These cookie butter cookies with salted caramel are THE BEST. It’s a cookie butter chocolate chip cookie with a pool of salted caramel sauce in the middle. A perfectly chewy salty sweet cookie that I know you’re gonna love!
What makes these Cookie Butter Cookies THE BEST
- Easy to Make. These cookies come together quick and can be made in one bowl by hand – no stand mixer required! The hardest part is making the caramel, but you can sub out a store bought caramel instead!
- Salty & Sweet. I love a salty-sweet dessert, and these cookies are the perfect balance.
- Chewy & Crunchy. The cookie itself stays very chewy in the middle – protected by that pool of caramel, but the edges get nice and crisp. Also – the caramel stays gooey in the middle, but bits of caramel that runs over to the edges gets extra crisp and perfect.
Ingredients
- Salted Butter. I’m on team salted butter when it comes to baking. My favorite is Kerrygold.
- Cookie Butter. If you’ve never had cookie butter, it’s a spread similar in consistency to peanut butter that’s made from ground up cookies. I recommend using the Biscoff Cookie Butter, or the Trader Joe’s version.
- Salted Caramel. I have a blog post dedicated to how I make my Salted Caramel Sauce that you can refer to here. Or you can sub any store bought caramel that is a thick, but pourable consistency.
- Chocolate Chips. I used a combination of mini and regular sized semi sweet chocolate chips.
- Sugars. To get that classic chocolate chip cookie flavor, we’re using both granulated and light brown sugar.
How to Make Cookie Butter Cookies
Make the Salted Caramel
If you’re making the salted caramel sauce yourself, do that first. You’ll want to make it, and give it time to cool completely before making the cookies. My homemade salted caramel sauce recipe can be found here. If you want to skip making it at home, grab any store bought caramel that has a thick, but still pourable consistency. I’d recommend this one from Trader Joe’s, or this one from Stonewall Kitchen.
Make the Cookie Dough
In a large mixing bowl melt the butter and cookie butter in 30 second increments and whisk until combined and smooth. Add in the sugars and whisk until combined. Next, add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk for 1-2 minutes or until it lightens in color and becomes glossy and smooth.
Fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt until mostly combined with a few streaks of flour remaining. Add in the chocolate chips and fold in, combining the chocolate and any remaining flour. The dough will be pretty wet and sticky. Pop it into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Bake the Cookies
Use a large 3 TBSP scoop – I like this one that’s technically an ice cream scoop but works perfect for large cookies to portion out 10 cookie dough balls. Roll each one into a ball in your hands, then use your thumb to create a deep well in the center. Pour 1 1/2 tsp of salted caramel sauce into each well. Gently fold the edges up and around the caramel, kind of tucking it in but not covering it completely.
Place the caramel stuffed cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined sheet pan and pop them back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes – up to 3 hours. Skipping this step will leave you with puddles of cookie dough and caramel instead of cookies. We need both the dough and the caramel sauce to be nice and cold. **You can leave the dough in the fridge overnight, but be sure to cover the dough so it doesn’t dry out.**
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. The cookies need plenty of room to spread, so bake 5 per sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-16 minutes, or until the edges start to set and turn golden brown, but the centers still look wet.
Remove the cookies from the oven and bang the pan on the counter 2-3 times to help the cookies flatten and spread. Use a spoon or a rubber spatula to scoot any runaway edges back into place. If some of the caramel spills out of the center and onto the sheet pan that’s ok! Just scoot it back to the edge of the cookie and it will get nice and crispy and extra caramelized – honestly the best bite.
Cookie Butter Cookies with Salted Caramel FAQs
- Can I freeze these cookies for later? You can keep the assembled cookies with caramel sauce in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then bake as instructed.
- Can I make these cookies gluten free? I haven’t tested it, but you should be able to swap out the all purpose flour for a 1 to 1 gluten free flour replacement like this one from King Arthur Baking.
- Can I swap out the cookie butter? I haven’t tested it, but you should be able to swap out the cookie butter with any creamy nut butter like peanut or almond butter. Make sure if you do, you use the classic Jiffy style and NOT a “natural style” peanut butter where the oil separates.
Cookie Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 90 minutes
- Yield: 10 Large Cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
Perfectly salty and sweet cookie butter cookies with chocolate chips and pools of homemade salted caramel sauce.
Ingredients
- 1/2 C Salted Caramel Sauce
- 1/2 C (113 g) Salted Butter
- 1/2 C (125 g) Cookie Butter
- 1/2 C (100 g) Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 C (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Lg Egg, at room temperature
- 1 Lg Egg Yolk, at room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 (200 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
- 3/4 C Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips + extra for on top
- Flaky Salt
Instructions
- If making the salted caramel yourself, do that first so it has plenty of time to cool. Feel free to substitute a store bought salted caramel sauce that is a thick, but pourable consistency.
- For the cookies, start by melting together the butter and cookie butter in a large mixing bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments and whisk until smooth.
- Add in the sugar and brown sugar, whisk to combine.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk for 1-2 minutes, or until the mixture lightens slightly in color and develops a glossy texture.
- Fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt, until mostly combined with a few streaks of flour remaining.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and any remaining streaks of flour.
- Chill the dough uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and use a large 3 TBSP cookie scoop to portion into 10 large cookie dough balls. Roll the dough in your hands to create a smooth ball, then use your thumb to create a large well in the center of the cookie dough.
- Pour 1 1/2 tsp of the cooled salted caramel sauce into the well, then gently press the dough up and around the salted caramel. Kind of tucking it in, but leaving some exposed.
- Place the caramel filled cookie dough balls back into the fridge uncovered for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours. We need both the cookie dough and the caramel to be very cold. (*you can leave them in the fridge overnight, but be sure to cover the dough so that it doesn’t dry out.)
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Bake 5 cookies per cookie sheet leaving plenty of room for them to spread. Bake for 15-16 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a golden brown, but the centers still look slightly wet.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and bang the pan on the counter 2-3 times to encourage the cookies to flatten and spread. Use a rubber spatula to scoot any runaway edges back into place.
- Top with extra chocolate chips and a sprinkle of flaky salt!
- If some of the caramel runs down the side its ok! Just use your rubber spatula to scoot it back to the edge of the cookie and it will crisp up and caramelize even more and create the perfect bite.
- Let the cookies cool on the hot cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, and enjoy.
Notes
- Creating tall cookie dough balls with narrow deep wells will help the caramel stay in the center as the cookies bake.
If you loved this recipe, be sure to leave a star rating and review and tag me on TikTok and Instagram @buuckfarmsbakery so I can see! To save this recipe for later, click on the Pinterest icon on the recipe card above, or on any of the images throughout this post.
Absolutely delicious! We are huge fans of these cookies (& the dough!!) around here! Somehow I got only regular caramel but it still worked, even though I kiss the salted caramel flavor. A few at the end, I put a little ball of cookie butter in the middle of the dough ball before baking and it took the cookies next level!
Can I ask what brand/type of salted caramel you used?
Hey Sara! My favorite store bough salted caramel is Stonewall Kitchen or Ghirardelli Salted Caramel Sauce. You can find both on Amazon!