These bakery-style Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies have been a favorite for years! I bake up a fresh batch for just about any occasion because they’re an absolute crowd-pleaser. With a chewy edge, gooey center, chocolate, caramel, and sea salt, EVERYONE loves them!
WHAT YOU NEED old fashioned oats all-purpose flour baking soda kosher salt ground cinnamon unsalted butter light brown sugar granulated sugar vanilla extract large egg dark chocolate chips soft caramels flakey sea salt
1. First cut the caramels. Make sure they’re chilled for easy chopping. Unwrap and chop each caramel in half, filling 1/2 cup. Return the cut caramels to the refrigerator and keep 1/4 cup worth whole and at room temp to soften. 2. Add the oats to a food processor and pulse 5-6 times. You should be left with some finely ground bits with some larger chunks.
3. Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. 4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars and melted butter. 5. Whisk in the vanilla and eggs. Fold in the dry ingredients until combined. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
6. Scoop 4 cookies onto the large baking sheet. Then press two half pieces of the chilled caramel into the center of each cookie. Mold each cookie dough ball in your hands to help contain the caramels. Top with a sprinkle of extra chocolate chips. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator. 7. Bake for 12-14 minutes. The edges should be a nice golden brown and the center still slightly underdone.
8. Using the remaining room temperature caramels, tear in half and flatten out each half into a thin disk. Place the caramel disk into the center of an existing caramel puddle on the freshly baked cookies. 9. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt then transfer to a cooling rack. Continue to bake the rest of the dough.