Double Chocolate Cookies Stuffed with Caramel

It may not be a real food group, but the category of desserts stuffed into other desserts has always fascinated me. There is nothing like biting into something sweet and discovering the surprise of something even sweeter inside. These double chocolate cookies make that joy a reality, with an ooey-gooey, soy sauce-caramel center.

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I’m a lifelong chocolate lover. And while I enjoy pure chocolate desserts like any good chocoholic, one of my favorite features is how well the flavor pairs with so many others. Peanut butter, berries, chili — seriously all improved when surrounded by chocolate.

But for these cookies, I was excited to feature my soy sauce salted caramel. These chewy candies have just a touch of umami, which brings an extra depth of flavor to these decadent cookies, and helps cuts the richness. I love how the cookies themselves are soft and chewy, and then the stretchy caramel just makes it even more fun.

What You Need to Get Started

You can easily find all of the ingredients for these caramel-stuffed, double chocolate cookies at your grocery store. You can also order online using Amazon Fresh for grocery delivery.

• Fridge: Butter, Egg
• Pantry: Brown sugar, Granulated sugar, Dark chocolate, Flour, Cornstarch, Baking soda, Cocoa powder
• Spice Rack: Salt, Cream of tartar
• Make ahead: Soy sauce salted caramels
• Equipment: Stand mixer, Silicone spatula, Parchment paper, Baking sheets

How to Make Caramel Stuffed Cookies

First, you have to make the caramel. I definitely suggest my soy sauce salted caramel candies. The recipe will give you some extras that you can wrap up in parchment and enjoy on their own as well.

If you’d rather use store-bought caramels, you may have a slightly different experience with how they bake up, but the flavor will still be delicious. Make sure you get chewy caramel squares, not hard candy for these cookies.

Then, melt and chop up your dark chocolate. I like using chopped chocolate in these cookies, because the lack of uniformity makes for a nice balance of larger and smaller melty chocolate pockets. For the melted chocolate, microwave chocolate pieces in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth.

Now let’s make some cookie dough! I almost always make cookies in my stand mixer. It just does a better job than any other tool when it comes to creaming the butter and sugar together. However, you can use a hand mixer for these as well.

Most cookies, like these, use a mix of brown and granulated sugar. The brown adds moisture for extra-chewy cookies. The white will provide much of the sweetness, and also create those crispy edges that make cookies the perfect treat.

After a couple minutes, the mixture should be nice and fluffy. At this point, add in the egg and the melted chocolate, which should be cooled enough to handle. Continue mixing everything together until well combined.

Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl: flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar. Whisk it all together and then add these into the mixer. Use a low speed, mixing until they are just incorporated, and there are no obvious flour pockets.

Then mix in the cocoa, again just until combined. Finally, fold in the chocolate chunks using a silicone spatula until they are nice and distributed throughout the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a silicone cover, and chill in the fridge for about half an hour.

If you are making this dough in advance, you can refrigerate it for longer. Just let the dough sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before forming it into balls.

Now grab your caramels and your chilled dough, because it’s time to form some cookies. Essentially, each of these cookies is a ball of the chocolate dough, completely surrounding a square of caramel. In the oven, the caramel will melt inside of the cookie, making for a fun surprise center.

The easiest way to do this is to make two small disks of the cookie dough, and form them around the piece of caramel. Then roll the ball between your palms until you get a smooth ball. Place the formed cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of room for them to spread.

Freeze the entire tray before baking. This will allow the butter to solidify, which means it will take longer to melt in the oven. This prevents the cookies from spreading too much, and leaking out all that caramel goodness.

This is a good time to preheat your oven.

Remove the tray from the freezer, and bake them right from frozen. If your oven is like most, it likely doesn’t cook perfectly evenly, but you want to be careful not to overbake these cookies.

So bake them for five minutes to start, then rotate the pan and bake for another five. At the turn, the cookies will have started to spread and soften, but the caramel will still be mostly holding its shape. These will look like little hats, but don’t worry, they’ll flatten out.

The cookies are done when they are just starting to look dry at the edges, and there is no longer a large lump in the middle from the caramel. Allow these to cool completely on the pan before you try to move them.

If you need to use the same pan again, carefully remove the parchment paper onto a flat surface, and then run the pan under cold water before lining it again for the next batch.

How to Serve Double Chocolate Cookies

Once cooled, you can store the baked cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for a few days, in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for a couple months. Fully thaw any cookies that have been refrigerated or frozen before serving them.

These make a delicious dessert, especially when paired with a cold glass of milk or a delicious beverage. Serve these with birthday cake martinis to add a little color, or chocolate turtle martinis to play up the chocolate and caramel. For something warm, try a chai white hot chocolate.

You can also make these the star of your next cookie tray or dessert spread. Surround them with plenty of options, like sesame butterscotch Rice Krispies treats, peanut butter and pretzel brownies, cherry chocolate chip cookies, and earl grey lemon bars.

Use Up Leftover Ingredients

• Melt down dark chocolate for a rich cinnamon and ancho chile hot cocoa.
• Use cocoa powder for breakfast with vegan triple chocolate muffins.
• Eggs, butter, and flour are the trifecta of baking. Use them to make almost anything, like peanut butter cookie bars or cinnamon roll cupcakes.

Special Equipment

• Stand mixer
• Silicone spatula
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheets

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