Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies
I usually make these around this time of year. This year is kind of a crap shoot tho lol
I hate recipe blogs and websites because of all the droning on and on about absolutely nothing, so I'll just copy and paste and add my notes.
Ingredients
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
(always use unsalted butter when baking sweet stuff)
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
(leveled)
2/3 cup (58g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
1 and 1/2 cups (270g) Nestlé® Toll House® Dark Chocolate Morsels
(I use Ghiradelli)
16–17 chocolate coated caramels
(Rollos or mini Rollos are my favorite to use)
coarse sea salt (
wrong. coarse sea salt is really annoying to crunch on, in my opinion, but if you go to certain fancier grocery stores - specialty item grocery stores, whole foods, even amazon I'm sure - you should be able to find fleur de sel. Fleur de sel is a sea salt that is somewhat coarse, but thinner, flakier, and more delicate. It melts faster when it hits the mouth, but you can still appreciate the texture.)
Instructions
Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed for about 20 seconds.
Add the sugars with the mixer running on medium speed. Cream it all together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate medium size bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Slowly add to the wet ingredients. Stir in the milk, then fold in the dark chocolate morsels. The dough will be thick and very sticky. Chill for at least 1-2 hours.
(This will help when you go to form/shape the cookies as the dough consistency is hellllla sticky)
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
Take 2 Tablespoons of chilled dough and split in half and roll each into a ball with your hands. Stick a caramel into 1 ball of dough. Top the caramel with the other ball of dough and seal down the sides so that the caramel is securely stuffed inside. Repeat with the rest of the dough and 18 caramel candies. Sprinkle each with sea salt before putting into the oven.
(I like to use one of those mini ice cream / cookie dough scoops. I have a 2tbsp sized one that works pretty well for this.)
Bake for 12-13 minutes. Cookies will appear undone and very soft. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw.
