Hi guys! Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction here again. I’ve been on a cookie baking kick lately.
Perhaps it’s the nostalgia from my childhood milk & cookie snack time or my never-ending love for chocolate chips. Maybe it’s the unparalleled & addictive smell wafting from the kitchen as they bake inside the oven. Or the endless possibilities of add-ins you can throw into the dough. Cookies are where I let my creative juices flow.
And most recently? I added a little something salty to my sweet chocolate chip cookie – I may never want a plain cookie again!
Chewy and soft, these chocolate chip cookies are full of gooey caramel, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and a light sprinkle of sea salt. I’ve recently fallen victim to the force that is salted caramel. My favorite frosting is FULL of it. There is no better match for a chocolate chip cookie. You’re simply going to fall in love.
The cookie dough recipe itself is my favorite. I use an extra egg yolk to keep the cookies moist, extra brown sugar to keep the cookies soft, and lots of taste-tasting for good measure! To the dough, add chopped caramels and chocolate chips. I went overboard on the chocolate chips because in my world… you can never have too much chocolate.
When the cookies are finished, give them a nice sprinkle of sea salt. The ending result will make your head spin.
These beauties are soft, gooey, sweet, salty, and chocolate chip-y. What more could you ask for? They are, without a doubt, my new favorite chocolate chip cookie!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from rainbow m&m cookies
makes 3 dozen
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 16 wrapped caramels, cut into 4 or 5 pieces each
- sea salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
With an electric mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms (may take a couple minutes of stirring). Fold in the chocolate chips (do not add the caramels yet). Do not overmix the dough at any point in this process.
Chill dough for at least 30 minutes (or up to 5 days) in the refrigerator. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Press a few pieces of caramel onto the tops of the cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. The centers should appear very soft and puffy. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt while they are warm. Let cool completely and enjoy!
*Make sure to keep dough cold at all times while the batches are baking. I kept my dough in the refrigerator in between batches.
Recipe source: SALLYSBAKINGADDICTION.COM
© Sally’s Baking Addiction. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Check out some of our similar cookie recipes!!
Low Fat Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Cory,
This is one tasty roundup of cookies! It is amazing what a little salt will do to the flavor of food!
Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
I agree! You can’t go wrong with salt + caramel + chocolate
thanks for letting me guest post again Cory! now i want these cookies again – i made them 2 weeks ago!
Oh, Sally! These look incredible! I love adding sea salt to my CCC but salted caramels? Oh my world! Need to try it ASAP!
Anna, I think Sally is onto something. I have to try these!
Oh, Sally, Sally. She is amazing, isn’t she? As are these cookies–they look to die for!
Hi Hayley! I know, I must make them soon.
Sally!! I get such rave reviews for all the cookies I make from your recipes…I know this one will be a HUGE holiday hit! And I’m liking HugeCooking so far…keep up the good job guys!
Hi Keyia! We are loving having Sally as a cookie guest.
These cookies look so good, we can’t wait to make them ourselves!
These are lovely! I would love to have one or two…
Thanks Katarina! Let us know if you bake up a batch
Sally I saw this pic on the top row of FG and it was INSTANTLY recognizable as a “Sally shot”. I knew it was yours before I even clicked over
Everything about them looks and sounds fabulous!
Thank you Averie!!! I’m glad I’m finding photography style and that my photos are recognizable! I can’t believe it is top row, such an honor especially since these cookies are SO easy!
I just made these after seeing them on Pinterest. They turned out wonderful! I especially like how detailed your recipe was. Thanks!
Thank you Lauren! I’m so glad you enjoyed my cookie recipe! – Sally
What beautiful photos! What’s not to like about chocolate and caramel?? Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for the compliment on my photos, Vespa! – Sally
These were AMAZING! I am up making them at 1 AM because my daughter is craving cookies! LOL! SO glad I did!
Thanks Faye!! I always crave cookies at midnight LOL!
Just made these! I like them, but have to say that cutting the caramels into four pieces is not enough. That comes out to less than two pieces of caramel per cookie if you make three dozen cookies as the recipes says. The cookies in the photo seem to have four pieces of caramel per. Next time I’ll cut the caramels into smaller pieces. Love the recipe otherwise! Thanks for sharing. These will sell quickly at my work bake sale.
