Caramel surprise chocolate chip cookies (recipe).

To me, chocolate chip cookies are the quintessential homemade cookie. Delicious, easy to make, comforting, and great with milk! I made these ones extra special by hiding a gooey caramel surprise in the center of each cookie. These are amazing served a little bit warm, with a tall cool glass of milk. 

My cookie dough recipe is a modified version of the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, which is actually my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I slightly decreased the amount of sugar and chocolate chips called for to compensate for the extra sweetness from the caramels. You can use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, or even store bought dough if you would like (which would make these incredibly easy). 

Ingredients (makes 30-40 cookies)

2 1/4 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

15-30 Kraft caramel squares

Instructions

1)  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

2) In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each egg.

3) Add the dry mix to the large bowl, and stir together until just combined (do not over mix, it can make the cookies tough). Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

4) Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes (this makes it much easier to work with).

Hiding the caramel

5) Preheat oven to 375 degrees f. Cut the caramel squares in half to make thinner caramel squares (see picture). Roll the cookie dough into small balls (1 to 1.5 tablespoon sized). Gently flatten each ball, place a caramel piece in the middle, then fold the dough over the caramel.

6) Bake 9-11 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for several minutes before transferring to a flat surface to continue cooling (using a cooling rack leads to some of the hot caramel leaking out of the bottom of the cookie - trust me, I learned the hard way).

Linked up at: