Big Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies with Caramel

By vealam

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup chocolate chunks
• 5 caramel candies, cut into 18 pieces
• large-flake salt, for sprinkling

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 20mins
Adapted from dessertfortwo.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, beat together with an electric mixer of medium speed the butter and sugars. Once creamy, add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, espresso powder, and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.
Meanwhile, chop the chocolate chunks into smaller pieces, being careful to save all the fine bits. Add this to the dough and stir to evenly distribute.
Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, and make large balls of dough by rolling it between your hands. Space the cookies evenly on a baking sheet.
Press 3 pieces of caramel candy close to the center of each dough ball. Be careful not to press the dough balls flat. Also, since the cookies will spread quite a bit, it's best to keep the caramel pieces very close together.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Sprinkle the cookies generously with salt. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Sprinkle the cookies.

Note:
If you don't want to sprinkle salt on top of the cookies, make sure you add ¼ teaspoon to the cookie dough--these cookies taste flat without salt!