These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies are stuffed with soft caramel candies and gooey marshmallows. The milk chocolate chip cookies are buttery and chewy, and the salted caramel and marshmallow filling make these cookies irresistible.
The Best Stuffed Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies
I did it. I found your new favorite cookie. You’re welcome.
I’ve had my fair share of regular chocolate chip cookies, so let me tell you when I say these gooey Marshmallow Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies are perhaps the best salted caramel chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had, I’m not exaggerating. In the slightest.
These buttery, chewy milk chocolate chip cookies are stuffed with marshmallows and soft caramel candies and topped with flaky sea salt.
It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet, and the texture of these cookies is to die for. Buttery with slightly crisp edges and a soft yet chewy caramel center. The milk chocolate is nice and rich, bringing out the caramel candy flavor. The marshmallow center is probably a little over the top, but it makes the caramel and chocolate chip cookies extra gooey. The sea salt on top helps create the perfect balance of flavors by cutting through the sweetness with its slightly sharp tang.
Move out chocolate and peanut butter, you’ve got a new rival to contend with: chocolate and caramel, especially in marshmallow stuffed caramel chocolate chip cookies with sea salt.
It’s a mouthful—both the title and the cookie itself—but worth every single bite (and syllable).
Three Reasons Why I Adore These Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies:
We’re taking my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and turning it into one of the best cookies of all time.
- Stuffed Cookies: Let’s be honest, there’s not much better than a stuffed cookie recipe, especially a stuffed chocolate chip cookie recipe. These gooey chocolate chip cookies are stuffed with marshmallows and caramel, making the centers ridiculously soft and decadent.
- Soft Caramel Candies: Soft caramel candies are key to this chocolate chip cookie recipe, because it makes the best gooey caramel center. Hard candies won’t melt properly, and they won’t stay soft once the cookies cool. A soft caramel candy is key (don’t use caramel bits, caramel chips, or hard caramels).
- No Chill Dough: And finally, perhaps the best part of this salted caramel chocolate chip cookie recipe? It’s a no chill cookie recipe, which means you can make the dough, stuff the dough, and bake the dough right away.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter: I almost always use unsalted butter when baking so I can control the salt content. In these chocolate chip salted caramel cookies, we’re adding extra salt with the sea salt, so we want to use unsalted butter.
- Granulated Sugar
- Dark Brown Sugar: I prefer to use dark brown sugar because it has a richer caramel flavor, which pairs very well with these caramel cookies.
- Eggs + Egg Yolk: We use both a whole egg and an egg yolk, which makes for a really soft and chewy cookie.
- Vanilla Extract
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Milk Chocolate Chips: Milk chocolate really pairs well with caramel and marshmallow, but you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead, or even chocolate chunks.
- Soft Caramels: You want to use a soft caramel candy, like Werther’s Soft Caramels (or something similar).
- Marshmallows: Use the large marshmallows, because they add a lot of marshmallow filling.
- Sea Salt: Once the cookies are baked, top with flaky sea salt. It really enhances the overall flavor of the cookie.
How To Make Stuffed Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies:
This is a brief overview of how to make these marshmallow caramel cookies. The recipe card below is more detailed with a printable option.
- Butter and Sugar: Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat room temperature unsalted butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy. Next, add in granulated sugar and brown sugar. Mix until well combined.
- Eggs: Add in the egg and egg yolk, beating the mixture with the electric mixer until combined.
- Baking Soda and Salt: Next, add in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Flour: Next, add in the all purpose flour, and mix until well combined.
- Chocolate Chips: Add in the milk chocolate chips, and mix until the cookie dough is well combined.
- Marshmallows and Caramels: Cut the large marshmallows in half, and cut the caramel candies into fourths.
- Assembly: Scoop out about 1 1/2 Tbsp – 2 Tbsp of dough, and flatten the dough in the palm of your hand. Place half of a marshmallow and 1-2 caramel pieces in the center of the dough. Form the dough around the marshmallow and caramel until it is completely covered. Gently roll into a ball, and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (aka cookie sheet). Repeat with the rest of the dough. This recipe makes about 18-20 cookies.
- Bake: Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes, or until the cookies are puffy and lightly golden brown on top.
- Extra Caramel: At the 10 minute mark, you can open the oven and place a few caramel pieces on top of the cookies. Then allow the cookies to bake 1-2 more minutes until done.
- -Or, when the cookies are done, you can add extra caramel on top as they cool.
- Extra Chocolate Chips: Once the cookies are done baking, add a few extra chocolate chips on top, if desired. It makes the caramel chocolate chip cookies extra pretty. Plus more chocolate is never a bad thing—am I right??
- Sea Salt: Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on top of the cookies.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool a bit, because they will continue to firm up on the baking sheet as they cool. But, you can serve as warm cookies or at room temperature—either way they taste amazing, and the caramel marshmallow filling remains soft inside of the cookies.
