe skillet and bake at 350 degrees F for 14-18 minutes (the edges will appear set and a toothpick inserted into the center will pull out moist crumbs).
- Nuts – Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts if desired.
- Salted Caramel Cookies – Don’t want the chocolate chips? Swap in caramel chips or butterscotch chips!
How to Make this Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:
Step 1: Make the Cookie Dough. Cream together your butter and sugars with an electric mixer (or stand mixer) in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla, and then the dry ingredients and chocolate chips.
Step 2: Roll Into Balls & Chill the Dough. Roll the cookie dough into balls that are about 100 grams each. Use a scale for precision, but this is about 3 slightly generous tablespoons worth.
Flatten each ball out, and press one caramel candy into the center.
Step 3: Stuff with Caramel. Wrap the dough back around the caramel so it’s encased. Chill the stuffed dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
Step 4: Bake Cookies. Bake the cookies on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Let them cool about 10-15 mins on a wire rack, then dig in!
Serving + Storing:
Enjoy these cookies warm from the oven, with a glass of cold milk! Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-6 days, or in the fridge longer.
Can’t get your fill of chocolate chip cookies? Make my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies or my Double Chocolate Chip Cookies next!
Expert Success Tips:
- Beautiful Cookies – To make your cookies look bakery-worthy, press extra chocolate chips into the tops right when they come out of the oven. And, use a round cutter to scoot the cookie into a perfectly round shape.
- Caramels – Don’t be tempted to mix caramel pieces into the bowl of dough. It will create too many pockets of melty caramel in the cookies while they bake and you’ll end up with delicious puddles on your cookie sheet.
- Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
- Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
FAQs:
Yes! Freeze cookie dough balls, covered with a kitchen towel. Once solid, transfer to an airtight freezer-safe container. Cookies can be stored this way for about 2-3 months, and can be baked straight from frozen!
Yes, feel free to scale the recipe up or down.
Yes, make dough balls 60-70 grams in size for a smaller cookie and a larger yield. Place only 1 caramel piece on top of each cookie ball. Bake for 8-9 minutes.
I don’t recommend other caramel candies, as they get very hard once they’ve been baked. These stay nice and chewy. Another option would be to just bake these as chocolate chip cookies, then drizzle on my salted caramel sauce once they’re baked and slightly cooled.
Special Tools:
Affiliate links.
- Cookie Scoop – Use this cookie scoop to make your cookies the size I did. It’s technically an ice cream scoop, but it’s the perfect size for large bakery-style cookies.
- Round Cutters – Use this set of round cutters for rounding cookies, cutting donuts or biscuits, and much more.
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes to Love:
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- S’mores Skillet Cookie
- One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies
- S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
- Cookie Dough Bites
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment & star rating!
Click the little stars in the header of the recipe card below to leave a comment & star rating, letting me know how you liked the recipe. I take all feedback seriously, & leaving a rating helps my small business immensely!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 14.5 tbsp salted butter, melted & cooled slightly, 206 grams
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed, 163 grams
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 156 grams
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled or weighed, 390 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 35 pieces werther's soft caramels, See note below
Instructions
- Prep: Unwrap your caramels, and leave 15 of them whole for stuffing inside the cookies. Slice the rest into 2-3 pieces each. Those will be used on top of the cookies.
- Make the Cookie Dough: Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugars well. Add the vanilla and eggs and whisk until well combined and smooth, about 30-60 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until a dough forms (it may be a bit crumbly at first, but keep mixing until it comes together). Stir in the chocolate chips last.14.5 tbsp salted butter, melted & cooled slightly, 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract , 2 large eggs, at room temperature , 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled or weighed, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Rest the Dough: This recipe used to reqiure a 2 hour chill, but now requires just a 20 minute rest in the fridge or freezer before scooping the balls and baking!
- Prep Cookie Dough Balls: Form the dough into balls 90 grams each. Flatten each dough ball, and place a caramel candy in the center, and then wrap the dough around it to encase it. Press 1-2 of the sliced caramel pieces on top of each cookie dough ball, along with a few extra chocolate chips35 pieces werther's soft caramels
- Bake the Cookies: Preheat your oven to 365° F. Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place about 5-6 cookie dough balls on a sheet, leaving room for them to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The centers of the cookies will look a tad underdone, but the edges should be set when gently tapped, and will be lightly golden brown. Immediately place a round cutter around the outside of each cookie and swirl the cookie within it to "scoot" them into perfect circles. This also helps them appear thicker, and helps re-contain any that spread a bit more in the oven. They'll set up to the perfect soft-baked texture as they cool.
