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Chocoholics - this one is for you. If you're looking for a rich, fudgy, salty, and gooey caramel cookie, look no further. These salted caramel brownie cookies are out of this world amazing. Imagine the best of a brownie - a crackly top, with a soft and fudgy interior in cookie form, and filled with gooey caramel and topped with flaky sea salt. These cookies are homey and ultimate comfort food, but upscale and indulgent at the same time, like a chocolate truffle.
I recommend using Kraft or Werther's Originals Chewy Caramels for these cookies, but any chewy caramel will do. I like to roll the caramels into balls before stuffing into the cookie batter so that the edges don't stick out of the cookie and harden while baking.
How to make Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies
The foundation of these cookies is chocolate so be sure to choose the best bittersweet chocolate within your budget. Ghirardelli or Guittard are good grocery store brands to use. Before preparing the cookie dough, melt the chocolate. I prefer to do this in the microwave. Heat for 30 second increments until mostly melted, with just a few chunks of unmelted chocolate remaining. Then, gently stir until all the chocolate has melted. Let the chocolate cool to room temperature.
Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt are whisked together to combine and break up any lumps. Butter and sugar are beated until light and fluffy followed by the eggs. The mixture is then whipped until light and creamy. Make sure your butter and eggs are room temperature so that the mixture doesn't split. A cold mixture could also result in some seized chocolate when the melted chocolate is added. Room temperature melted chocolate is added, followed by the dry ingredients and additional chocolate chips.
You'll notice the dough seems a bit wet, almost like brownie batter, but it will start to firm up quickly, so don't let the dough sit too long before scooping out the cookies. You don't want to refrigerate this dough as it will get too hard to scoop. I used a large 2oz ice cream scoop, but you can also use ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop out the cookies. Scoop enough dough to fill half of the scoop. Insert the caramel ball in the center and scoop more dough to fill the scoop and cover the caramel.
These cookies spread a bit so I bake them on two cookie sheets - 6 cookies on each. Since these cookies are really rich, you can use a smaller scoop to make smaller cookies if you wish. Sprinkle the tops with a bit of flaky salt. Bake the cookies until they have crackly tops and look just set, but not wet. Don't over bake.
Unfortunately, these cookies can not be made in advance. They will harden and won't spread right in the oven. Luckily, they don't take very long to make and they're so so worth it.
If you make these salted caramel brownie cookies, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.
Enjoy!
Ash xx
For more cookie recipes, check out these posts:
Espresso Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles
Pistachio Cherry Linzer Cookies
Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (103g) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10 ounces (283g) bittersweet chocolate
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (170g) semi or bittersweet chocolate chips
- 12 chewy caramels
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in 30 second increments until mostly melted. Stir until fully melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine and break up any lumps.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well incorporated, scraping the bowl after each addition.
- Increase the speed to high and beat until light and creamy.
- Decreas the speed to low. Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
- Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Use a large 2oz ice cream scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop the cookies.
- Roll the caramels into a ball shape.
- Scoop enough of the cookie dough to fill half of the scoop. Press one of the caramel balls into the dough.
- Scoop more dough to cover up the caramel and fill the scoop.
- Scoop the cookies and place them on to the cookie sheets - 6 on each, leaving at least 2 inches in between each cookie.
- Top the cookies with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
- Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes until they are crackly and look just set. If you are baking in batches do not refrigerate or the cookies will not spread as they should.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Serve warm for gooey puddles of chocolate and caramel.
Sheba
Hi there! If I wanted to make them just a little smaller what size scoop or cup should I use?
Ashley
Hi Sheba! I would use a 2tbsp size scoop and only 1/2 of a caramel. -Ash
Sheba
Thank you!
Shenoa
Had real problems with this recipe. I used the 1/4 cup to scoop and my cookies turned out gargantuan and the caramel didn't spread at all so I have an 1.5 inches of cookie all around and then a caramel center that didn't melt at all. For all the work these cookies took I'm pretty bummed. Not to mention in trying to get them off the pan I sprayed liberally mind you, all the centers popped out and/or broke the cookie in half. 😭
Ashley
Hi Shenoa. Hmm, let's see if we can troubleshoot what could have gone wrong. I did see that you used baking spray and not parchment paper as directed in step 1. Parchment paper helps cookies bake more evenly but also keeps them from spreading out too fast, which is likely why the cookies spread and cooked faster than the caramel melted. Caramel melts at 150F, so if it didn't melt, that tells me that everything around it baked too hot or too fast. These cookies should bake up to be large but also thicker with a hidden caramel center. Ash
MMW
There are no caramels listed on the ingredients list. 🤔
Ashley
All fixed! Sorry about that.