Ooey gooey Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies are super rich, chocolatey, and are the ultimate cookie dessert for sweet and salty treat lovers!
If you are a cookie lover, Best Super Soft Peanut Butter Cookies, Turtle Thumbprint Cookies, Fudgy Double Chocolate Cookies, and Copycat Swig Sugar Cookies are a MUST TRY.
To me, a cookie needs to be more than one thing. As in, it needs to satisfy a couple of cravings at once. Sweet, of course, but also something else. Sometimes that craving can be for something sweet and crunchy, like these Peanut Butter Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then, other times I want a cookie that is both sweet and (dare I say it?) healthy like these Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.
When I created the recipe for these Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies, I am pretty sure you can imagine what I was craving. That’s right, something sweet and salty. To me, the combination of those two flavors is simply where it’s at. I know I’m not alone in this, right?
I like to eat these cookies straight out of the oven. Even though I KNOW they’re going to be hot, I can barely wait even a minute for one to cool down before I’m burning my fingers, trying to split it in half to make it cool enough for me to eat it (and still burn my tongue anyway). Soooo worth it.
If you don’t like to burn your fingers and tongue though, these are great at room temperature as well, and the caramel will still be soft and chewy.
I do recommend, once cooled, the cookies are stored in an airtight container so that they retain their nice, chewy texture. (And, you can always pop these in the microwave for a few seconds to see to it that your caramel is melted again.)
While these cookies are great to eat all yourself (or maybe even share a few with your family), they are also the perfect treat to make for when you have company, for a bake sale, as an after-school snack, a new neighbor welcome gift, to leave out for Santa, or even as holiday hostess gift.
I think they are a little on the unexpected side and therefore, always the first to get eaten in any event.
What Are Good Caramel Substitutes?
While I made these with caramels in mind, there is no reason you can’t get creative with your cookies’ insides. You could follow the same recipe except substitute another soft candy for the middles (think peanut butter cups, not Jolly Ranchers). I have found that candies like Reese’s cups, Rolo’s, Dove chocolates, Hershey’s miniatures, and even M&Ms can work in the center of these chocolate cookies.
Whether or not you include the sprinkle of salt at the end is up to you. I prefer salt with caramel, but you can leave it off or on or try it both ways to see which works best for your cookie palate.
How Long Will These Cookies Keep?
If you store the Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies in an airtight container, they can keep on your countertop or in your pantry for two to three days. If you choose to refrigerate them, they will last about a week, but keep in mind they will get hard in the fridge and you should leave them out to warm up (or pop them in the microwave) before serving.
You can also freeze these cookies in an airtight container or Ziploc baggie for up to four to five months.
What If I Don’t Have Coarse Sea Salt?
If you don’t have coarse sea salt or sea salt flakes on hand, my recommendation in this case would be to leave off the salt entirely. You can’t really substitute table salt because it will sink into the cookie and just make it taste like you added too much salt or made an error in baking.
The purpose of using a coarser salt is so that it “sits” right at the top of the cookie and so when you bite into it, you’re getting the bite of salt before you sink into the sweetness of the rest of the cookie.
Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter - softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg - at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- 18 Rolo candies - unwrapped
- 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt OR sea salt flakes
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl beat together butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Mix in egg and vanilla until blended.
- Gradually mix in dry ingredients on low speed until just incorporated, don’t over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. (I reserve 1/4 cup for adding at the end) Cover TIGHTLY and chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and take the dough out of the fridge while the oven is preheating.
- Roll 2-3 tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball. Break the ball in half and place one half on a baking sheet. Press a Rolo into the center of the cookie dough, top with remaining half of the cookie dough ball and press down on top of the Rolo to cover it completely. Press a few chocolate chips into the top. Repeat with remaining dough and Rolos, placing cookies about 3 inches apart on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the tops of the cookies are just set. Sprinkle immediately with sea salt to taste, then allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Serve at room temperature for chewy caramel OR for melty caramel, pop a cookie in the microwave for 8-10 seconds (this is for my microwave, you might need to test with yours to find how many seconds yields a melted caramel center). Store in airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Cookie dough adapted from Just So Tasty.
I froze the dough balls (with caramels inside) and the caramel oozed out of almost all of the cookies while baking. Any tips to make that not happen?
A little bit of caramel oozing out is normal but if it was a lot you may just need more cookie dough around the caramel.
Made these for Christmas gifts. Very rich but awesome great! Big hit. Thank you for sharing!
Mine came out delish but much flatter, spread out. Oven was 350 exacty( use hanging thermometer inside oven for exact temp.) Should I use more flour? Side question: Whats the point of room temp egg if ur just gonna chill dough afterwards ? Thanks
Your butter may be too soft. Make sure it’s just at the softened point but not about to melt. If you softened it in the microwave be careful to not leave it in there for too long. You can do 10-15 seconds rotating it every 5 seconds or 30 minutes on the counter should be enough time to let it sit and soften. If that doesn’t work and you’ve done the right amount of sugars and flour, then you can try adding more flour. Also make sure your cookie sheet(s) aren’t over greased which could also cause cookies to flatten. As for the room temperature egg, along with the room temperature or softened butter, helps the dough to cream together better than cold ingredients would. Chilling the dough makes the dough more firm and also helps with preventing flat cookies as it solidifies the fats
Could I make these cookies without stuffing them? Would I need to alter anything?
I would follow instructions as is and then once you pull the dough out of the fridge, I would just roll them into balls and bake them.
Made this recipe a while back as a thank you gift for my professors, who helped me a lot with my papers. It was a big hit! Finished all in a day, they said!
The cookies were also a big hit here at home. 10/10, would bake again 🥹🥹