Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Easy no chill chocolate chip cookies swirled with salted caramel sauce and topped with flaky sea salt. You can also find this recipe on page 19 of my cookbook.
Salted caramel + chocolate has been stealing our hearts and our tastebuds since the early 2000s, and these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite ways to enjoy that delectable flavor combo.
While I do love my classic chocolate chip cookies, they take some time (WORTH EVERY SECOND) and the recipe makes about 3 dozen. This cookie recipe is the one I reach for when I want something a little fancier than plain but don’t want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen nor rolling dozens of balls of dough.
QUICK, EASY, NO CHILL COOKIES
You’ll be happy to know that not only does this cookie dough come together in a snap and doesn’t need to be chilled, it has other highly-lovable qualities that will have you gathering your ingredients faster than you can lick a spoon full of salted caramel sauce.
Here’s why else you’ll love them:
• makes 18 cookies, but can easily be doubled for more
• I love making my own caramel sauce, but this recipe works great with store-bought
• crisp edges
• soft and chewy insides
• warmed up, they become mega gooey (swoooooon!)
• feeling extra fun? Use my bourbon caramel sauce instead!
SIMPLICITY IS KING
When it comes to cookies, I am pretty easy to please. My very favorite cookie recipe collection includes my chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, my classic and perfect chocolate chip cookies, and my vanilla bean sugar cookies.
While all of those recipes are pretty different in execution, the end products are pretty standard and simple and nothing over the top.
But this salted caramel chocolate chip cookie recipe? Simple in execution (it’s no chill!) but a little something extra on the other side of the oven.
In fact, you might be surprised how such an amazing cookie can start with a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe that simply has some salted caramel sauce swirled around in each cookie dough ball.
Because yes, that’s how simple these cookies are.
PS, if you love salted caramel, you must try my caramel rolls, salted caramel banana bread, salted caramel brownies, or even try my bourbon caramel sauce recipe if you’re feeling extra fun.
INGREDIENTS FOR SALTED CARAMEL COOKIES
Just 11 ingredients! And while I love making my caramel sauce from scratch, you can totally buy pre-made. No judgment.
Here’s what you’ll need:
• all-purpose flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• salt
• unsalted butter
• light brown sugar
• egg
• vanilla extract
• semi-sweet chocolate chips
• caramel sauce
• sea salt
HOW TO MAKE SALTED CARAMEL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
The method for these cookies is quite straightforward. But when we add the caramel sauce, you’ll need to follow some crucial instructions to make them juuuuust right.
MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH
STEP #1
We’ll combine all of the dry ingredients then set them aside.
STEP #2
Next, we’ll cream together the butter and brown sugar, then add the egg and vanilla extract before combining the wet ingredients with our whisked dry ingredients.
STEP #3
After we add in the chocolate chips, we’re now working with a simple chocolate chip cookie dough that gets kicked up a notch with the salted caramel sauce.
ADD THE CARAMEL SAUCE
STEP #4
Once the dough has come together, including with the chocolate chips, you’re going to scrape down the sides of the bowl as if you were ready to be done with the dough and moving on to baking it (though don’t clean off the beaters or paddle yet).
STEP #5
You’ll add 3 Tablespoons of your salted caramel sauce to the cookie dough in three different additions. Put one Tablespoon in one spot of the batter, the next in a different spot, and the third in another completely different spot.
STEP #6
Then, turn the mixer to low and let it stir just a few times. Maybe 5 or 6. You want the salted caramel sauce to spread around, but you don’t want to lose it in the batter.
It should be swirly.
And you know what those swirls mean? Cookies with salted caramel puddles. And the good kind of puddles, not the totally-spread-all-over-the-baking-sheet puddles. Contained puddles, held in by the crevices of your cookie and all the chocolate chips.
STEP #7
Once the cookies come out of the oven, give them a little additional pinch of sea salt right on top if you want. This is totally optional but totally encouraged. Because OMG, salted cookies are extra delicious and so necessary.
If you need a chocolate chip cookie that is next level, here it is. Take it and bake it and share it. Because this.is.it.
What I love about these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies is that they start with reliably chewy chocolate chip cookies that get turned into caramel cookies with one simple step.
The recipe is tried, it’s true, it produces a soft cookie with slightly crispy edges, has caramel pieces (or rather swirls) in every bite, and it sure to be one of your new favorite cookies if you are even remotely a fan of the combination of chocolate and caramel.
If you’re looking for a salted caramel cookie that has more of a gooey caramel center of each cookie, look no further than my salted caramel stuffed snickerdoodles, which will change your life. Oooh ooh! Or my dulce de leche chocolate chip cookies that are this same cookie right here but with dulce de leche. Seriously… So many cookies you must try. Go preheat that oven STAT!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and ¼ cup (150g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons (125g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (128g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 Tablespoons (53g) homemade caramel sauce store bought is fine
- coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line a large baking sheet with a parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.1 and ¼ cup (150g) all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate medium size bowl with a hand held mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat again on medium speed until everything is combined and no lumps remain.¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons (125g) firmly packed light brown sugar, 1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2 additions, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the chocolate chips and mix again on low until evenly dispersed.¾ cup (128g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl to gather the batter. In three separate Tablespoon additions, add the homemade caramel sauce, putting each Tablespoon onto a different area of the batter. Turn the mixer on low and allow it to make a few revolutions, just to swirl the caramel sauce around a bit.3 Tablespoons (53g) homemade caramel sauce
- Using a cookie scoop (I use this #50 cookie scoop for all of my standard size cookies), drop rounded balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes until sides just begin to brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with sea salt (if desired), and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days. Baked cookies freeze well, up to 2 months. Rolled cookie dough can be frozen, up to 2 months. Bake frozen on baking sheet for 11-12 minutes.coarse sea salt
Notes
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Can’t wait to try these! Love reading your posts and your step by step explanations! Thank you!
These are delicious! We didn’t have any chocolate chips but wanted to add a little cinnamon – worked just fine. Definitely a fantastic batter that can have little extras added if you like. I will be making these again!
Thanks so much, Jill! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi. Is this a crispy chewy or crispy throughout type of cookies?
Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside!
These turned out amazingly! They were flat with crispy edges & chewy centers. The recipe was fast and easy.
Thanks, Tara 🙂