Description
These chewy salted caramel chocolate chip cookies combine crunchy, chewy bits of homemade hard caramel with rich dark chocolate chips in a vanilla-forward cookie dough. This easy one-bowl recipe requires no dough resting time and yields perfectly soft and slightly underbaked cookies with a delightful salted finish.
Ingredients
For the Hard Caramel
- 1 batch 5-Minute Hard Caramel (see instructions below)
For the Cookie Dough
- 1 1/2 cups (330 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 16 tablespoons (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (19 g) real vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 1/4 cups (439 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups (255 g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or chips
- Sea salt flakes for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Make the Hard Caramel: Follow the instructions for 5-Minute Hard Caramel by melting sugar until it turns a golden bronze. Pour the hot caramel onto a prepared pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly to a thickness of 1/4 to 1/8 inch. Let it cool completely and harden. Once firm, chop the caramel into chocolate chip-sized pieces and set aside.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Line several baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking and ensure even baking.
- Cream Butter and Sugars: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, and vanilla extract on medium speed for about 4 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture.
- Add Eggs and Leavening Agents: Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then incorporate the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Continue mixing on medium speed for about 1 minute more until fully combined.
- Add Flour: Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the all-purpose flour, mixing just until barely combined. You should still see streaks of flour. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is evenly mixed.
- Add Chocolate and Caramel Pieces: Fold in the chopped dark chocolate and hard caramel pieces until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop Dough onto Baking Sheets: Using a cookie scoop or spoon, form 2-tablespoon-sized balls of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches (5 cm) of space between each to allow for spreading.
- Bake Cookies: Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 11 minutes. Remove from oven and gently nudge the edges of each cookie back into a circular shape using the edge of a silicone spatula.
- Finish Baking: Return the cookies to the oven and bake for 1 additional minute. The cookies will look slightly underbaked but will set as they cool.
- Cool and Serve: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Optionally, sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving to enhance the salted caramel flavor.
Notes
- The hard caramel can be made ahead of time and stored airtight for several days.
- Room temperature butter and eggs help achieve the best cookie texture.
- Do not overmix the dough once the flour is added to prevent tough cookies.
- Cookies will seem slightly underbaked when removed from the oven, but they’ll firm up during cooling.
- Optional flaky sea salt on top enhances the salted caramel flavor and adds pleasant texture contrast.
