Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
These Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with homemade caramel were the best selling cookie at my bakery and I’m finally sharing the recipe with you! I know you’ll be obsessed with these caramel cookies, just like all my customers.
If you’re looking for more chocolate chip cookies, try some of my other favorites like Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chewy Chocolate Espresso Cookies, Vanilla Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Kamut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
- Ready In: 28 minutes
- Makes: 18 cookies
- Main Ingredients: salted butter, cane sugar, all purpose flour, chocolate chips
- Flavor Profile: butter, soft, chewy with rich depth of flavor you won't find in any other cookie!
- Dietary Info: no seed oils, gluten free swap available
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: best selling cookie at my bakery
Summarize & Save This Content On
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Buttery and Sweet: The addition of homemade chewy caramel candies inside these chocolate chip cookies gives them a buttery and sweet flavor that nothing else can replicate.
- Soft and Chewy: These are soft and chewy cookies, just like your favorite chocolate chip cookies.
- Depth of Flavor: The addition of homemade caramel adds depth of flavor to regular chocolate chip cookies. This addition makes these chocolate chip cookies taste like classics, but just with a little something extra. If you love caramel, try my Caramel Lollipops too!
- Chocolate + Caramel: Everyone's favorite combination in cookie form! If you love chocolate and caramel, you'll also love Homemade Chewy Chocolate Caramel Candy.
- Make Ahead: Make the homemade caramels ahead of time, this makes the cookies quick and easy to mix up!
Jump to:
- A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Baker’s Tips
- How to Make Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
- What to Serve with Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
- Recipe FAQ’s
- More Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
- Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
- The Bake Shop
If you were a customer at my bakery shop, you’ll know these organic cookies as Mammoth Chocolate Chip Cookies because that’s what we called them. But, in reality they are really Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with homemade caramel as I use my chewy caramel candy recipe inside the dough. This is the secret ingredient we never talked about!
While most people will just put caramel chips inside a ball of dough in cookies, using melted homemade caramel candy inside takes these to a whole new level!
People always said there was something special about these cookies. Something extra, more flavor, buttery, a little sweeter… and they were right. The addition of caramel candies melted into the cookie dough adds a little umami that nothing else can replicate.
And when you make homemade caramel with just 3 organic ingredients, like we did, nothing really compares! So, this may be the only chocolate chip cookies recipe you make now, fair warning.
Ingredients
I’m sharing the exact ingredients we used at my bakery so you can recreate these organic cookies at home if you want them to taste identical to what we sold! These are the ingredients that I think make the most difference. So using the right brands will make these caramel cookies taste identical to what we made at my bakery if you’re looking for that nostalgic cookie!
- Butter: We used Organic Valley Salted Butter.
- Dark Brown Sugar: We made our own homemade dark brown sugar at my bakery, this is key to this recipe. Don’t substitute for light brown sugar as the flavor and color will not be the same. If you don’t want to make your own dark brown sugar, Wholesome makes the most similar dark brown sugar to my recipe which I recommend!
- Vanilla Extract: Use Simply Organic, which is my top choice. Not all vanilla extract is the same and it all has a slightly different flavor.
- Chewy Caramel: You need to make my homemade chewy caramel candies first, before beginning this recipe. This is the secret ingredient that makes these caramel cookies so good. I have never tried these with store bought caramels, so I do not know if they would work the same, especially since most store bought caramels have so many other ingredients, unlike my true caramels which only have sugar, butter and cream.
- All Purpose Flour: Organic all purpose flour gives these caramel cookies a chewy texture.
- Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips: I use Equal Exchange Organic Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, just like we used at my bakery. If you want to use dark chocolate chips or even milk chocolate, you can also do that too.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker’s Tips
- Be sure to make the homemade chewy caramel candies ahead of time before starting the cookies.
- If you don’t have molds to put the candies in, you can just pour it onto a silicone mat and break off a portion to use. Or, you can even pour the caramels into an 8×8-inch baking pan that's lined with parchment paper.
- Make sure your butter is soft. It’s best to let it soften naturally on the counter.
- I use a stand mixer here, but if you want to use a hand mixer, you can also do that too.
- Don’t substitute for light brown sugar as it doesn’t have as rich of a flavor as dark brown, so these cookies won’t taste the same.
- You can make my homemade dark brown sugar if you don’t have any!
- I use semi sweet chocolate chips, but you can use dark or milk chocolate if you prefer. They will have a slightly different flavor.
- If you want to make these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, just sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top after baking.
- Make sure to store in an airtight container so they stay soft and chewy.
- Gluten Free — Replace the all purpose flour with 397 grams (heaping 2 ½ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.
How to Make Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
- Make sure to have my homemade chewy caramel candies made ahead of time. Place in a microwave safe bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, dark brown sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low to medium speed until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the eggs to the mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to a separate bowl and dump into the mixing bowl with the butter. Don't mix yet.
- Microwave the caramel for 45 seconds or until melted.