Thanks Warren! So glad you made them! The more caramels, the better.
Hi Sally,
You mention adding an extra yolk (I see that in the recipe) and brown sugar. I am assuming you indicate this in the recipe. Correct? I can’t wait to make them for an upcoming cookie exchange at work.
Hi Jennifer – yes, the recipe states an extra egg yolk and brown sugar. Hope you enjoy them!
Bummer, I made these and while delicious, my caramel melted and bubbled out, not looking at all like the pictures. I used homemade caramels so that might have been why. I’m going to retry with some refrigerated caramels to try melting less.
Hi Nora! I’m sorry I’m just seeing this comment now – it was trapped in spam! Try using harder caramels – mine were hard & store bought. You need to be careful with soft ones! Hope they worked out.
hi Sally, i tried the salted caramel chocolate chip cookies recipe and the cookies were a huge hit! i’m a big fan of yours, all the way from malaysia.
keep baking, and i wish you a merry Christmas in advance 
Merry christmas! I’m sorry I am just seeing this now – I am SO glad you enjoyed these cookies!
Sally,
I recently moved overseas and am having a heck of a time locating wrapped caramels. I have been able to find caramel sauce, however…do ou think this could work? Maybe put a few drops on top just before pulling them out of the oven/or as soon as I take them out?
Thanks!
Hi Sarah – caramel sauce will be way too drippy for these cookies unfortunately. You could always drizzle some caramel on top after they bake. But caramel candies must be used here. I hope this helps!
hi! i made these the other day (tried 2 batches – one as above, and one with gf baking flour) and they were fantastic — except my cookies remained rather puffy, not nice and flat and as crispy looking as yours. I couldn’t let them bake any longer for fear of burning the bottom. So did I do something wrong in terms of my dough (mix too much or not enough)? Or a bad ingredient? Any thoughts? Is my oven too hot, or did I use the wrong pan? Thanks!!!
Hey Erica! My cookies aren’t crispy at all, they are rather soft. Was your butter softened? You could have beat the sugars + butter together for too long which pushes air into the dough. Or the leavener may not have been measured accurately? I also suggest using an oven thermometer. I know my oven runs 10-15 degrees hotter than the dial!
Amazing. I used Werther’s soft caramels and they were perfect. Great cookie! Will be saving this recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies!
I tried these cookies exactly per the recipe. The dough spread too quickly and the caramel stuck to my non-stick pan. We ate them anyway, but they weren’t pretty. The second time around, I used a different cookie recipe – one that calls for 3 cups of flour instead of two. That way the cookies were cakier and could support the caramel better. Still really good, but didn’t look like the picture. The caramel melts through the dough – it liquifies and doesn’t sit on top like the picture. I am going to go for round three in a few days – this time I will not add the caramel until the cookies are about 1/2 through the bake time. I’ll report back.
I just made these cookies and they are awesome!! I made half the batch without chocolate chips cuz my son doesn’t like them. They were just as good with the dough and caramel!!! Thanx for a great recipe!
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Hey, I just made these and they are great! Even though mine don’t look as “sunk in” as yours, and I had to bake them for about 13 minutes. But I love them thanks!
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This recipe sounds amazing!! I’m about to try and make a batch tonite for mother’s day. I was wondering what the extra 2 tablespoons of flour is for? The recipe reads: 2 cups + 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour….is it to toss with the chocolate chips?
thanks for your help
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Hi Sally!
These look so good!!! I was wondering what caramels did you use??
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I just used individually wrapped kraft caramels
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I love caramel in just about everything! These look great!
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Natasha,
The same thing happened to me yesterday! What I did was bake the cookies without the caramel pieces and then when they came out of the oven, I pressed the caramel pieces into the hot cookie. This worked a lot better!
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These are amazing! But it took some trial and error to figure out how to bake them perfectly. The caramel definitely leaks out of the cookie during baking and sticks to the baking sheet which them makes it nearly impossible to get the cookies off the cookie sheet in one piece. To help this problem I freeze the caramels before adding them to the cookie, and I use parchments paper on the cookie sheet. If the caramel does leak out of the cookie you can just cut it away from the edge of the cookie. These definitely are my new favorite!!!
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