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Salted Caramel Cookies

If caramel and chocolate are your favorites, then you have to make these salted caramel cookies! Rich browned butter, flakes of sea salt, and drizzled with caramel – this is the ultimate salted caramel cookie recipe.

Salted Caramel Kiss Brown Butter Cookies
Caramel and cookie lovers, this salted caramel cookie was created for you.

What Are Salted Caramel Cookies?

Everything about these salted caramel cookies is absolutely irresistible. We’re talking about milk chocolate, gooey caramel, and chewy brown sugar cookies wrapped into one delicious morsel. The drizzle of golden 4-Ingredient Caramel Sauce is totally made from scratch and SO worth it.

This is an explosion of rich and velvety caramel with smooth, melty chocolate. It’s basically heaven for your tastebuds.

The base of these salted caramel cookies is similar to a brown sugar cookie made with browned butter. The result is a deeply rich cookie with multiple levels of flavors. Note that Hershey’s caramel kisses may be available seasonally, so grab them while they’re available. If you can’t find the caramel kisses, you can use ROLO chocolate caramel candies.

Salted Caramel Brown Butter Kiss Cookies
These brown sugar cookies are topped with a drizzle of caramel and a sprinkle of salt to balance the sweetness.

How to Make Salted Caramel Cookies

  • Use less sugar than you might normally use for cookies. The caramel sauce and chocolate caramel candies are sweet enough that the base cookies don’t need to be overly sweet.
  • Use all the vanilla extract in the recipe. One and a half tablespoons might sound like a lot, but it really deepens the flavor profile of the cookies.
  • Make homemade caramel sauce. It might be tempting to use store-bought to save time, but homemade caramel sauce tastes a thousand times better. Plus, you only need 4 ingredients for it.
  • Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat silicone baking sheets. Parchment paper or Silpat silicone baking sheets make cookie-baking easy to clean and ensure that cookies don’t burn on the bottom.
Salted Caramel Kiss Cookies
A simple homemade caramel makes these salted caramel cookies even better.

What You’ll Love About
Salted Caramel Cookies

  • Salted caramel cookies have the irresistible combination of milk chocolate, sea salt, and caramel.
  • These cookies are incredibly soft and chewy – they melt in your mouth.
  • The recipe uses Caramel Kisses, which are super fun to work with and easy to use. If you can’t find Caramel Kisses, use ROLO candies instead.
  • Caramel cookies are extremely popular at parties or as homemade gifts. They’ll be one of the first cookies to disappear.

Pantry Ingredients for Salted Caramel Cookies

You might already have everything you need to bake these cookies, especially if you love to bake.

  • Caramel Sauce: This is the drizzle on top of the cookies; use this homemade, 4-ingredient recipe.
  • Salted Butter: Browned butter makes these cookies extra rich with a nuanced flavor profile.
  • Light Brown Sugar: This adds to the caramelized flavor of the cookies.
  • All-Purpose Flour: To make them gluten-free, use 1 to 1 baking gluten-free flour.
  • Baking Powder and Baking Soda: You need both of them to get the soft and chewy texture you love.
  • 2 Kinds of Salt: Use extra-fine salt for the cookies and coarse sea salt flakes for sprinkling.
  • Egg: This is the emulsifier and keeps all the ingredients for the cookies together.
  • Vanilla Extract: Deepens the flavor of cookies, with a rich caramelized depth.
  • Caramel Kisses: These are often seasonal; if you can’t find them, use ROLO chocolate caramel candies.
  • Flaky Sea Salt: Kosher salt can work, too, for sprinkling.

Salted Caramel Cookies
Commonly Asked Questions

How do you store leftover cookies?

If you actually have leftover cookies, store them in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to a week.

Can I skip the caramel drizzle on top?

If you want to save time, you can skip the caramel drizzle on top. We suggest adding it, though, because it really elevates the cookies. In a pinch, you can use store-bought caramel candies to melt and drizzle.

What other types of Hershey’s Kisses can I use on top?

You can also try this cookie base with peppermint kisses at Christmas and then drizzle with melted white chocolate on top.

Why use both baking soda and baking powder in these caramel cookies?

While baking powder will do most of the leavening, The baking soda is added to neutralize the acids plus to add tenderness and provide some additional leavening to ensure a nice rise.