- Serve + Store: Let cookies cool on the pan until they're not too hot, then dig in while they're warm! Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for 4-5 days or longer in the fridge. Re-warm in the microwave or oven for warm, gooey perfection.
- Freezing Cookie Dough: Once you've got your dough scooped into balls, freeze them on a baking sheet, covered with a clean kitchen towel. Once solid, transfer to an airtight freezer-safe container or bag. Cookies can be stored this way for about 2-3 months, and can be baked straight from frozen! Follow the baking directions as listed above. Make-Ahead Tip: Cookie dough can be portioned, stuffed with caramel, and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days before baking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Doesn’t work. Followed all the directions and no matter what the caramels spread out and the cookies are a big flat mess.
Hi Nicole! I’m sorry to hear that. I’m happy to help troubleshoot! Have you checked your oven temp? It could be running hot or cold, which would cause the cookies to spread out too much. I also recommend scooting your cookies right out of the oven to kind of push them back into a thicker circle. This helps a lot! Did you use the brand of caramels I recommended?
Can you freeze them after they’ve baked?
Hi Kaitlin! Yes, that should work just fine. Let them cool completely at room temperature first, then wrap pairs of cookies with the flat bottoms together in plastic wrap. Keep these all in a freezer container or bag, and thaw on the counter for a few hours before eating. Please let me know how you like this recipe!
Does it matter if it’s light or dark brown sugar?
Hi Alexa! Either will work just fine in this recipe. I prefer the extra bit of depth of flavor that dark brown sugar gives. Let me know how you like the cookies!
These were good. I made my dough balls 45 grams and stuffed them with 1/2 a soft caramel. They were still large cookies and seemed to spread more than I expected. After checking the recipe, I realized that I refrigerated my dough before forming them into balls. If I make these again, I will refrigerate the stuffed dough balls as I hope this will prevent them from spreading as much.
Glad to hear you enjoyed these cookies! You can also freeze the stuffed dough balls for about 30 minutes, or until solid, and this will help with that as well.
90 g is a HUGE cookie. Is that correct?
Hi Karrie! Yes, 90 grams is correct. You could go down to 60 grams if you want a smaller cookie! I recommend using 2/3 or half of a caramel piece in the center since it’s less dough to contain it. Please let me know how you like these cookies!
Does anything with the recipe need to be altered if you leave the caramel out and just use the salted caramel sauce to drizzle on at the end?
Hi Stacy! No, it should work just the same. You can make the cookies smaller if you like though, since they don’t need to contain the caramel candies. Please let me know how you like this recipe!
I would like to triple this recipe. Do I use the same measurements?
Yes, you would triple all the measurements. Let me know how you like the cookies!
This is a great recipe! Although, when I made the cookies oversized with a full caramel inside, they became heavy in the middle and fell apart. They turned out much better and easier to eat when I made the cookies smaller with only half a caramel in the center. I would highly recommend flattening out the dough a little and making sure the top caramel is pushed into the dough so that it doesn’t melt off of the cookie. Once they were out of the oven, I sprinkled some flaky sea salt and it was delicious! I’m definitely going to make these again with some nuts and caramel apple caramels!
Hi Bailey! Glad you enjoyed these cookies. I wonder if they needed just a tad longer of a bake time in your oven. I did just update the recipe to tweak the cookie dough so the cookies are a bit sturdier, but still nice and chewy & soft. I hope you try them again!
I LOVE this recipe!! Made them twice in one week because my husbands asked me to make them again for him to bring to an event. We preferred them as half size cookies (I think a tablespoon and a half) and flakey salt on top. I’m going to make another batch and freeze them so I can just pull out a couple at a time. Seriously such a solid recipe!!!
Thanks so much for the rave review, Haley!
Great recipe!! I tried it with normal measurements and got 15 delicious cookies, but instead I tried to measure the second time with the metric measurements and I only got 12 cookies 🙁 Not sure if the measurements are accurate?
Hi Gabri! That is odd, thanks for letting me know. I’ll measure them again the next time I make this recipe. Glad you enjoyed the cookies!