Thick and soft-baked salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are filled with caramel and sprinkled with sea salt. Sweet and a little salty, these always disappear quickly!
These salted caramel chocolate chip cookies begin with the most popular cookie recipe on my blog: my beloved chewy chocolate chip cookies. To this fan favorite recipe, we’ve since created salty sweet chocolate covered pretzel cookies. Today, we use the same base dough and add caramel and a sprinkle of sea salt. Everyone loves these thick, soft, chewy, and caramel-y cookies because they taste like salted caramel cookie dough when warm from the oven.
Trulyโis there anything better than cookies and caramel?
These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Are:
- Thick and extra chewy
- Rich and buttery
- Soft-baked style
- Relatively easyโno mixer required
- Sweet and salty
- Stuffed with gooey caramel
- Topped with crunchy sea salt
- Based off of my chocolate chip cookies recipe
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Video
How to Make Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Beat the wet ingredients together.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Fold in the chocolate chips. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them.
- Chill the cookie dough. Chilling is mandatoryโat least 3-4 hours, but if you have time I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight for less spreading.
- Shape the cookie dough. Take 1 scant Tablespoon of cookie dough, stick a caramel inside, and place 1 more scant Tablespoon of cookie dough on top. Smooth the cookie dough over the caramel to completely hide it inside the dough ball. We prepare these caramel snickerdoodles the same way.
- Sprinkle with coarse sea salt or flaky sea salt + bake. These cookies take about 12-13 minutes to bake. If they didn’t spread much in the oven, press them down lightly after you remove them from the oven. Do not over-bake the cookies. The cookies will appear very soft and undone at the 12 minute mark. However, they will continue to bake for about 10 minutes as you allow them to cool on the cookie sheet. The cookies you see in this post were baked for 12 minutes.
Best Caramels to Use
The best caramel candies to use are either (1) Rolo candies (the little chocolate covered caramels) or (2) Wertherโs brand soft caramels. Kraft caramel squares seem to have gotten firmer and harder in the past couple years and wonโt create a gooey caramel center like Rolos or the Wertherโs. If you’re up for it, you can even use homemade soft caramels! The caramel you use definitely matters, so stick to my suggestions. If using Wertherโs brand, fold them in half because they are pretty long and wonโt fit inside the cookie dough ball otherwise. I always have the best luck with Rolo candies.
More Caramel Recipes
- Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Caramel Stuffed Nutella Cookies
- Salted Caramel Pretzel Crunch Bars
- Salted Caramel Frosting
- Loaded Caramel Dipped Pretzels
- Salted Caramelโlove the flavor!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 15 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Chewy chocolate chip cookies with caramel hiding inside! These cookies are unbelievable and disappear every time I make them.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cup (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips
- 15 Rolo candies (or other chocolate coated caramel)
- coarse sea salt or flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Whisk theย flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg, then the egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or silicone spatula. The dough will be very soft, yet thick. Fold in the chocolate chips. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or up to 3-4 days. Chilling is mandatory. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight for less spreading.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow to slightly soften at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven toย 325ยฐF (163ยฐC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.ย (Always recommendedย for cookies.)ย Set aside.
- Roll the dough into balls, 1.5 Tablespoons each (I like to use this medium cookie scoop). You’ll have about 30 balls, give or take. The dough will be crumbly, but the warmth of your hands will allow the balls to stay intact. Make a thumbprint into one dough ball and press the Rolo inside. Cover the Rolo with another dough ball and mold the two dough balls around the Rolo, making sure it is completely wrapped inside. See photo above for a visual. Gently press down on the large cookie dough ball to *slightly* flatten and press a few more chocolate chips on top. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt or flaky sea salt. Put 7-8 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet. Put one cookie sheet into the refrigerator as you bake batch #1. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and underbaked. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet.
- Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If the cookies still look too puffy when you remove them from the oven, gently press down on them a little more.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls (with caramel inside) freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Hereโsย how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Coarse Sea Salt or Flaky Sea Salt
- Eggs: Room temperature egg + egg yolk are preferred. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, simply place the whole eggs into a glass of warm water for 10 minutes.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Love your recipes!
