Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies

Renae’s favorite cookie recipe is here!

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies

1 1/2 cups room temperature unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 tbs vanilla extract

2 large eggs

4 cups unbleached sifted all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Chunky sea salt to sprinkle on top of unbaked cookies

Heat the oven to 350 degrees
In a large bowl beat the soft unsalted butter, sugars, vanilla extract beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat on medium speed.
Add baking soda, and salt, then flour one cup at a time. The cookie dough will begin to get stiffer with each additional cup of flour. I stop beating as soon as the flour is combined. Then fold in chopped Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Squares, and Heath Toffee bits with a spatula.
I recommend chilling dough for 20-30 minutes so the cookies will be cold going into the oven and hold their shape better while baking.
Scoop cookie dough balls onto parchment lined baking sheets about two inches apart. I scoop on the bigger size rather than small. I like a big cookie!
I press the top down slightly to flatten the dough ball and then add a few of the chunky salt crystals.
Get your cooling racks ready, for when the cookies come out of the oven. I use three.

Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, with three racks evenly spaced in the fully pre-heated oven.
When the cookies are lightly browned, remove from oven and slide the parchment paper and cookies off your baking sheet and onto the racks for cooling.
This recipe will make about 40 cookies depending on the size of your cookie scoop.

Optional add in’s.

Same great cookie recipe as above, but different add in ingredients. Make your cookies more versatile by choosing different optional ingredients.

Use 1 bag Ghirardelli dark chocolate morsels (24 oz.)to create a traditional chocolate chip cookie.
Use 1 bag of white chocolate morsels (24 oz.) plus 1 cup dried cherries to createa delicious holiday flavor—perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Add 3-4 cups of chopped (holiday) candy. Our family always had a surplus of Halloween candy, so after including some candy in the girls’ lunchboxes for a week or two, I would chop up candy bars and add them to my cookie recipe for a fresh baked cookie. They were always a hit with people at my husband’s office!

I hope you enjoy making these cookies at home—let me know in the comments!