Kitchen Stories- Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

We've been spending some time in the kitchen lately because school's on term break. Spending time at home always makes us hungry and constantly craving for sugary treats. We both have a sweet tooth and love all things chocolate, so we went all out and made some dark chocolate cookies with a gooey caramel center the other day. The cookies turned out amazing and they might just be the best cookie recipe in the entire world! You have to try them. We're already planning on making big batches to store in the freezer for rainy days and emergencies, and most especially for those times when you need a good cookie to get you through the day.

Ingredients:

*Makes 12 Jumbo Cookies

1 2/3 cups Dark Chocolate or Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup packed Light Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

1 large Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

12 pieces Individually Wrapped Caramels

Sea Salt (optional)

Instructions:

PREHEAT oven to 325F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease.

MELT 2/3 cup chocolate chips using a double boiler or microwave oven for 30 to 40 seconds until melted. Set aside.

BEAT butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add melted chocolate and mix well. Add in egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined.

SIFT cocoa powder, flour,  baking soda and salt in another bowl. Gradually mix flour mixture into butter mixture just until well blended, then stir in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Cover dough and chill for 1 to 2 hours. Do not skip this step. Dough will be easier to form when chilled.

ROLL dough into balls, 1/4 cup measure each. Make a thumbprint into each dough ball and  press a caramel candy inside. Put your cookie balls on baking sheet, 3 inches apart. Sprinkle sea salt if desired.

BAKE 16 to 18 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.

The most chocolatey, chewy, and soft cookies we've ever made. We couldn't keep our hands off and just had to have a taste while we were trying to take photos so we ended up having very sticky hands and an equally sticky camera. Oh, the dangers we go through just to share a recipe :)

This article also appears on PhilStar.com.