I was looking at the rolo cookie recipe picture and noticed that the bottom half was just cookie dough without the chips. The top half of dough included the Chocolate chips. Is that what weโre supposed to do? Thank you!
Hi Anthony, you’re going to take 1 scant Tablespoon of cookie dough (including the chocolate chips), stick a caramel inside, and place 1 more scant Tablespoon of cookie dough on top. Smooth the cookie dough over the caramel to completely hide it inside the dough ball. There’s a video tutorial below the recipe instructions that might be helpful if you would like a visual! Hope this helps.
Hi Sally! I love all of your recipes so much and make them often. Your chewy chocolate chip cookies are my standard recipe! If I wanted to make these with the caramel but also add pretzels, would you recommending cutting the amount of chocolate chips in half and adding an equal amount of pretzels? Thanks for any guidance. Thatโs what I plan to try!
Hi Liz, yes, we’d recommend replacing half the chocolate chips with pretzel pieces. Enjoy!
Oh boy, did these taste great! I made a couple of mistakes and they turned out like chocolate lace cookes. Completely chocolate dough. The Girardelli choc chunk I uses was like a chocolate chip that the Christmas Elf sat on. I only waited 2.5 hrs,, got tired of waiting, then used my 1.5Tbs cookie scoop, so too much dough. Plus I let sit 10 min (mistake) and took too much time shaping. dough was very warm and soft when cooking went in. The spread to about 4 to 5 inches. Gonna change chips, refrigerate over night and use the smaller balls. I am bound and determined to master these for Christmas. They were so delish!! Thanks Sally & Crew!
I had a Caramilk bar laying around so I used that in replace of rolos. It wasnโt enough caramel for me unfortunately. It just tasted like a chocolate chip cookie. Iโd like to try again with another type of caramel covered chocolate.
Instead of Rolo candies, I’m wondering if I can substitute soft caramels to place in the center of these cookies?
Hi Teresa, yes! See the section of the post above titled “Best Caramels to Use”.
Hi there,
Can I chill these in the freezer for a faster chilling time?
Hi Lily! Chilling dough in the freezer will chill it too unevenly. Best to stick with the fridge!
Have you ever used the Carmel bits
And white chocolate chips?
Hi Sally,
Anxious to try this recipe! Question: The ingredients state 1 cup chocolate chips, divided. Unless I missed it, didnโt see where the divided chips were to occur or the amt. Do you incorporate the 1 cup into the dough and add more to the top of each cookie? That would make senseโฆmore chocolate!! Thanks!
Hi Linda, Thanks so much for pointing this out! We have made the correction. You can incorporate the cup into the dough. Enjoy!
Hi, can mini reese cups be used in the center too, just for a different taste?
We can’t see why not!
Hi Sally,
What type of chocolate chips do you recommend? Semi-sweet?
Also, I plan to freeze these for a wedding cookie table, does the caramel remain gooey after thawed?
Thank you for this recipe! I’m super excited to make it!
Janet
Hi Janet, we recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips and yes, the caramel should still be soft after thawing the frozen cookies. Hope they’re a hit!
Hi Sally!
I really want to make these cookies but we don’t get caramel center chocolates here. Can I freeze dollops of the salted caramel recipe you’ve posted and then coat it with the cookie dough prior baking?
Hi Urvashi, The caramel sauce could spread everywhere and may not work as a proper filling. You can use any type caramel candies or candy bars, or even try homemade Sea Salt Vanilla Caramels.
I love these cookies and have made them several times. I do have one question. Whatโs the purpose of the corn starch? I happen to not have any today.
Keeps them extra soft! You can leave it out if needed.
Hi Sally, do you think the Werther’s soft caramels would be okay instead of Rolos in this recipe?
Absolutely!
