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!
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.
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 ♡