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Alright, give it to me straight.
Salted caramel…are you over it? Has it been done to death? Are you hoping we all move on and find a new food craze?
How about browned butter? Tired of it? Think it’s maybe overrated?
What if I go ahead and put them together? Super lame of me?
Aaaaand, now you’re looking at that melty caramel center and imagining sinking your teeth into the warm caramel surrounded by the absolutely perfect soft, chewy cookie dough base. You’re picturing the caramel melting in your mouth and the salt giving it the perfect little pop of flavor and you know that the browned butter has amped up the flavor in the cookie dough to eleventy-hundred.
So. Salted caramel browned butter cookie cups. They’re alright by you, yeah?
I used TWO caramel candies in the center of each cookie cup. Because I’m wild and crazy and also, I really like caramel. These were perfection. The caramel does harden back up as they cool, though, so best to enjoy them warm. You can always pop them in a warm oven to reheat or even stick ’em in the microwave for 10 seconds. Alternately, maybe you could try using my crockpot dulce de leche instead of caramel candies? I didn’t try it myself, but as long as you keep the caramel sauce encased in the dough during baking, I think it would work brilliantly.
Make these. Then ship ’em to me. My family ate all of mine and I’m feeling too lazy to go make more at the moment.
These whip up with no mixer in no time at all! The best part? There is no chill time for the dough since it’s being baked in a muffin tin. You don’t need to worry about these spreading a bit!
Salted Caramel Browned Butter Cookie Cups
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 20 caramel candies unwrapped
- Kosher salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until butter turns a deep golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Pour the butter into a mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar until well combined.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla and mix well.
- Mix in the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Let sit 15 minutes to cool before adding the chocolate chips, otherwise they will melt into the batter. (You can add them right away if you're okay with the melty look.)
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough into 10 muffin wells each. Flatten with your fingers to cover the bottom of the muffin tin.
- Place two caramel candies on top of the cookie dough. Sprinkle with a a bit of kosher salt. Top each with another tablespoon of cookie dough.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Let cool 10 minutes before carefully removing from the muffin tin. Best served warm, otherwise the caramel hardens back up.
Nutrition Information:
More gooey caramel recipes:
Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars
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Mary says
Do you use a standard muffin pan or a mini muffin pan to bake the “Salted carmel browned butter cookie cups” in?
Karly says
I used a standard muffin tin.
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
I could never be over Salted caramel! I will love Salted caramel until my last breath! Oh and brown butter? I’m not sure how I lived without it! Also, I’m kidding digging the fact that you baked these in a muffin pan!
Tina says
Mine turned out very soggy at the bottom, and it somehow tastes more like a muffin than cookie. Any idea why?
Chichi says
Salted caramel and brown butter , two of my favorite ingredients. These cookies look so so yummy
Angie says
I made these cookies today and they’re delicious, however my dough was extremely dry and crumbly. I’ve re-read the ingredient list multiple times and am sure I got it right. Is the dough intended to be crumbly? Also wondering why you used corn starch? Thanks so much!
Karly says
Hi @Angie,
The dough definitely shouldn’t be dry or crumbly! I wonder if the cookies were overbaked a bit? The cornstarch just helps the cookies become nice and chewy. Sounds like that didn’t work in your case though. This dough recipe is the one I use for all of my chocolate chip cookies and it turns out perfectly, so I’m not sure what could be the problem other than over baking. 🙁
Kate says
Hi! What if the caramel hardens back up? Can I preheat it again and how many minutes? 🙂
Karly says
@Kate,
I think that would be fine. You could also use a bit of dulce de leche instead of the caramel candies and that wouldn’t harden up.
Hamda says
Since I’m a chocoholic I’m going to have to ask…
if I wanted to make the cookies chocolate instead of chocolate chip what would your advice be? I tried melting the chocolate chips then adding it to the dough after mixing in the flour but it made the cookie waaaayyyy too delicate, it’ll crumble before you even removed if from the muffin tray ^^;
Karly says
@Hamda,
I haven’t tried making this recipe with a chocolate base, so I can’t give instructions. You could try using this recipe instead: http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2012/06/15/double-chocolate-peanut-butter-cookies/ and just baking in a muffin tin, but again, I haven’t tried it myself.
Rick B says
I made these with a dulce de leche filling rather than a caramel candy. Saved a little of the dulce le leche to make a caramel sauce to drizzle over the cookies when they were cooled. The filling stays soft and gooey without being runny. Absolutely killer, will definitely be making them again.
Karly says
@Rick B,
Awesome! Glad they were a hit!
Sue says
Rick B, how did you make the dulce de leche filling, please?
Hamda says
Is the brown sugar used granulated (raw) or packed sugar?
I’m thinking of baking this tomorrow 🙂
Karly says
@Hamda,
I use packed brown sugar.
Hamda says
@Karly,
Thank you, just baked a batch in mini-muffin trays and stuffed them with kinder (milk and chocolate bars), it made 24 pieces that disappeared within 5 minutes of leaving the oven ^^;
everyone loved them! I would recommend keeping them in the oven longer then 7 minutes though, they were a bit under-cooked 🙂
Karly says
@Hamda,
So glad they were a hit! 🙂
Christina says
Hi all – made these tonight with my college- age daughter for her to share with her new roomies. We made them in mini-muffin tins. Made 18 cookies. We also used rolos … as we did not have any caramels 🙂 We figured that a little extra chocolate never hurt anyone!
Christina says
@Christina, IMG_5018.jpeg
Karly says
@Christina,
Hope you enjoyed them! The rolo candies sound like a great idea!
Emily @ Life on Food says
Oh yummy! Gooey caramel is something I cannot resist. These look so good!
Heather says
where/when does the kosher salt come into play here?
Kate says
@Heather, i think you just sprinkle it on top???
Karly says
@Heather,
Sorry about that! It gets sprinkled right on top of the caramel candies.
Angie Zangs says
I love baking too! I was just looking over the choc chip cookie/caramel recipe and I’m wondering if you could use a caramel sauce, like the kind you put in oatmeal caramel bars. That way it’ll stay soft and hopefully not ooze too much.