Storage Tips:
These Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookies (with caramel!) are best when eaten within a day (24 hours) of being made, but they will last 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Best Make Ahead Tips:
To make the caramel chocolate chip cookie dough ahead of time, you can refrigerate or freeze the dough. First things first, follow all of the steps in the recipe except baking the cookies.
- Freeze: Flash freeze the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet for 45-60 minutes. Then transfer the dough to an airtight container. Flash freezing keeps the cookie dough from sticking to one another in the freezer. Frozen cookie dough can last up to 3 months.
- Fridge: Place the cookie dough balls in an airtight container, making sure the dough balls are not touching each other. The dough can last in the fridge for 1-2 days.
How To Put Caramels In Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Since these are stuffed chocolate chip cookies, we are putting caramel (and marshmallows) in the centers of the caramel and chocolate cookie dough.
- Step 1: Scoop 1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp of cookie dough into your hand.
- Step 2: Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand. Then place half of a large marshmallow and 1-2 soft caramels in the center of the dough.
- Step 3: Form the cookie dough around the caramel marshmallow, and roll the dough into a ball (make sure the marshmallow is completely covered by cookie dough).
- Step 4: When the cookies are almost done baking, if desired, add 2-3 more caramels on top of the cookies. Or, when the cookies are done baking, press 2-3 more caramels on top of the cookies as they cool.
- -If you add the caramels too early to the dough, the caramel will run all over the cookies and burn. It’s important to add the extra caramels at the end of the baking process, or during the cooling process.
- If you add the caramels while the cookies are baking, the caramel will melt a little more than if you add them as they cool. Either way makes a perfect caramel cookie–it’s just up to what texture you prefer.
Other Caramel Recipes To Make:
- Microwave Homemade Caramels: You can use this homemade caramel candy recipe in these cookies. I make homemade caramels during the holidays most often, and if I have any leftover, I add them to all sorts of desserts, including these chocolate chip caramel ones.
- Caramel Cheesecake
- Milk Chocolate Rolo Cookies
- Caramel Apple Crumb Bars
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake
- Mocha Coconut Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Caramel Whipped Cream
- Caramel Stuffed Baked Apples
- Mini Turtle Cheesecakes
Tips and Tricks For These Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies with caramels and marshmallow filling:
- Soft Caramels: Make sure you use soft caramels (these are generally labeled as “soft caramels” and the picture on the package usually shows the caramels wrapped in a white wax paper).
- Large Marshmallows: Large marshmallows work the best for stuffing chocolate chip cookies. Cut them in half to make the perfect size.
- Sea Salt: I’m a big believer in adding flaky sea salt to any chocolate cookie recipe. After taking the cookies out of the oven, I do a sprinkle of sea salt on top of each cookie.
- Extra Chocolate and Caramel: Don’t forget to add a few extra chocolate chips and caramel pieces to the cookies as they cool! Yes, the cookies have a gooey caramel filling in the middle of the cookie, but a little extra caramel gives it the best flavor.
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 + 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips, divided
- 3/4 cup soft caramels, cut into smaller pieces
- 9-10 large marshmallows, cut in half
- sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat unsalted butter until light and fluffy.
- Add in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat until well combined.
- Next add in the egg and the egg yolk. Mix until combined.
- Add in baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
Lastly, add in the all purpose flour. Mix until well combined.
- Add in 1 1/3 cups milk chocolate chips and mix until combined.
- Using cookie scoop, scoop out about 1 1/2 -2 Tbsp of cookie dough. Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand, and place half of a marshmallow and 1-2 pieces of soft caramel in the center.
- Fold the cookie dough around the caramels and marshmallow, covering it completely with dough. (You might need to add a little extra dough to cover completely). Once it is covered, give the dough a quick roll between your hands and place on your baking sheet.
- Space the cookie dough about 2” apart (I generally make 6 cookies per cookie sheet). You should be able to get 18-20 cookies out of this recipe.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the cookies have set on top and are just beginning to turn lightly golden in color.
- At the 10 minute mark, I like to add more caramel to the tops of each cookie. Working quickly, I add 2-3 soft caramel pieces on top of each cookie, then allow the cookies to cook 1-2 more minutes, or until lightly golden brown.*
Allow to cool for 8-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
While the cookies are cooling, use the remaining 1/4 cup of milk chocolate chips to add a few extra chocolate chips to the tops of each cookie.
- Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on top of each cookie.
Note: *You can add the soft caramels while the cookies are cooling, if you prefer. Adding them in the last minute or two of baking will make the caramels spread and melt a bit more. If you add while the cookies cool, they will melt but they will not spread as much over the cookies. The cookies turn out great both ways!
Other Gooey Marshmallow Cookie Recipes To Try Next:
Marshmallow Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Marshmallow Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
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