More to Bake and Eat

Also Try These Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Did you make this?

Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!

salted caramel kiss cookies

Salted Caramel Cookies

5 from 16 ratings
These salted caramel cookies are chewy, soft, rich with browned butter, and dripping with golden caramel. Flaky sea salt (or kosher salt) gives it that extra flavor boost, creating an extraordinary cookie!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Servings: 40 cookies
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a heavy skillet, heat butter over medium until melted. Constantly swirl or stir the butter until it turns into a lightly golden brown color. Take care to continue swirling/stirring, to prevent burning. Once butter is browned, remove from heat and set aside.
  • In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  • Mix brown sugar together with warm browned butter until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds with electric mixer. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla to butter mixture, whisking until smooth.
  • Slowly add in flour mixture to the butter mixture on medium-low just until fully incorporated. If dough is sticky, cover tightly in plastic wrap and chill in fridge 30 minutes or more.
  • Make dough balls about 1 inch round, and place dough balls on lined baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake about 7 minutes (do not overbake; cookies will be very soft upon removal, but will set as they cool.)
  • Immediately upon removing warm cookies from oven, press a caramel kiss into the center of each. Drizzle with warm caramel sauce. Sprinkle lightly with flaky salt.

Notes

1 1/2 TB vanilla extract may sound like a lot, but the full amount adds so much depth to these cookies. However, if you prefer to bring it down to 1 or 2 tsp, you can do so. 
If you enjoyed these cookies, please come back and give them a rating ♡

Nutrition (per serving)

Serving: 1g | Calories: 128kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 52mg | Potassium: 10mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 123IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Course: cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: American, dessert
Diet: Vegetarian
Method: baking

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Recipe Rating




24 comments

    • Mickey

    Are you able to use store made caramel to save time??

      • Amy Dong

      Yes, you can definitely try that as well 🙂

    • Carolyn

    The recipe calls for flaked or kosher salt for sprinkling, but then makes no mention of it in the steps….. I assume you sprinkle the salt lightly after drizzling the caramel?

      • Amy Dong

      Yes, sprinkle lightly at the end. Updated, thanks, Caryolyn. Hope you love these!

    • Lilly
    • 5 stars

    These cookies are delish! I almost ate them all by myself 🙂

      • Amy Dong

      That sounds about right! 🙂

    • Sabrina
    • 5 stars

    So delicious. Love the caramel sauce drizzle.

      • Amy Dong

      So good!

    • Natalie
    • 5 stars

    My daughter loves caramel desserts, can`t wait to thy these lovely cookies, thanks!

      • Amy Dong

      You’re welcome!

    • Kimberly
    • 5 stars

    These are amazing! Followed the recipe to a T

      • chewoutloud

      Yay, thank you, Kimberyly!

    • Brooks
    • 5 stars

    Just made these and they came out delicious! Thanks for the recipe

      • chewoutloud

      Awesome, Brooks! 🙂 🙂

    • Nancy

    Most kiss cookie recipes only call for 2 teaspoons of vanilla, but your’s calls for 2 TB. Is this correct?

      • chewoutloud

      Nancy, you’re right that it sounds like a lot! I really do use 2 tablespoons vanilla in this particular recipe; since these kiss cookies aren’t the classic peanut butter version, the vanilla gives them an extra boost. I made a note on recipe that 1 TB will work, too. Thanks so much, Nancy! Hope you bake and enjoy these! 🙂

    • Donna

    Only 1 cup of brown sugar for this recipe?

      • chewoutloud

      Yes, Donna, I just pack it tight and it’s pretty sweet, especially with the caramel kisses 🙂 Thanks for being here today and happy baking! 🙂

    • Laura

    Is that suppose to be 14 Tbsp of butter or is it suppose to be 1/4 Tbsp?

      • chewoutloud

      Laura, it’s 14 TB… as in 1 3/4 cups. Not diet food, but kind of worth the cals 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • huntfortheverybest

    these look delish!

      • chewoutloud

      Thanks! They taste as great as they look 🙂

    • Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking

    I saw these on FG this morning and I actually squeaked out loud. They look sooooo yummy!

      • chewoutloud

      Hee hee! The mark of a true foodie :). Thanks for coming over, Lindsey!

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