The One With the Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I love salted caramel. And I love chocolate chip cookies. When I saw Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod combine them, I thought that was pure genius. So I thought I'd give it a try myself... only in cookie form, and made with homemade caramel sauce.

So here you go: the beauties themselves.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 package chocolate chips
• Homemade caramel sauce
• Sea salt, for sprinkling

First things first: make your caramel sauce. While it is cooling, make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Sift together with a fork. Set aside.
With a mixer, combine butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla. Add in eggs, one at a time. Carefully incorporate the flour mixture, beating on low. Once fully combined, add the chocolate chips.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Take a tablespoon of cookie dough and roll it into a ball, like you normally would when making cookies. Then, press your thumb into the center, creating a little caveat to pour the caramel into. Pour about a tablespoon of caramel into the little ditch, trying not to spill over the sides. Sprinkle sea salt over the caramel.

Finally, make a small little disc of cookie dough and place it over the caramel ditch to create a little lid that contains the caramel and salt.

Don't place your cookie dough balls too close together, as these babies tend to expand quite a bit. Place cookies in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and then enjoy!

You could also make these as a cookie bar. Make as directed above, but instead of rolling into cookies,  and then separate your dough in half. Grease the bottom of a 7 x 11 in Pyrex pan. Press half of your cookie dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread a layer of caramel on top. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cover with the other half of your cookie dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

And enjoy! Seriously. They're good.

 Check out my "Linked and Featured" tab to see where I linked this bad boy up.