Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Bakery-style, soft and chewy, sweet Chocolate Caramel Cookies are baked with a chocolate-covered caramel candy in the center and Maldon sea salt flakes on top!

We love adding caramel to cookies — try our other flavors next like these Caramel-Stuffed Cookies or Caramel Oatmeal Cookies!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

While you may be thinking these are just ordinary chocolate cookies with a caramel candy in the center, these cookies are anything but ordinary! These cookies are fudgy, ridiculously rich, soft and chewy. They’re basically a caramel-filled brownie in cookie form! 

So what makes this Chocolate Caramel Cookies recipe so special? 

• Two kinds of chocolate chips: We use both regular chocolate chips and miniature chocolate chips to add a different texture and dimension to the cookies.
• Two kinds of cocoa powder: These cookies have regular unsweetened cocoa powder AND Dutch-process cocoa powder, and those add such a great depth of flavor and make these cookies deeply chocolate-y without being overwhelming. 
• The “secret ingredient:” The secret ingredient in this recipe is sour cream. Yes, really! Sour cream makes these cookies ridiculously soft and chewy. The cookies literally melt in your mouth!
• Two kinds of extracts: Vanilla extract is usually a given for cookies, but these cookies also have almond extract. It might sound weird, but you’ll be amazed at how well the almond accentuates the other flavors. It goes so well with all the chocolate and caramel.
• A sprinkle of sea salt: Just a touch of sea salt flakes ties everything together — all the different types of chocolate and the gooey caramel center — it’s the perfect finishing touch!
• A soft caramel filling that also adds in some chocolate: These cookies have an unwrapped Rolo® candy in the center which adds even MORE chocolate and the caramel stays soft and gooey! Even when these cookies are 100% cooled, the caramel doesn’t get hard — score!

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Ingredients 

• Butter: Use unsalted, real butter. We like to use unsalted and then add our own salt so we can perfectly control the amount of salt in the cookies.
• Sugar: White and light (not dark) brown sugar go into these cookies.
• Egg
• Sour cream: This is the secret to soft and fudgy cookies! Be sure to use real, full-fat sour cream. These cookies were also tested with full-fat Greek yogurt and didn’t yield the same end result; stick to sour cream for this recipe!

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Ingredients, Continued

• Extracts: Vanilla extract is essential; the almond extract is optional, but it does add a nice hint of nutty flavor.
• Cocoa powders: These are arguably the most important ingredients in this recipe — I discuss the two cocoa powders below!
• Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and fine sea salt: Make sure to use fresh baking agents and fine sea salt in this recipe. If you’re using a different type of salt, you’ll need to play around with the amount — not all salts salt the same. Table salt is much finer so you’ll need a lot less!
• Chocolate chips: We love a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips in these cookies. The milk chocolate can be replaced with semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips if you prefer those.

Cocoa powder

For this recipe, we use two types of cocoa powder — regular unsweetened cocoa powder and special dark or Dutch-process cocoa powder. While it may not seem like a big deal to change out or use only one type of cocoa powder in these chocolate caramel cookies, the two aren’t the same, and interchanging the two won’t give you the same end result.

Dutch-process cocoa powder has the acid stripped out, so you’ll need some sort of acid to be added to the recipe for results to be the same. And using all unsweetened (natural) cocoa powder means the cookies are lacking in flavor and richness.

Chocolate Caramel Cookie tips

• Use real butter: Butter gives these cookies body, texture, and flavor. By beating it with the sugars at the start, you’re fluffing up the butter with air which gives these cookies that perfect foundation for a great texture. It’s important the butter is at room temperature (not melted or overly softened) so we can get this texture.
• Spoon and level the flour or weigh it to get a more accurate measurement. Too much flour makes this recipe cake-like. If you have a food scale, pull it out; it will give you the most accurate measurement.
• Chill the dough. Chilling helps solidify the butter and concentrate the flavors. It also makes rolling these into balls easier. We chill the dough twice with this recipe — once after making the dough and another quick chill after rolling dough balls.

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Tips, Continued

• Bake on a Silpat liner or parchment paper. This helps with quick clean-up, ensures the bottoms don’t burn, and helps deliver even baking throughout. It’s especially important in case some of the caramel leaks out of the cookies onto the parchment paper.
• Don’t overbake. The best way to have soft, fudge-like cookies is to ever-so-slightly under-bake them (I pull them out as soon as the top loses the glossy or wet look). If these cookies are overbaked, they become hard and far less flavorful as they cool.
• Make them pretty. Press some chocolate chips onto the tops of the cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven; this ensures even dispersion of chocolate and they also look more appetizing. This also makes it so that the sea salt flakes will adhere nicely to the cookies (the salt sticks to that melted chocolate on top).

More Delicious Cookie Recipes:

• Snickerdoodle Cookies with a cinnamon-sugar coating
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with a soft and chewy center!
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!
• Funfetti Cookies with loads of sprinkles
• Maple Cookies with a maple glaze

SaveSaved Pin Print

5 from 3 votes

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

These bakery-style Chocolate Caramel Cookies are soft, chewy, and sweet, featuring a chocolate-covered caramel candy in the center!

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Total Time: 27 minutes minutes

Servings: 32 cookies

Equipment

• Hand mixer
• Sheet pan lined

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
• ▢ 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• ▢ 1 large egg room temperature
• ▢ 1/2 cup sour cream full-fat, room temperature
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon almond extract optional
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1-3/4 cups flour
• ▢ 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder see note 1
• ▢ 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
• ▢ 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• ▢ 32 Rolo candies unwrapped
• ▢ 1/16 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes optional

Instructions 

• In a large bowl, with a hand mixer or use a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. The mixture should resemble peanut butter. Beat in egg, sour cream, almond extract, and vanilla extract.
• In a separate bowl combine the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine. Add in both kinds of chocolate chips and stir once more.
• Combine wet and dry and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the dough. The dough is very thick and moist. Cover the dough and chill for 1–4 hours. Preheat the oven to 350℉ (or 325℉ for convection oven).
• Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Measure 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of dough for each cookie and then roll an unwrapped Rolo into the center of the dough. Make sure the Rolo is completely encapsulated by the dough. The dough is very wet and sticky, so this party is tricky and messy. If the dough is too wet, put it back in the fridge for 20–30 minutes and try again. Place the cookies 2–3 inches apart on the sheet pan. I only bake 6 cookies at a time because they spread a lot. Chill dough balls on sheet pan for 20 minutes before baking.
• Bake for 8–14 minutes or until set, just until the top is no longer glossy. Be careful not to over bake. A soft, very slightly underbaked cookie is the best for a delicious fudgy texture! Remove from the oven and let cookies stand on sheet pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.
• While the cookies are just out of the oven and still on the sheet pan, press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. Let stand for a few minutes and then sprinkle some salt onto the melty chocolate chips on top of the cookies. Let cool for 15–20 minutes. Repeat to bake the rest of the cookies.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: For this recipe, use both regular unsweetened cocoa powder and Dutch-process cocoa powder. Substituting one for the other can significantly affect the flavor and texture of the cookies. Dutch-process cocoa has the acid removed, so it requires an additional acid in the recipe, while using only natural cocoa can result in cookies that lack richness and depth.

Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for best enjoyment within 3–4 days. For freezing, drop cookie dough balls onto a large sheet pan and freeze until solid. Once frozen, transfer them to an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. You can bake the cookies straight from the freezer without thawing, though you may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. Bake until the tops are no longer glossy, and the centers remain soft.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 124kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 68mg | Potassium: 83mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 134IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!