These thick, soft and chewy caramel stuffed chocolate chip cookies are filled with soft caramels and sprinkled with flaky salt. I based this recipe off my perfect high altitude chocolate chip cookies, but filled the center of each cookie with a soft caramel candy. They have the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors, and are totally addictive!
Looking for more high altitude cookie recipes? You’ll love these double chocolate chip rye cookies, flourless peanut butter cookies, and homemade oatmeal cream pies.
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Why You’ll Love These Cookies
Salty and Sweet. Who doesn’t love a good salty sweet cookie? There’s a delicious balance of flavors in these cookies, with the sweet caramels, bittersweet chocolate chips and flaky salt.
Thick, Soft and Chewy. When baking cookies at high altitude, one of the most common problems is cookies that spread too much into thin, flat cookies. I’ve carefully tested the ingredients and method to ensure cookies that are perfectly thick, soft and chewy.
Quick and Easy to Make. Put your mixer away for this recipe, because you won’t need it! The cookie dough comes together quickly and easily with just a bowl and spoon.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. My high altitude recipe for chocolate chip cookies is just the best. It’s quick and easy to make the dough, with no mixer needed. After a brief chill time, the cookies bake up thick, soft and chewy, and are simply perfect!
- Soft Caramels. You can use any brand of caramels, although some are harder and chewier than others. Softer caramels work best in these caramel stuffed chocolate chip cookies, and I used Werther’s Original Soft Caramels.
Instructions
Flatten the caramels.
- Unwrap the caramels and shape each into a flat disk, about the size of a nickel. Set aside.
Make the cookie dough.
- In a bowl, combine the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Use a wooden spoon to mix vigorously for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just until no more flour remains. Let the dough sit at room temperature to cool for 10 minutes.
- Stir the chocolate chips into the cooled dough. The dough will be thicker now than it was before cooling.
Stuff the cookie dough with caramel.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, and flatten each portion of dough. Place a piece of caramel in the center of each portion of dough, then wrap the dough up around the caramel so it’s fully enclosed inside the dough. Flatten the dough balls slightly, and chill for 25 minutes.
Bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough balls three inches apart on the baking sheet, and bake for about 9 1/2 – 10 minutes. The edges should be set and a pale golden brown color, with the centers slightly underdone.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you like, add a few more chocolate chips on top of the warm cookies and sprinkle with flaky finishing salt.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of caramels should I use?
Choose caramels that are nice and soft, not hard and chewy. I recommend Werther’s Original Soft Caramels.
Will this recipe work if I don’t live at high altitude?
You might need to make a few adjustments, such as reducing the flour by a few tablespoons, and increasing the sugar by a few tablespoons, or the cookies might not spread enough for you. I recommend reading this article on high altitude baking.
For more FAQs, see my original chocolate chip cookies post.
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High Altitude Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- 12 soft caramels
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- â…“ cup white granulated sugar
- â…“ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Unwrap the caramels and shape each into a flat disk, about the size of a nickel. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Use a wooden spoon to mix vigorously for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just until no more flour remains. Let the dough sit at room temperature to cool for 10 minutes.
- Stir the chocolate chips into the cooled dough. The dough will be thicker now than it was before cooling.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, and flatten each portion of dough. Place a piece of caramel in the center of each portion of dough, then wrap the dough up around the caramel so it's fully enclosed inside the dough. Flatten the dough balls slightly, and chill for 25 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the chilled dough balls three inches apart on the baking sheet, and bake for about 9 1/2 – 10 minutes. The edges should be set and a pale golden brown color, with the centers slightly underdone.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you like, add a few more chocolate chips on top of the warm cookies and sprinkle with flaky finishing salt.
These are AMAZING!!!
I’m so glad you love them. 🙂
I would like to use my own homemade salted caramel. If I just put a dollop of caramel and then mold the cookie dough around the caramel before chilling would that work?
I think that would depend on if it’s a similar consistency to the store bought soft caramels I used.
I’m wondering if I could add some crushed pretzels…maybe to the top of each cookie?
That would probably be fine.