Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Here’s a cookie recipe that brings together several delectable ingredients: crunchy nuts, gooey caramel and rich chocolate. If you’re always reaching for a bag of candy, chocolate caramel cookies are destined to be your new favorite treat.

Chocolate and caramel cookies sound impressive but are made with basic baking ingredients like most easy cookie recipes. Besides staples like flour, sugar, butter, eggs and cocoa, you’ll need a bag of Rolo candies. Those caramel-filled morsels are the reason the chocolate and caramel cookies are so simple. Making caramel from scratch is a labor of love, and though making homemade candy is fun, it’s not front of mind when a sweet craving hits.

Once baked, these cookies have crinkled tops with toasted pecans and a melty caramel middle. Whether for your family, a holiday cookie swap or a work party, this is one of the best cookie recipes to try this year.

Ingredients for Chocolate Caramel Cookies

• Butter: Use unsalted butter in this chocolate and caramel cookies recipe. Here are some ways to quickly soften butter if you’ve already started lining up the ingredients but forgot to take the butter out of the fridge 30 minutes ago.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar goes into the cookie batter and also coats each dough ball before they’re baked.
• Brown sugar: Light brown sugar complements the caramel and nut flavors in these cookies. It also gives the cookies extra moisture once baked. Be sure your brown sugar is soft.
• Eggs: Use two large eggs—take them out of the fridge a half hour before starting so they can come to room temperature.
• Flour: All-purpose flour brings the cookie batter together and gives the chocolate and caramel cookies structure.
• Cocoa powder: Also called baking cocoa, it’s what makes these cookies so chocolaty. Because this recipe uses baking soda, it’s best to use a natural cocoa powder—avoid Dutch process.
• Baking soda: This is the leavener that gives the chocolate caramel cookies a light and tender texture. Baking soda reacts with the acids in the natural cocoa to create gas.
• Vanilla extract: The best vanilla brands for baking are the ones that are made of real vanilla instead of imitation vanilla.
• Pecans: The nutty flavor of chopped pecans is lovely in these chocolate and caramel cookies. (Here’s how to chop nuts like a pro.) The pecans are folded into the dough and pressed into the outsides of the cookies too.
• Rolo candies: Here’s where the caramel comes from! Each cookie ball is wrapped around a Rolo candy to create a caramelly center. You’ll need about 60 Rolos for the recipe.

Directions

Step 1: Make the cookie dough

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cream the softened butter, brown sugar and 1 cup granulated sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together in a separate bowl. Gradually blend the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture until they’re just combined. Stir 1/2 cup chopped pecans into the dough.

Editor’s Tip: Get ready for the next step by having the Rolos unwrapped and ready to go.

Step 2: Shape the cookies

Push a Rolo into the center of each tablespoon of dough; fold the dough around the candy to enclose it.

Combine the rest of the pecans with the 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Dip each cookie halfway into the pecan-sugar mixture. Place it nut side up on an ungreased cookie sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough and Rolos—keep them spaced about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Step 3: Bake the cookies

Bake the cookies at 375° for 7 to 10 minutes, until the tops are slightly cracked. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about three minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Recipe Variations

• Salted caramel cookies: Add a little coarse sea salt to the sugar-pecan mixture before dipping the cookies to give them a salty-sweet flavor.
• Try other nuts: Other nuts including hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias and pistachios will taste delicious in chocolate and caramel cookies.
• Make a peanut butter version: Instead of Rolos, put miniature peanut butter cups in the centers of the cookies. We like these peanut butter cup brands the best. To finish the cookies off, replace the pecans with chopped peanuts.
• Omit the nuts: Simply leave the nuts out of the chocolate caramel cookies recipe. You can replace the nuts with chocolate chips if you’d like or crushed pretzels if you want to keep the salty component.

How to Store Chocolate Caramel Cookies

We’re not sure you’ll have any leftovers of these chocolaty cookies! If you do, place the cooled cookies in an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid or in a resealable bag. Make sure your cookies are completely cool—sealing up warm cookies is a common cookie storage mistake. Store the cookies at room temperature.

How long do chocolate caramel cookies last?

When the cookies are sealed at room temperature, they’ll last up to five days.

Can you freeze chocolate caramel cookies?

Chocolate and caramel cookies freeze very well. Layer them inside a freezer-proof container or resealable bag, with pieces of waxed paper or parchment between the tiers. Freeze the cookies for up to eight months. Let the cookies defrost in the fridge, then move them to the counter to come to room temperature before serving.

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Tips

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What other caramels can you use for chocolate caramel cookies?

Instead of Rolos, you can use other soft, chocolate-covered caramels of the same size. Or, fold caramel candies into the cookies. Look for caramels that are soft at room temperature—hard caramels won’t soften properly in the finished cookies and will be hard to chew. Look for Werther’s soft caramels or blocks of baking caramel that you can slice into cubes.

What can you do if the chocolate caramel cookie dough is too sticky?

If the dough is sticky and difficult to work with, cover the dough in the bowl and pop it in the fridge. Let it chill for 30 minutes to an hour. This should firm up the cookie dough and make it manageable.

Should eggs be at room temperature for baking cookies?

This is an easy step to skip, but letting cold eggs come to room temperature before starting your cookie recipe does make a difference. The yolk and white blend together more easily and thoroughly, and they’ll build more volume when creamed with the sugars. To let your eggs warm up, remove them from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before starting your recipe. If you forget to do this, don’t worry, we have an easy way to get room-temperature eggs in just minutes.