Have you guys seen caramel chips popping up in your grocery stores? The idea intrigued me so obviously I had to try them out in some Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chip Cookies. Guys- THESE COOKIES. I originally thought about putting them in a chocolate cookie, but my husband said I should go with a classic chocolate chip base all the way and I realized that was a much better idea because I wanted something mellow enough for the flavor of the chips to come through. I knew the perfect compliment to these would be some finely chopped toasted nuts. The other magic ingredient is browned butter. And lastly, I sprinkle with flaky sea salt for the ultimate sweet and salty combo.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter – We’re going to be browning the butter here. If you’ve never browned butter before it’s super easy and SO worth it. Basically what happens is you melt butter in a skillet and the solids separate and brown and toast in the melted butter. It gives this amazing nutty toasted component to anything you use it in. You can read an easy how-to by clicking here!
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg and egg yolk
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Caramel chips – I’ve seen a few different brands of caramel chips and wondered how they compared. I got Ghirardelli and Hershey’s. Normally I’m a Ghirardelli girl through and through, but I actually preferred the Hershey ones. They were noticeably salty, which some people may not like, but I thought they were really yummy. The Girardelli weren’t bad, but they tasted more like extra sweet white chocolate chips, not crazy caramelly.
If you can’t find those caramel chips, you could make this recipe with any chips you like. They’d be good with white chocolate, butterscotch, cinnamon chips, or chocolate! - Chopped pecans, toasted – If you are an “ew, nuts in cookies” person, I’m telling you- chop them fine and TOAST them and it’s a total game-changer. I like my nuts chopped pretty fine, but it’s a personal preference. You can buy them pre-chopped at the grocery store. Just place them in a dry skillet (no oil in there or anything) and toss them around until they are golden brown on the white parts of the nuts. They’ll smell divine. Make sure to let them cool down before you put them in your dough.
- Flaky sea salt – For topping. Maldon is my very favorite salt for baking and I just buy it on Amazon.
How to Make Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chip Cookies
- To start you’ll brown some butter and mix it with the sugars, then your typical dry cookie dough ingredients.
- Next come your toasted and cooled nuts, followed by the caramel chips.
- And then a little trick to getting a good texture and shape on your cookies is to make one large ball of dough and then break it in half and put the craggily side up. I learned that tip from America’s Test kitchen, from their best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, that this one is based off of. It will give the tops of your finished cookies some dimension.
- I bake them until golden around the edges and then sprinkle them with a flaky sea salt right as they come out of the oven so it sticks!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- For nice round cookies, use a biscuit cutter or canning ring in a circular motion to shape the cookies while still hot out of the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, most cookies freeze really well and these are no exception. After cookies are completely cooled, stack in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, simply leave out at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Definitely! Scoop the dough into balls, freeze on a baking sheet until firm, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag. You can bake the dough straight from frozen, although the cooking time may need to be extended.
The browned butter in this recipe is part of what makes it unique. But no, you don’t have to. If you’d rather skip that step I’d recommend just melting your butter in the microwave before following the recipe as written
Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons butter browned and cooled to room temp or slightly warm
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups caramel chips
- ½-¾ cups chopped pecans toasted (see note in recipe)
- sea salt
Instructions
- If you haven’t browned your butter yet, start with that! Click Here and follow these instructions and then set it aside to cool.
- You will also need to toast your pecans. Simply place in a dry skillet on medium heat and stir often until toasted and browned.
- Heat oven to 325℉. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
- Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, milk and vanilla.
- *When measuring flour, lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level with the back of a knife. If you scoop your flour, it will be too much.Add dry ingredients to dough. Stir in chips and nuts.
- Scoop cookies onto baking sheet. Bake until cookies are set around outer edges start to firm up yet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes (dependent on size). Sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt right when they come out of the oven (so it sticks!).Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Store finished cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- For nice round cookies, use a biscuit cutter or canning ring in a circular motion to shape the cookies while still hot out of the oven.
Questions & Reviews
I made a couple tweaks to the recipe- caramel bits rather than the flavored chips; cashews in place of the pecans, and added about 3/4 cup of chopped dried apples. The results are delicious! The browned butter flavor of the cookie itself makes a great match with the bits- just the right mix of salty and sweet, crispy at the edges and nice a chewy!
Followed it to a T, and used Trader Joe’s caramel seasalt chips, and this was a big hit. Used a handful of chocolate chips in addition to the caramel chips.
Outstanding! I followed the recipe exactly. I found Sea Salt Caramel chips at Trader Joes in a 10oz. bag which was just enough for the recipe plus a few for sampling for quality control purposes ; ). I used a #40 scoop for consistency on parchment lined baking sheets which gave me 36 cookies. I baked them on convection for 14 minutes and I let them cool completely then handed samples out to my taste testers. Definitely a keeper recipe.
Great taste. I used parchment paper on the batch and the cookies stuck to the paper. Second dozen, I didn’t use the paper and much better. You do need to let them cook a touch before taking off the cookie sheet.
Everybody loved them.
Just weigh the flour – mine came out to 9 oz. And be sure to measure the chips, not just dump the whole bag. You can snack on the extras
These cookies are fabulous! Going to use this recipe with other chips as well just to try, love the base recipe, so sweet, salty and buttery yummy!
Scrumptious! Only change was I added some chocolate chips. The tip on getting the shape by rolling into balls then braking in half was great. Thanks
very good! just spent 15 minutes writing a detailed explanation of how this recipe worked for me and the slight changes I made, but right when I hit “post” the site reloaded “because of a problem.” Too tired to rewrite, but the upshot is you CAN use salted butter and if you like crispy-chewy cookies, bake them on higher heat, 375.
I’ve made 1,000 cookie recipes and have never posted a comment before. These were outstanding. One of my new favorites. When you make them, be generous with those buttery pecans!
At first I thought they might need chocolate or coconut but they are perfect as written. No need to add or change a thing.
These are the best cookies EVER! Not a big nut fan, so I omit those and these are still the best I’ve ever had! This is my 4th time making them, and the first time I encountered a runny dough. The dough thickened as the first batch was in the oven, so I think I may have not let the butter cool enough.