These cookies were de-li-cious!!! Everybody loved them! I will definitely do them again. Kisses from Belgium!:)
Sally- These look amazing. Do you think they could be made as a bar? Pressing cold dough layer into bottom or a lined jelly roll. Rolo’s pushed in throughout and then cold layer of dough with salt on top. What do you think?
Yes yes yes! That should be excellent! I recommend a 9×9 inch square baking pan.
I bake for all of my children’s athletic events, and that is no small task! I have made these cookies so many times that I have lost count. Last week, my daughter’s coach walked up after her game and grabbed two cookies without a word! He knew this recipe and was not shy about helping himself. The only things I have done with this recipe are to mix the whole dough in a big pot that I start with melting the butter. Less dishes after it’s over. Also, I roll the dough balls with the Roll inside and then chill them from there. I find it is easier to handle the dough at room temp and moving the chilled dough balls is really easy when they are chilled.
These were the dessert for our New Year’s Eve celebration. They turned out amazing! I mixed up the dough on the 30th, rolled the balls on the morning of the 31st, and then baked them after dinner. It was SO hard to give them time to cool! They were a huge hit. Will definitely make these again!
I made this today and they look just like your photos! Absolutely delicious, thank you!
I made this cookies this weekend. My hubby pretty much ate ย the whole batch by himself. ย I did crank heat to 350 and let the cookies cool completely on cookie tray on cooling rack. Cookies stayed in tack. They were soft and chewy. ย I doubled up on Rolo and added at piece in both balls of dough. And I added Rolo on top for added chocolatey carmaley goodness. Another great recipe Sally. Thanks
These were absolutely excellent! ย Cookie genius status.
I LOVE these cookies, they are so good. I usually make them for church or just for fun. These are the best cookies I’ve ever had and I’m always getting compliments. Thank you for being bored one day and making these
My daughter found this recipe and has made these many times —- they are always a big hit at family gatherings. WARNING —- they are addictive!
Just made these for the second time using the new Ghirardelli mini caramel squares in place of the Rolo’s. More caramel, yum!
Hi Sally, this is a combination of all my favourite things! It looks so delicious and I’m definitely going to try it. I was just wondering if it would still work to stuff an oatmeal cookie dough with snickers or rolos? Can’t wait to try them, Natasha
Hey Natasha! Yep, you can certainly use an oatmeal cookie dough and stuff candies in there like snickers or rolos. Here is my favorite oatmeal cookie base recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/11/loaded-oatmeal-cookies/
Sally, I made these recently and they were SO DELICIOUS, so so delicious. I had really high expectations for these cookies and was almost skeptical that they could be THAT good — but they really are, I had to use all my willpower not to shove cookie after cookie into my mouth. Now I’ve been obsessively scouring your site trying to decide which things to bake for upcoming holiday parties! How oh how am I going to choose amongst so many delicious options??
And on another note, i really appreciate the obvious hard work that goes into your website and your recipes. I sometimes find trying recipes from blogs a bit frustrating because the bloggers do not respond to reader questions and feedback. So it’s refreshing to see a blogger who is so interactive with readers and tries to make every reader’s chance of success with a recipe as high as possible. Major props for that, it is much appreciated!
Hi Sally,
I just wanted to thank you for this amazing recipe! I have made chocolate chip cookies before, but these were BY FAR the best of them all. The cookies came out really well and stayed chewy even when I baked them the night before. Everyone loved them at the party! i mean what more could you ask for in this decadent chocolate chip cookie with a caramel center?
I just made my first batch of these, the only difference being that I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown. I made them a little thick on purpose and made 9 of these cookies. (they were giant cookies, because I love giant cookies) They were SO delicious that I am working on my next batch already!
Literally THEE best cookies I have ever made! SO fun and delicious!!! Crispy golden brown on the outside, nice and chewy on the inside! Great amount of chocolate to cookie. A lot going on with the sweet/salty and different textures. HUGE hit!
I just made these (made the batter 2 days ago) and they turned out delicious and beautiful! Thank you for sharing this recipe!