- Add the melted caramel on top of the flour. Mix on low until combined into a smooth cookie dough.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine completely.
- Using your hands, roll the dough into 18 cookie dough balls and place on the prepared baking sheets spacing evenly apart. You’ll have 6 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 14 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets before serving!
What to Serve with Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
Try these Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with homemade caramel with some of my favorite drinks for the perfect afternoon snack!
- Enjoy with a Caramel Hot Cocoa, Iced Blueberry Latte or Chai Tea Hot Chocolate for an afternoon treat.
- I love having for dessert with a Bone Broth Chocolate Milkshake.
- Make it a mid morning snack with a Berry Protein Smoothie Without Banana!
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes, just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1/2 cup of batter.
The addition of melted chewy caramel candies inside the cookies gives these an intensely buttery and rich flavor. They take classic chocolate chip cookies to a whole new level. Once you try these, you won't want to go back!
Melted caramel adds a buttery, rich depth of flavor to cookies. It doesn't taste overly caramel, it just taste really gourmet, like there's special secret ingredient.
It's best to use my homemade chewy caramel candies that I mention above. This is how we made these cookies at my bakery for over a decade, they have been tested thousands of times.
If you want to try store bought caramels instead of homemade caramel, just be sure it’s a chewy caramel candy. While I haven't tried this before, I'm sure it would work okay.
No, caramel sauce is much runnier than chewy caramel candies. You may think caramel sauce is better because you are melting the candies down anyways, but this is not the case. Chewy caramel candies have a different ratio of sugar, butter and cream, therefore they don't have as much moisture as caramel sauce (which has much more sugar and also cream). So, when it's added to cookies, it doesn't do the same thing. So, you need to use the homemade chewy caramel candies!
Use a microwave safe bowl and melt for 20 to 30 seconds at a time until it's bubbly and melted so it can be incorporated into the dough without chunks. It's important to melt it completely because if you have chunks of chewy caramel still, then it won't incorporate completely into the dough and will be chunks of chewy caramel.
It shouldn't be super sticky, you should be able to easily work with it with your hands (check the video to see exactly what it looks like). If your dough is super sticky, it can be from measuring incorrectly. So, always use a digital food scale for the best results. And, if your eggs are too large, it can also cause the dough to become a bit sticky. You can pop the dough in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes to help if needed.
If your eggs are too large it can cause too much cookie spread. You can weigh eggs to ensure you get the right amount. One large egg should weigh about 50 grams, so you can weigh them and then save excess for scrambled eggs for breakfast!
When the middle looks set and the edges look dry.
Yes, there's a simple substitution in the Notes at the bottom of the recipe. I linked the exact flour we used at my bake shop when making these gluten free too!
The caramel I use here is homemade, made with only cane sugar, butter and cream. So, this caramel adds a very rich and buttery flavor and also texture. It really gives the cookies a soft and buttery texture, it's so delicious!
Store in an airtight container so they stay soft and chewy. You can store them at room temperature for up to a week, but they'll last longer in the refrigerator too.
Yes, you can store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just thaw in the fridge or at room temperature and they are ready to enjoy!
More Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
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Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with Homemade Caramel
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Microwave Safe Bowl
- Half Sheet Pan
Ingredients
- 170 grams salted butter (softened)
- 113 grams cane sugar
- 113 grams dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 113 grams chewy caramel candies
- 2 large eggs
- 383 grams all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 284 grams semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Make sure to have my chewy caramel candies made ahead of time.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, dark brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low to medium speed until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the eggs to the mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to a separate bowl and dump into the mixing bowl with the butter. Don't mix yet.
- Microwave the caramel for 45 seconds or until melted.
- Add the melted caramel on top of the flour. Mix on low until combined into a smooth cookie dough.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine completely.
- Using your hands, roll the dough into 18 cookie dough balls and place on the prepared baking sheets spacing evenly apart. You’ll have 6 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 14 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
Video
Notes
- Be sure to make the homemade chewy caramel candies ahead of time before starting the cookies.
- If you don’t have molds to put the candies in, you can just pour it onto a silicone mat and break off a portion to use. Or, you can even pour the caramels into an 8×8-inch baking pan that's lined with parchment paper.
- Make sure your butter is soft. It’s best to let it soften naturally on the counter.
- I use a stand mixer here, but if you want to use a hand mixer, you can also do that too.
- Don’t substitute for light brown sugar as it doesn’t have as rich of a flavor as dark brown, so these cookies won’t taste the same.
- You can make my homemade dark brown sugar if you don’t have any!
- I use semi sweet chocolate chips, but you can use dark or milk chocolate if you prefer. They will have a slightly different flavor.
- If you want to make these salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, just sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top after baking.
- Make sure to store in an airtight container so they stay soft and chewy.
- Gluten Free — Replace the all purpose flour with 397 grams (heaping 2 ½ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
The Bake Shop
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These are the cookies my friends ask for over and over again!