Soft-baked and fudgy, with a gooey caramel surprise center, these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies are sure to satisfy more than one craving in a single cookie! They won a Nestlé Toll House award back in 2013, and have been a popular favorite since!
I have hundreds of cookie recipes on my website (and a whole book full of them in Sally’s Cookie Addiction), but how many can include “award-winning” in their title?
When I originally published my salted caramel dark chocolate cookies in 2013, NestléToll House invited me to participate in their Dark Chocolate Pinspirations Sweepstakes. My salted caramel dark chocolate cookies won 1st place! They were in great company with several other mouthwatering dark chocolate-inspired recipes in the contest. What an honor to be included among such a tasty bunch!
This award-winning dessert recipe comes together with an easy cookie dough and even easier assembly process. Stuffing these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies is as simple as wrapping the chocolatey dough around a Rolo caramel candy. The dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours, but you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.
Why You’ll Love These
- Soft-baked and thick, yet dense and fudgy like homemade brownies
- Recipe is easily doubled
- Satisfies the most intense chocolate cravings
- Easy to stack and transport (pro tip: don’t show up to your next gathering without a batch)
- Made from 1 easy, versatile cookie dough
- Stuffed with soft Rolo chocolate caramel candies
Grab your sweet tooth, a few chocolate-loving friends, and your cookie baking tools. Let’s do this!
Start With a Multipurpose Chocolate Cookie Dough
These cookies start with my go-to, dependable chocolate cookie dough. My recipe for double chocolate chip cookies produces an incredibly soft and fudge-like chocolate dough. With a dough that good, you bet I’ve used it to make just about every chocolate cookie combo you can think of, like chocolate crinkle cookies, inside-out chocolate chip cookies, and peppermint mocha cookies.
For today’s cookies, and for all of my variations using this same cookie dough, you need very basic kitchen ingredients, including:
- Flour: All-purpose flour makes up the base of these cookies.
- Cocoa Powder: Make sure you use natural cocoa powder here. If you’re interested in learning why, read this post on Dutch-process vs. natural cocoa powder.
- Baking Soda: To give these cookies a lift in the oven.
- Salt: To balance the sweet.
- Butter: Remember that room-temperature butter is not as warm as you think. Let it sit out for only 1 hour before starting. It will be cool to the touch.
- Egg: To bind ingredients together and add richness.
- Sugar: A mix of brown and granulated sugars is key here to achieve the perfect balance of texture.
- Milk: A little liquid is necessary in this dough. You can use any kind of milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Vanilla Extract: Even the most chocolatey cookies need a kiss of vanilla!
- Chocolate Chips: You can use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I love making these with dark chocolate chips.
Then Add 2 Special Ingredients
The following 2 ingredients turn basic chocolate cookies into fancy-schmancy salted caramel dark chocolate cookies. The “bells and whistles” of today’s recipe, if you will.
- Rolos or Soft Caramels: I prefer to use Rolo caramel candies as the caramel filling here, just like these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies. You could use a regular soft caramel candy instead (like the Kraft caramels you see in these salted caramel pecan chocolate chip cookies), or try using homemade caramel candies.
- Sea Salt: To balance the sweetness, add a pinch of flaky sea salt right before baking. If you love the salty-sweet pairing here, try my salted caramel turtle brownies.
How to Shape & Fill These Cookies
What kind of hoops must we jump through to create these caramel surprise cookies? Great news: assembling these couldn’t be easier.
Add caramel centers: Take 2 Tablespoons of chilled cookie dough and divide in half. Roll each ball with your hands. Place the Rolo or caramel candy into the center of one ball (similar to a cradle). Top the candy with the other ball of dough and seal the sides together so that the candy is securely stuffed inside. The process is very similar to these caramel snickerdoodles and these Nutella crinkle cookies.
Then bake!
Be sure to try a baked cookie once it’s cool enough to handle. You need to experience the “caramel pull” for yourself. Just wait until you see your taste testers’ faces when they realize there’s a creamy, sweet caramel hiding inside the salted dark chocolate cookie. A look of surprise, followed by pure bliss!!
The cookies are still wonderfully soft on day 2… if they make it that long!
Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.8 from 21 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 18 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Description
This award-winning recipe comes together with an easy cookie dough and even easier assembly process. Stuffing these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies is as simple as wrapping the chocolatey dough around a Rolo caramel candy! The dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours, but you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 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 ()
- 2/3 cup (55g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
- 18 chocolate-coated caramels, such as Rolos (or use regular caramels)*
- flaky or coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preliminary note: This cookie dough requires at least 3 hours of chilling, but I prefer to chill the dough overnight. The colder the dough, the easier it is to handle and shape.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium high speed until fluffy and light in color, about 2–3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and then beat on high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour the dry into the wet ingredients. Beat on low until combined. The cookie dough will be thick. Switch to medium-high speed and beat in the milk, then the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be sticky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop 2 Tablespoons (40g) of dough and divide in half. Roll each half into a ball. Make a thumb indent into 1 ball and place a caramel candy in the center. Top with other ball of dough and seal down the sides, enclosing the candy inside. Repeat with remaining dough and caramel candies.Tip: The cookie dough is certainly sticky, so wipe your hands clean after every few balls of dough you shape.
- Arrange stuffed cookie dough balls 2–3 inches apart on the baking sheets and sprinkle each lightly with sea salt.
- Bake the cookies for 12–13 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2–3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. During this time, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. (This is optional and only for looks.) Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (step 3). Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls (with caramel candy center) also freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Check out my tips + tricks for how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Caramel Candies to Use: I usually use Rolo candies, but you can use square caramel candies, such as Kraft caramels. If using the square caramels, cut them in half and use half in each cookie. Make sure the caramels are recently purchased and still soft; if they are hard, they will not soften in the oven. You can also use homemade caramels. Cut them so they are roughly the size of a Rolo candy.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
