Chocolate caramel cookies are a delicious sweet treat! This chocolate thumbprint cookie recipe is easy and fun to make for Christmas, or any time of the year.
Imagine filling a fudgy, chewy brownie cookie with caramel. That's what these chocolate caramel cookies are like!
Chocolate goes well with pretty much ANYTHING, but especially caramel.
My gram has been making these chocolate thumbprint cookies for as long as I can remember. They're perfect for the holidays or really any time, especially with a mug of hot chocolate!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- You only need 8 inexpensive ingredients.
- A fantastic texture. The edges are crispy but the centers have a soft caramel filling.
- An easy and affordable homemade gift to share. Make a few batches of the chocolate caramel cookies to share with neighbors, friends, or family. Wrap them up in a nice cookie tin or cellophane bag.
Ingredients
To make this recipe you'll need
- white granulated sugar
- salted butter
- egg yolk - You won't need the egg white for this recipe.
- milk
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- unsweetened cocoa powder - Either regular or Dutch process cocoa will work. Do not use hot chocolate mix because there is sugar in it.
- caramel dip: Caramel fruit dip is pretty easy to find all year long. Look for it in the produce section of the grocery store, near the apples.
- candy melts: This ingredient is optional. You can also use colored chocolate melts to drizzle over the tops of the chocolate caramel cookies. I use this bundle of holiday colored chocolates.
Substitutions and Recipe Variations
- white sugar: To cut the calories a bit, you can use any cup for cup granulated sugar substitute.
- salted butter: Unsalted butter will work, but if you do, I suggest adding ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the cookie dough.
- egg: I don't recommend substituting the egg yolk in this recipe.
- milk: You can use any type of dairy or non dairy milk.
- vanilla extract: If you need a substitute, vanilla essence is an alcohol-free flavoring. Another flavor of extract can be substituted for vanilla. If necessary, you can omit this ingredient without it affecting the final result.
- caramel: We use caramel fruit dip, but you can use caramel ice cream sauce or soft caramel candies. Just cut them in half and place one half of a caramel into each thumbprint indentation.
Thumbprint Cookie Recipe Variations
- Double chocolate thumbprints Instead of making these as chocolate caramel cookies, you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips or a chocolate ganache to fill the chocolate thumbprint cookies. This chocolate thumbprint cookie recipe looks good.
- Jam: If you are looking for a jam thumbprint cookie, check out my recipe for raspberry thumbprint cookies. You can use any jam you like- strawberry, apricot, blueberry, or even lemon curd.
- Toppings: Some people add crushed nuts or sea salt to the tops. The salt would be a fantastic addition to caramel cookies!
How to Make Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Summary only. The complete recipe instructions are in the card at the bottom of this post ⬇️
- Make and chill the chocolate cookie dough. It's very important to chill the dough for at least an hour. If you don't, your cookies will spread too much in the oven.
- Portion cookie dough balls onto baking sheets. To prevent sticking, line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make thumbprint indentations and bake the cookies.
- Make indentations again after baking.
- Fill each chocolate cookie with caramel.
- Bake again to melt the caramel filling.
Optional but super cute: When cool, drizzle each thumbprint with red and green chocolate melts.
Liz's Tips for the Best Cookies
This recipe is pretty simple to make, but here are a few helpful tips:
- Indentations: Use gentle pressure when making thumbprint indentations, to prevent them from cracking.
Use your thumb, or for more uniform indents, use the back of a teaspoon or the bottom of a wooden spoon handle. These cookies DO rise, so you need to make an indent before and after baking. Making the indents twice versus only doing it at the end helps prevent the cookies from breaking. - Chilling the dough is a must! It is necessary to chill the dough for one hour to prevent the cookie dough from spreading and cracking. If they crack when you make the second indents, use your fingers to gently close the cracks.
- Cleaning up spills: If you spill caramel when filling the chocolate thumbprints, just use a damp napkin to wipe it away before putting them back in the oven.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. It is super important to measure your ingredients correctly, especially the flour! Here's a tutorial on how to measure flour correctly.
- Monitor the baking. These can quickly go from perfectly baked to burnt, so keep an eye on them. It can be hard to tell because of the chocolate brown color. It's best to remove them when they're a little underdone. They'll be going back into the oven after filling them with caramel, so they can finish baking at that time.
- Heat the caramel to soften. Microwaving the caramel dip for 10 seconds makes it easier to handle/fill the cookies.
Giving Thumbprint Cookies as a Gift
These cookies are slightly difficult to package for gifting because the caramel will cause them to stick together. To help prevent this, place a square of parchment or wax paper in between each cookie. Treats like snickerdoodle cookies and pecan snowball cookies are better for gifting.
Storing and Freezing Instructions
Storing: Place cookies in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Freezing baked chocolate caramel cookies is not recommended, as the caramel becomes grainy during the thawing process.
Raw cookie dough may be frozen for up to 4 months. Store in a freezer-safe container, and thaw in refrigerator before baking.
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookie Recipe FAQs
Using the same ingredients that the recipe calls for, one chocolate caramel cookie has about 65 calories per cookie.
Your cookies may have gone flat because the butter was too warm. Fat makes baked goods spread. Chill the cooking dough in the refrigerator for an hour before rolling and baking to prevent cookies from spreading.
Other Holiday Recipe Ideas
Here are some of our favorite Christmas treats. If you need other ideas, here are 30 Healthy Holiday Desserts and Healthy Christmas Recipes
- Pizzelle Cookies
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Linzer Cookies
- Italian Chocolate Cookies
- Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
- Butterscotch Haystacks
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup butter softened to room temp
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons milk or non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup caramel fruit dip *see Notes
Instructions
- IMPORTANT: This dough must be chilled to prevent the cookies from spreading!
- Prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on high speed, cream sugar and butter together for 2 minutes. Add milk, egg yolk, and vanilla, then using medium speed, mix again to combine.
- Add in flour and cocoa powder. Mix on low speed, just until combined. *Avoid over mixing, which can cause cookies to be dry and crumbly.
- Wrap the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- When ready to bake, set oven to preheat at 350℉.
- Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, portion dough into ½ tablespoon-sized balls. Arrange in a single layer on the prepared cookie sheet, spaced 1 to 2 inches apart. *They don't spread too much - I was able to fit 12 thumbprint cookies on a standard sized baking sheet.
- Using your thumb or the back of a teaspoon, create an indent by pressing down in center of dough. *The caramel filling will be added later, after baking.
- Place baking sheet on center rack of oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from oven and immediately press the center of each cookie again to make an indent, as they may have risen. Fill each indention with caramel and return to the oven for 1-2 minutes, until the caramel spreads and is smooth in the center
- Optional: When cookies are cool, drizzle with melted red and green candy melts.
Helpful Notes and Tips From Liz
- If you're unable to find caramel fruit dip, you can use caramel ice cream sauce or soft caramels, cut in half. Place one half of a caramel into each thumbprint indentation.
- Do not skip chilling the dough. It must be cold or it will spread in the oven too much.
- Storing: Place cookies in an airtight container at keep at room temperature for up to 7 days.
- Freezing baked chocolate caramel cookies is not recommended, as it causes the caramel to become grainy.
- The raw cookie dough may be frozen for up to 4 months. Store in a freezer-safe container, and thaw in refrigerator before baking.
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