Crisp outer edges with gooey caramel and chocolate-filled centers. These salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are the perfect cookie!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
I don’t think I’ve ever met a cookie I didn’t love. And this one is no exception. Salted caramel is one of my favorite things to make at home, so it’s no wonder that the combination of it + chocolate chips, all sewn together into a beautiful cookie, make my heart very very happy 🙂
These cookies are ones that I’ll be baking for special events, occasions, birthday parties, Christmas parties, holiday cookouts, or just when I’m bored on a Thursday night. One of the best things about these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies is that you can bake them all year long – they’re no necessarily “seasonal,” although I know most of you like to bake with caramel in the fall. Salted caramel is always in season, in my opinion, so you can enjoy these caramel chocolate chip cookies whenever you so please!
What are Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies?
These cookies are pretty much just your classic chocolate chip cookies with some delicious sweet caramel and a little extra salt. There’s only been a handful of times where I’ve added too much salt to a cookie – sometimes I can go overboard with it because I think it helps the flavor so much – but these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are not one of those times. Although I’m adding a little extra salt than I normally would in a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate together really helps balance everything out.
One of the beautiful parts of these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies is that you don’t need to worry about making your own caramel. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for homemade caramel, but I don’t necessarily think this cookie is it! That being said, if you’re dying to make your own for these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, check out this step-by-step tutorial on how to make homemade caramel!
If you love baking cookies, here are a few of my other favorites that I think you may love:
Some equipment you may need…
- Stand mixer: if you’re new to baking, this is something I’d recommend saving up for. You can do so much with this one piece of equipment – I really couldn’t recommend it enough. This one from KitchenAid is the one I have in my kitchen and I don’t know that I’ll ever get a new one!
- Cookie scoop: the cookie dough – more like cookie batter – is very loose in this recipe so you’ll need a good scoop to ensure you get equally-sized cookies. It makes the process a lot easier – trust me!
- Sheet pans: just a universal pan that every baker needs. You’ll need 2 for this recipe!
- Mixing bowls: I love these glass mixing bowls from Amazon. They’re especially perfect for food photography.
- Wooden spoon: I only use wooden spoons and rubber spatulas when I’m baking, and I love these!
- Measuring cups/spoons: I’ve been linking these in all of my posts because I love them SO much! They are beautiful and look just like some other expensive ones on the market (but wayyy cheaper).
Ingredients for Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- All-purpose flour – I almost always use King Arthur flours, because I think consistency is important when developing recipes. Protein content can vary between brands, so I’d recommend sticking with King Arthur as well!
- Baking soda – this will be our leavening agent in this recipe. Aka what gives the cookies a slight rise and puff
- Kosher salt – Diamond crystal kosher salt is the brand I always use in my recipes!
- Unsalted butter
- Cornstarch – this one may seem a bit odd for a cookie recipe, but it helps these cookies to puff up and yields super chewy centers!
- Light brown sugar – I tested this recipe with dark brown sugar and didn’t really love the results, but you may love it more, so give it a go if you’d like!
- Granulated sugar – this does more than just add sweetness. It helps with browning and binding of the cookie as well.
- Large eggs
- Egg yolk – I love adding an egg yolk to cookie recipes because it helps us get that chewy texture that I love
- Pure vanilla extract – the brand doesn’t really matter all that much, but make sure it’s pure vanilla extract and you’ll be good to go!
- Semisweet chocolate chips – you can also use chocolate chunks or chopped bittersweet chocolate if you’d like. I do love the flavor of milk chocolate, but I think this cookie is best with semisweet or bittersweet.
- Soft caramels – if you’re dying to make your own caramel, I completely understand, and this tutorial on making your own homemade caramel is perfect for you to check out. But, if you’re feeling a little lazy and the flavors of store bought caramels rock your world, just use store bought 🙂
- Flaky sea salt – if you don’t have a box of Maldon sea salt strictly for the use of sprinkling on cookies, RUN and grab a box. It’s only $8 and it lasts forever! Completely transforms your cookies, I’m telling you.
My Kitchen Tips…
- CHILL your cookie dough! I know this is a huge drag, but wow, chilling your cookie dough makes such a tangible difference in the overall outcome of your cookie. We’re talking at least 2 hours friends, but if you can wait – and I know it’s hard – even 48 hours would be a good thing to shoot for. There’s just something that happens with these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies that no one really knows how to explain. It’s just better. You’re gonna have to trust me on that. It’s just better.
- Use store bought soft caramels. Now is not the time for hard caramels. I, like you probably, love a good caramel candy to savor every now and again, but this is the time for soft caramels. They melt into an ooey gooey delicious center when they’re pulled from the oven, and these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are better for it!
- Use flaky sea salt! This is an absolute must my friends. I actually tried this cookie – sprinkling it with regular table salt and sprinkling it with Maldon flaky sea salt, and I’m telling you the difference was pretty astounding. The way the flaky sea salt brings out the flavor of the salted caramel in the cookie is just beautiful. Maldon flaky sea salt is about $8 I believe for a pretty large box, and I recommend buying one strictly for the purposes of making your cookies that much better.
- DO NOT OVERBAKE. This is probably an obvious one, but the tell tale sign as to whether or not a cookie is “done” is the edges. They tell you everything you need to know. Just when they start to get slightly golden brown, the cookies are done. Yes, they will still look a bit underdone in the centers, but they will continue to cook on the sheet pans even after you pull them from the oven. These salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are ones you’ll want to get just right! Remember: overbaked cookies are rock hard cookies.
How to Store?
These cookies are best eaten while they’re still a little bit warm, but you can absolutely store them in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 to 5 days. They’ll remain just as delicious, but there’s something about a fresh, warm cookie. As you can see above, these cookies will go fast – so don’t anticipate too many leftovers 🙂
Freezing your dough
If you’re like me and you love to have a fresh baked cookie every once and a while, but don’t feel like going through the whole process every single time, your freezer just became your new best friend. I love keeping cookie dough balls on hand in the freezer when I need them, and my friends and family love me for it!
–
I’m so happy with how this recipe turned out, and I hope you all love it as much as we all do! Remember that if you do bake these to tag me @sarahsdayoff so I can see all of your cookies and live vicariously through you lol. If you have any questions about this recipe or any others on my site, you can reach out to me at sarah@sarahsdayoff.com and I’d be happy to chat with you!
Happy baking 🙂
Love,
Sarah
“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” -1 John 4:11-
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (130g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 23 soft caramels, cut into thirds
- Flaky sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on high for 3 minutes.
- Beat in egg and egg yolk, then beat in vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low speed until just combined. Be sure to not over mix here.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to mix in the chocolate chips and chopped caramel pieces until fully combined.
- Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into balls and place on prepared pans (I have a 2 oz scoop that I use to portion mine). You may end up needing a third pan, but my oven only has 2 racks so I can only bake 2 pans at once.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. Rotate the pans 180° and put the bottom pan on the top, and the top pan on the bottom. Bake an additional 3 to 4 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to turn golden brown.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately sprinkle them with flaky sea salt (doing this immediately will allow the salt to stick to the tops better), and let cool completely on the pans.
- Store the cookies at room temperature for up to 3 days.
This blog post contains affiliate links which make me a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sarah’s Day Off!
Amazing!!!
My favorite cookie ever