Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. In another bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes. The chilling is not totally necessary. I’ve baked them without chilling, but the dough gets fairly sticky when forming the cookies so it’s easier if it’s chilled. Also, they are a bit thicker when the dough is chilled. Alternately, you can form the cookies right away and then chill the cookies before baking.

Take 1/2 teaspoon of the chilled salted caramel sauce (it should be quite firm if it’s chilled so you can scoop it out easily). Scoop out some cookie dough, about 2 tablespoons or the size of a golf ball, and wrap it around the salted caramel, forming a golf ball sized ball. Repeat for the remaining caramel and cookie dough, placing the cookies about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 9-10 minutes, just until the edges start to brown lightly. Do not over-bake them or they will be crispy rather than chewy. They still look under-baked when you take them out of the oven but they will firm up as they cool. Let them cool on the pan for about 5 minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep for 7 days in a sealed container at room temperature.