Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m all about getting my savory along with my sweet. One of my new obsessions is anything “salted caramel”. I’ve always loved caramel. As a kid there was nothing I loved more for a sweet treat. Soft and chewy and dare I say better than chocolate. Until very recently I had never had a salted caramel. During the holidays, our neighbor dropped off a box of different goodies she made for us. Inside were the most delicious salted caramels I’d ever eaten. So, I got to thinking about different sweets that I could make keeping with the theme of salted caramels. I found this recipe through Pinterest and thought I would give it a whirl. It’s now become my favorite go-to cookie recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup Kraft Caramel Bits
Sea salt, for sprinkling on cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. You’ll want to use parchment paper so the cookies won’t stick.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda and sea salt together. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (if you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer), cream together butter and sugars until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. It’s important to use room temperature butter so that the sugars will easily cream.

4. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips and caramel bits. Form cookie dough into tablespoon balls and place on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt. Be careful not to forget this step. It’s the whole essence of the cookie.

6. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes, or until slightly golden brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.