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Soft and chewy caramel cookies sprinkled with a little bit of sea salt. The perfect combination of sweet and salty in one delicious cookie!
These cookies remind us of an old favorite—Milky Way Caramel Cookies! They have all the same flavors with gooey caramel and just a hint of chocolate and salt. This one has become one of our new favorite cookie recipes!
Caramel in Cookies?! Yes, please!
We love caramel, we love cookies, and wanted to combine the two. So here we are with the most delicious cookie we could think of.
These bad boys are filled with soft caramel candies, chocolate chips, and caramel chips. We also like to sprinkle a little coarse salt on top after the cookies are done baking (hello salted caramel!!).
I love caramel in the fall and this recipe is perfect for these autumn months. With the leaves changing and the weather cooling down, it’s the right time to bake up a batch of these tasty caramel cookies.
Caramel Cookie Tips
We have a SECRET for perfect caramel cookies: So it’s not a runny messy, here’s what you have to do:
Right when the cookies come out of the oven, press 3 caramel pieces into the top of each cookie and then sprinkle with coarse salt.
The caramels will melt and the salt will set in. If needed, place the cookies back into the oven for an additional minute to help the caramel pieces melt in the cookie.
We also added caramel chips into the cookie dough which made them even more caramel-y.
How to Make + Bake
Make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees.
DOUGH. In a bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and the salt. Mix it together and set the dry ingredients aside. In a separate bowl, or a mixing bowl, beat together the brown sugar, butter, and white sugar until it’s all creamed together.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix well. Then, add in the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Mix until dough is combined. Fold in the chocolate and caramel chips to the cookie dough.
BAKE. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch-2 inch balls and place onto a baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes. Do not over-bake these! You want them to be nice and chewy.
CARAMEL. Right when the cookies come out of the oven, press 3 caramel pieces into the top of each cookie and then sprinkle with coarse salt.
The cookies will turn out so soft and chewy without being overly gooey!
If you have LEFTOVERS (which we highly doubt), you can store in a Ziploc bag or air-tight container. The dough can also be made AHEAD OF TIME up to 24 hours and dough can be FROZEN too. We just recommend letting it thaw in the fridge overnight and then still waiting to add the caramel bits and salt to the dough after baking.
For more classic cookies, check out:
- Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Lemon Cookies
- No-Bake Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Soft Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkles Cookies
Caramel Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 1 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup caramel chips
- 18 caramel candies such as Werther’s, each piece cut into 6 segments
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- In a bowl add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix.
- In a separate bowl, or a mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar, butter, and white sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix.
- Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Mix until dough is combined.
- Fold in the chocolate and caramel chips. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch-2 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes,
- Right when the cookies come out of the oven press 3 caramel pieces into the top of each cookie and then sprinkle with coarse salt. The caramels will melt and the salt will set in. If needed, place the cookies back into the oven for an additional minute to help the caramel pieces melt in the cookie.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These sound amazing, but before I make them, I want to make sure I get the correct type of caramels (although really, how much of a crisis is it to have to buy another bag of caramels- as in, “Oh darn, I guess we just have to eat this bag.” 😋). So do I get the “soft” Werthers, or the “chewy”?
Thanks!
Either one would work probably. I believe the “soft” ones are the softest texture of the two, but either one would work for the cookies!
These were my first homemade cookies and they were fantastic! Easy to make and follow! I will definitely make these again!
Yay!! Thank you for sharing that!