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Chocolate-Chunk Caramel Cookies

Could these be the best cookies ever? Possibly. They were very, very popular. Very popular.

Actually, there was nothing surprising about these cookies. They were just very tasty. Not earth shattering, but they had a quality that made you reach for a second right after you finished the first. They also left a pleasant caramel-y aftertaste behind.

I baked them as a graduation gift for my neighbor’s daughter, who just finished high school. (Nice to know that some kids are easy to please, right?) I left out the nuts because when you’re taking something for a group of kids, I think it is better to be safe than to have to contend with nut allergies. The kids also didn’t get actual chocolate chunks in the cookies, as I decided not to use my 71% Valrhona block of chocolate. They got stuck having Callebaut 56% chocolate chips. I’m sure they all cried themselves to sleep.

Just kidding. Those chocolate chips are fantastic!

The recipe is from Epicurious. I thought that it was a great way to use up some of the caramels I had lying around the house. It was tedious to chop up the caramels, but I followed the advice of other reviewers and coated the pieces in flour as I worked. I also made sure to use parchment paper to line my baking sheets. By letting the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, I allowed the caramel to re-solidify, making removal to the cooling rack very easy.
I also cut the baking time, so here’s the recipe with my notes included.

Chocolate Chunk Caramel Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

6 ounces chocolate, chopped (or 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips)

18-20 caramels, such as Kraft (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place 1 tablespoon of the flour into a small bowl. Chop each caramel into 6-8 pieces and lightly coat with the flour. Whisk together remaining flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time. Don’t worry if the batter separates, just keep beating until it becomes smooth. Stir in flour mixture, followed by caramels and chocolate chunks/chips until batter is uniform and no streaks of flour remain.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Cookies will spread, so allow at least 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 10-11 minutes, until cookies are lighlty browned around the edges. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. If the cookies stick to the parchment, allow them to cool longer before moving them.

Makes about 4 dozen.

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16 Comments
  • Clare Eats
    July 2, 2005

    Yum!
    But Nic who has caramels just left lying around?? lol

  • T
    July 2, 2005

    oh my goodness these are like my dream cookies! i adore caramel and chocolate together, and of course cookies are my favorite confection of all- thanks for sharing this recipe!

  • Nic
    July 2, 2005

    Clare – Good point. I actually bought an ungodly amount of caramels when they were on sale. A girl can only eat so many at a time!

    Tanvi – Make them. I bet your family will really enjoy them, too.

  • Cathy
    July 2, 2005

    oooh, they sound really good! What a great idea for a graduation gift. Poor things, though, having to make due with Callebaut 56%!

  • Nic
    July 2, 2005

    Cathy – Such is the tragedy of being a teenager! =)

  • Emily
    July 3, 2005

    i’ve made cookies with bits of the toffee in there.. but never the caramel! they sound like a wonderful addition.. mmm.

  • Ana
    July 3, 2005

    Look at it this way Nic, those teenagers might have had to contend with Baker’s chocolate chips or worse still, no-name brand. Those cookies sound really decadent.

  • Helen (AugustusGloop)
    July 3, 2005

    What a great idea. These look so sweet and good!

  • Niki
    July 4, 2005

    Ooh yes, another thing I’d like to make
    Incidentally, I was wondering earlier if you’ve thought about creating an index for your site? There’s quite a lot of things you’ve posted that I’d like to make, but if I don’t bookmark them, and then forget I don’t have a way of looking for them again. It also would give us a great resource of all your things we could try. Zarah Maria and I use the same format for our indexes, and yes, it’s a pain to create it, but I reckon it’s worth it. I’ve monitored a lot of visitors using mine.

  • anna
    July 4, 2005

    It’s sound good! I love cookie very much. into caramel ant nuts are very good! I wanna try to it.

  • rowena
    July 4, 2005

    Well, looks like I’ll have to add this to the list of treats to bring for an upcoming bbq. Caramel in cookies? I should have thought of that sooner! Those look like they could hit the spot right now with a cold glass of milk!

  • Nic
    July 4, 2005

    Emily – I like having chocolate covered toffee bits in cookies, too. Yum!

    Ana – They’re spoiled and they don’t even know it. They taste it, but they don’t know it.

    AugustusGloop – Sweet is a high priority for me here. =)

    Niki – Ok, ok. I give in! I’ll create an index! Honestly, I’ve been thinking about doing it for some time. I kept going back and forth on trying to decide between narrow categories and broad ones. Hopefully I’ll get it done soon. Thanks for the push.

    Anna – I hope you do get a chance to try these.

    Rowena – Milk, coffee, and more cookies are all good accompaniments here. I’m sure your friends at the BBQ will enjoy them!

  • Nic
    July 4, 2005

    The index had been created. There is a link to it in to sidebar, along with a link directly to the “recipes by category page”. Enjoy!

  • ROhan
    July 13, 2005

    These were awesome

    I didnt have access to Caramel. So had to make my own, which was kinda messy. But yeah. Really neat cookies

  • Rainey
    July 23, 2005

    I just found this blog and this recipe. I tried them yesterday and I bet they’re fabulous. The prob with knowing for sure is that, after walking a mile to Whole Foods in Woodland HIlls in 110 degree weather to get caramels, I found out that a brown out was interfering with my oven. It took me about 20 minutes to bake the cookies and by that time they were wafer thin and the caramel had gone crunchy. Thank god I had only gotten ordinary chocolate chips because they were half melted from my walk back from WF!

    Your blog is a MONSTER!!! ;>

  • jessica
    January 12, 2009

    They are so goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

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