Soft, melt in your mouth salted caramel chocolate thumbprint cookies are the perfect combination of sweet and salty for caramel and chocolate lovers.
For more ooey, gooey, chocolate-packed, sweet, moist, crumbly, delicious cookies, head on over to my popular recipes for Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies, Fudgy Double Chocolate Cookies, and Hot Chocolate Meltaway Cookies.
Why This Recipe Works
Caramel and Chocolate — Of the most delicious cookie flavor combinations, chocolate and caramel are right up there at the top of the list. These soft, chewy cookies combine chocolate and caramel in the most delicious way!
Sea Salt — The only way to improve upon a chewy caramel centered cookie? Add a little sea salt of course! But if salted caramel just isn’t your thing don’t worry, leave it off!
So simple — These easy chocolate caramel cookies only take 30 minutes, and that’s WITH baking time included! Seriously! It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Ingredients
- Butter — I use unsalted butter but if you like a little extra salt in your cookies then you can use salted cookies. You might want to omit the salt though if you only have salted butter but don’t want too much salt in your cookies.
- Granulated sugar — Any granulated, all-purpose sugar is fine.
- Cocoa powder — Definitely use cocoa powder here. In addition to adding a lovely, light chocolatey flavor, it also helps to absorb liquids in the cookies, so thy stay nice and soft and fluffy.
- Milk — I prefer to use whole milk or 2% in these chocolate turtle cookies. I would stay away from skim as I find it to be too watery.
- Baking powder — Baking powder gives these cookies their light, fluffy texture.
- Baking soda — Baking soda is another ingredient that helps the cookies to rise. Making them super, extra fluffy and airy.
- Caramel — Classic, individually-wrapped square caramels work great here. You can also use caramel baking bits.
- Heavy Cream – This is key to keeping the caramel soft and chewy and making sure it doesn’t get too hard after the cookies cool. Do not leave it out!
Here’s How You Make It
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, you’ll go ahead and cream together the butter and sugar, then mix in the cocoa powder and milk.
- Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Then, roll the dough into small balls (about 1 1/2-2 inches wide), and place on the prepared baking sheet. Use your thumb to press down in the centers of the balls to make an indent.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes until cookies look dry and start to crack a bit around the top. (I prefer to under cook mine a little bit so they stay very soft and chewy.)
- In a microwave-safe bowl combine caramels and heavy cream. Microwave, stir, and microwave a bit longer til caramel is completely melted and smooth. Spoon a bit of caramel into the center of each cooling cookie.
- Cool at least 10 minutes before serving. Store at room temperature in airtight container up to 3-4 days.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- These easy chocolate turtle cookies can be kept in the fridge or stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
- Some great ideas for topping these thumbprint cookies include the Rolo/pecan combination and also: Rolo/pretzel, plain caramel/peanut M&M, white chocolate Hershey’s kiss/walnut, Hershey’s dark chocolate kiss/pretzel, and more.
- You can make these up to a day ahead of time by making the batter and putting it in the fridge, then scooping out to bake the next day and topping as directed.
The name “thumbprint cookie” comes from the way these cookies look — as though someone pressed into the middle with their thumb. Typically, the “thumbprint” hole you’ve left is filled with jam, jelly, or chocolate. The cookies originated in Sweden, where they are referred to as “hallongrotta,” which means “raspberry cave.” Very fitting, no?
Baking soda, also called sodium bicarbonate and baking powder are both ingredients used to make baked goods rise, but their chemical make ups are different.
Baking soda is alkaline, which means it’s a base that, when mixed with an acid (like vinegar), you’ll get a reaction (like bubbles, which make things rise). Baking soda will rise all on its own when heated.
Baking powder is a combination of baking soda and dry acid (like cream of tartar and/or cornstarch). Because it already contains an acid, it doesn’t need anything to help it rise/activate.
Using both together helps it by allowing the baked goods to rise (baking powder) and also neutralize the acids in the recipe and add the chewy tenderness (baking soda) you love about these cookies.
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Chocolate Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons salted butter - softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅔ cup caramels
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream - may sub whole milk
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet.
- In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Mix in cocoa powder and milk.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Roll dough into small balls (about 1 1/2-2 inches wide) and place on prepared baking sheet. Use your thumb to press down in the centers of the balls to make an indent.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes until cookies look dry and start to crack a bit around the top. (I prefer to undercook mine a little bit so they stay very soft and chewy) Gently press down the centers again. Allow to cool.
- In a microwave-safe bowl combine caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir, and return to microwave for 20 second increments mixing after each until smooth.
- Spoon caramel into the center of each cookie. Sprinkle sea salt over the top. Allow to cool slightly before serving or store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3-4 days.
These look amazing! Does the caramel “harden” as in get firm? I am assuming it does but wanted to check! Thanks!
It does! But stays nice and chewy, not rock hard.
I’ve made these cookies several times, but they always spread out so much. How can I prevent this?
It may be from your butter being too soft to the melting point. If it’s too soft or melted your cookies will spread. You can even try putting the dough in the fridge for an hour or so before rolling them out.