These crispy salted caramel cookies are crispy and buttery around the edges and filled with a puddle of sweet salted caramel in the middle. The trick to getting salted caramel cookies that are crispy without burning the caramel is to freeze the dough and bake directly from frozen.

How to Make Salted Caramel Cookies That Are Crispy
- The #1 trick for crispy salted caramel cookies is to freeze the dough and caramels and bake directly from frozen. Freezing the dough makes the cookies crispy and prevents the caramel from getting over baked, dry, gummy or brittle.
- For crispier cookies use more granulated sugar and less brown sugar. This recipe calls for ⅔ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar.
- Using only a little bit of baking soda prevents the dough from rising too much so that you get a thinner, crispier cookie.
Other Tips and Notes
- Makes 15 Cookies: This is not a huge batch of cookies, using only ½ cup butter and 1 egg and resulting in 15 cookies. The cookies themselves are a little bigger than a standard drop cookie, and 15 cookies goes a long way. Feel free to double this if making it for a crowd.
- Use soft caramels (not the hard suck-on candies).
- Maldon Sea Salt Flakes are expensive, but well worth it. A single box can last you over two years. It can be used for all sorts of things like on top of bakery style chocolate chip cookies and its great lightly sprinkled on top of pizza, like our favorite grandma pie.
- Freezing the Dough: These don’t technically have to be frozen overnight, just until they are frozen solid. Really frozen solid. If they are not frozen solid, they will not spread correctly and they will not be crispy. This will take more than a couple of hours. But if you make the dough in the morning, you could easily bake the cookies in the afternoon or evening.
If you make these cookies leave a comment and rating below or tag a photo on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you and I’d absolutely love to see what you’re making!
Looking for other cookie recipes? Here are a few great ones:
Small Batch Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Small Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crispy Salted Caramel Cookies
These crispy salted caramel cookies are crispy and buttery around the edges and filled with a puddle of sweet salted caramel in the middle. The trick to getting salted caramel cookies that are crispy without burning the caramel is to freeze the dough and bake directly from frozen.
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 15 soft caramels
- Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl add the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar and stir to combine. Add the egg and vanilla and combine. Add the baking soda and salt, stir to combine. Add the flour and stir until incorporated.
- Scoop approximately 2 ½ tbsps of dough and shape into a round ball. Flatten slightly. Shape a caramel into a round disk and place on top of the cookie dough, pressing slightly.
- Place each one onto a piece of wax paper on a flat plate or a small cutting board. Cover in plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the cookies, about 6 at a time on a baking sheet and bake directly from frozen. This allows the edges to get crispy without the caramels getting over baked.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes.
- Remove and immediately sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Nutrition
Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 177mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 209IU | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Have you tried this recipe? Leave a comment below and share a photo on instagram and tag @elleandpear or #elleandpear. I'd absolutely love to hear from you and see what you're making!
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