Chocolate Caramel Cookies
These are the best chocolate caramel cookies! Fudgy chocolate thumbprint cookies are filled with homemade salted caramel sauce and sprinkled with sea salt.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cookies
- 1 1/2 cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 cup (40 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 cup (168 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated white sugar
- 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Salted Caramel
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
- 5 tbsp (70 g) salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (depending on preference)
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cookies
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder together. Then set aside the flour mixture.1 1/2 cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, 1/2 cup (40 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp sea salt
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated white sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed. (You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.)3/4 cup (168 g) unsalted butter, softened, 3/4 cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed, 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated white sugar
- Add in the egg yolks and vanilla and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2. minutes.2 egg yolks, at room temperature, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Scoop the dough in 32 portions with a tablespoon-size cookie scoop and roll into balls. Directly after rolling into a ball, press each with a 1/4 tsp to make an indent. Chill the dough for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 15 minutes before you're ready to bake the cookies.
- Arrange 12 cookies per large, parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes. (I think 10 is perfect.)When the cookies are straight out of the oven lightly press down on the centers again with a ΒΌ tsp. (They may have lost their indent a little as they baked.) Scoot a circular cookie cutter/biscuit cutter around each cookie while they are still hot to give them a perfect circular shape, and to get them back to their original smaller size.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to completely cool.
For the Salted Caramel Sauce
- Add the granulated white sugar to a large sauce pan and heat it over medium low heat. As the sugar is heating it will crystalize and then eventually all melt down and turn golden in color. When most of the sugar has melted, but there are still a few crystalized clumps, turn the heat down to low so the melted sugar doesn't burn. (Melting all the sugar takes around 20 minutes.)1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
- Once all the sugar has melted and turned golden in color, add in the butter right away. Stir quickly until the butter is incorporated.5 tbsp (70 g) salted butter, softened
- Then add in the heavy cream and stir quickly again to incorporate everything together. (At this point if you see the butter and cream start to separate from the sugar turn the heat up to medium low and stir vigorously to combine everything together. This can happen if your butter and cream aren't room temperature.)1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
- Lastly, add in the sea salt and vanilla and stir to combine.1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (depending on preference), 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Let the caramel simmer on low for 2-3 minutes, then remove it from the heat and allow to cool completely before using.
Assembling the Cookies
- Once the cookies are cooled, fill each with a heaping teaspoon of caramel. Sprinkle sea salt on top and serve!
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