Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
These delicious caramel thumbprint cookies use a fudgy chocolate cookie base with a dollop of homemade caramel sauce in the center of each cookie. Perfect for the holiday season!
The original recipe for the chocolate cookie base is based off these orange chocolate cookies. It’s rich and chocolatey with a great fudge texture, but this time, I’ve added a little more flour and a less-raising agent to stop the cookies from puffing and spreading so they can keep their pockets for the caramel filling. The filling is a simple caramel sauce with sugar, butter, and heavy cream. Top it with flaky salt, and you have the perfect balance of sweet and salty.
Note – The caramel sauce in this recipe firms up when refrigerated but is quite soft at room temperature. If you want firmer, chewy caramels at room temperature, too, you will need a sugar thermometer when making the caramel sauce. See the recipe notes.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need for the chocolate caramel thumbprint cookies recipe. Find the ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Butter. This can be salted or unsalted butter. Soften the butter to room temperature before using. This means it is soft enough that a finger pressed into the butter leaves an indentation but not so soft that the butter is greasy.
- Granulated sugar.
- Light brown sugar. A brown and white sugar mix brings moisture and chewiness to the cookie, with ever so slightly crisp edges.
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract or vanilla paste.
- All-purpose flour.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder. This can be natural or Dutch-processed cocoa.
- Baking soda and salt.
- Flaky sea salt for topping
- Homemade caramel sauce
How to make caramel chocolate thumbprint cookies
Chocolate cookie base
Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together, then set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold them with a wooden spoon until combined.
Divide the dough into 30 equal portions and roll into cookie dough balls.
Place the dough balls on a tray lined with parchment paper.
Use a 1/2 teaspoon or the end of a wooden spoon and press down in the center of the cookies to create an indent.
Chill the cookies for about 2 hours.
Caramel sauce
Measure and set aside the butter cubes and the heavy cream.
n a medium saucepan over low to medium heat, add the sugar. Stir it gently with a wooden spoon while it melts. It will clump together and then gradually melt into an amber-brown liquid.
Don’t turn the heat high or let it cook for too long; the sugar will burn, and the caramel will be bitter.
Once it has all melted, use a whisk and add the cubes of butter, two cubes at a time.
Start whisking immediately while you do this, and don’t stop until all the butter has melted. It will form a thick caramel.
Once the butter melts into the sugar, pour the heavy cream and keep whisking.
Take extra care here; the cream will make the caramel bubble and rise. It may also split the caramel as the cream hits the hot sugar.
Keep whisking and cooking until it forms a smooth sauce.
At this point, the sauce can be removed from heat. However, to make chewy caramel, cook the sauce until it reaches a firm ball stage at 245°F (118°C.) Keep cooking the sauce over low-medium heat and whisking, until it reaches this.
Afterward, turn off the heat and stir in the salt. Pour into a clean, heat-proof container.
Baking
Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Place the cookies on a cookie sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies for approximately 10-12 minutes until baked around the edges but the middles are still soft. The exact baking time will depend on your oven.
When the cookies come from the oven, they may have lost their indentations. Give them a press with the back of a teaspoon again.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Fill the cooled cookies with caramel sauce.
Place the filled cookies in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up the caramel sauce.
Top with sea salt flakes.
Storing
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container in a single layer at room temperature for up to a week. The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to three months, wrapped in plastic or a freezer-safe bag.
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Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 113 g unsalted butter
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 190 g all-purpose flour
- 45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Caramel sauce
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 85 g unsalted butter
- 120 g heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Serving
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
Chocolate cookie base
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together, then set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and creamy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold them with a rubber spatula until combined.
- Divide the dough into 30 equal portions and roll into cookie dough balls.
- Place the dough balls on a tray lined with parchment paper. Use a 1/2 teaspoon or the end of a wooden spoon and press down in the center of the cookies to create an indent.
- Chill the cookies for about 2 hours.
Caramel sauce
- Measure and set aside the butter cubes and the heavy cream.
- Add the sugar in a medium saucepan over low to medium heat. Stir it gently with a wooden spoon while it melts. It will clump together and then gradually melt into an amber-brown liquid. Don't turn the heat high or let it cook for too long; the sugar will burn, and the caramel will be bitter.
- Once it has all melted, use a whisk and add the cubes of butter, a bit at a time. Start whisking immediately while you do this, and don't stop until all the butter has melted. It will form a thick caramel.
- Once the butter melts into the sugar, pour the heavy cream and keep whisking. Take extra care here; the cream will make the caramel bubble and rise. It may also split the caramel as the cream hits the hot sugar. Keep whisking and cooking until it forms a smooth sauce.
- At this point, the sauce can be removed from heat. However, to make chewy caramel that stays firmer at room temperature, cook the sauce until it reaches a firm ball stage and reads 245°F (118°C) on a candy thermometer. Keep cooking the sauce while whisking over low-medium heat until it reaches this. This firmer caramel will set quickly, so if you're not ready to fill the cookies yet, it might need to be rewarmed in the microwave to loosen it up later so it can be dolloped in.
- Afterward, turn off the heat and stir in the salt. Pour into a clean, heat-proof container. Keep it at room temperature.
Baking
- Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the cookies on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 9-11 minutes until baked around the edges, but the middles are still soft. The exact baking time will depend on your oven.
- When the cookies come from the oven, they may have lost their indentations. Give them a press with the back of a teaspoon again.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Fill the cooled cookies with caramel sauce. If the caramel sauce has firmed up too much to drizzle it into the cookies, it can be gently warmed in the microwave to loosen it again.
- Place the filled cookies in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up the caramel sauce.
- Top with sea salt flakes.
