Caramel Butterscotch Cookies

Brown Butter Sea Salt Butterscotch Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Brown butter makes cookies taste amazing! And just wait til you get your hands on these Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels! Chop them up, mix them in, die and go to heaven.

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Chill Time2

Total Time2 23

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: Cookies

Calories: 217kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 and 1/2 sticks
1/4 cup Crisco butter-flavored
1 & 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sour cream
2 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled*
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 7-oz packages Chocolate-Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels*** divided (or any brand of butterscotch caramel)
coarse sea salt or other coarse salt

Instructions

In a small heavy-bottom saucepan, add 3/4 cup unsalted butter. Turn the heat to medium. Let the butter melt, stirring the pan occasionally. After a few minutes the butter will start to foam. Keep stirring every now and then. When the foam starts to subside, watch carefully to see the milk solids start to brown. The butter will stop smelling like plain butter and will smell nutty. Once browned, pour the butter immediately into a large bowl or stand mixer.
Meanwhile, add the 1/4 cup Crisco to a mixing bowl or stand mixer. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat well, scraping the sides and bottom.
When the butter has browned, immediately add it to the sugar mixture. (The butter might burn if you leave it in the pan. If you sugar mixture isn't ready, pour it into a bowl.) Beat the butter into the sugar.
Let the butter cool for a few minutes, then add the egg and egg yolk, mixing well. (Or don't wait, but add them while you have the mixer on so they don't curdle.)
Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour (spooned and leveled!), baking soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just barely combined.
Dump the caramels into a separate small bowl. Use scissors to split the caramels in half.
Add 3/4 of the chopped caramels to the dough, and stir them in gently. If your dough still feels hot enough that it will melt the caramels, refrigerate it for a few minutes, then stir in the caramels.
Chill the dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days. (Or do the freezer trick if you are feeling really impatient: Form the cookies and place them carefully in a large ziplock bag, then freeze for at least 30 minutes. Bake as usual. You can freeze leftover dough-balls for up to 3 months, and have these cookies in your mouth in 10 minutes flat.)
Use a 2-inch cookie scoop (or your hands) to form the cookies. If there is a chunk of caramel on the bottom, "patch" it with more dough (See photos ). Space them about 2 inches apart on a silpat or parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are no longer shiny on top. Err on the side of underbaking.
Remove from the oven and immediately top the cookies with 2 or 3 of the remaining caramel halves. Sprinkle with sea salt or other coarse salt. Let the cookies set up on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes

You can sub Greek yogurt for the sour cream if you want.

You must chill the dough for this recipe, or your cookies will bake flat. Put the dough back in the fridge in between batches when you bake them. Do not put cookie dough onto a hot pan; stick the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer for a couple minutes to allow it to cool down.

*You must spoon and level the flour for this recipe. That means use a scoop to dump flour into your measuring cup, then scrape the top of the measuring cup with a knife to get rid of any excess.

***2022 UPDATE: Sad news my friends! Trader Joe's no longer sells my beloved caramels! What a tragedy. But the good news is that you can make these cookies with any store bought chocolate-covered-caramel. One of the easiest to find will probably be these Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel squares that Ghirardelli sells. Chop them up and use as directed in the recipe!

Nutrition

Caramel Butterscotch Cookies - https://finalstockalert.com/brown-butter-sea-salt-butterscotch-cookies/%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-25270":{"type":"food","name":"Caramel Butterscotch Cookies","slug":"wprm-caramel-butterscotch-cookies","image_url":"https:\/\/thefoodcharlatan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG_9107-e1385971483440.jpg","rating":{"count":1,"total":5,"average":5,"type":{"comment":0,"no_comment":0,"user":1},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":0,"amount":"3\/4","unit":"cup","name":"unsalted butter","notes":"1 and 1\/2 sticks","unit_id":4728,"id":1060,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"3\/4","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":2,"amount":"1\/4","unit":"cup","name":"Crisco","notes":"butter-flavored","unit_id":4728,"id":1701,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1\/4","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":4,"amount":"1 & 1\/2","unit":"cups","name":"dark brown sugar","notes":"","unit_id":4726,"id":1246,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1 & 1\/2","unit":"cups","unitParsed":"cups"}}},{"uid":6,"amount":"1\/4","unit":"cup","name":"granulated sugar","notes":"","unit_id":4728,"id":818,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1\/4","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":8,"amount":"1","unit":"large","name":"egg","notes":"","unit_id":4729,"id":849,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"large","unitParsed":"large"}}},{"uid":10,"amount":"1","unit":"large","name":"egg yolk","notes":"","unit_id":4729,"id":1615,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"large","unitParsed":"large"}}},{"uid":12,"amount":"1","unit":"tablespoon","name":"vanilla","notes":"","unit_id":4725,"id":821,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"tablespoon","unitParsed":"tablespoon"}}},{"uid":14,"amount":"1","unit":"tablespoon","name":"sour cream","notes":"","unit_id":4725,"id":817,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"tablespoon","unitParsed":"tablespoon"}}},{"uid":16,"amount":"2 & 3\/4","unit":"cups","name":"all-purpose flour","notes":"spooned and leveled*","unit_id":4726,"id":766,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2 & 3\/4","unit":"cups","unitParsed":"cups"}}},{"uid":18,"amount":"1 & 1\/2","unit":"teaspoons","name":"baking soda","notes":"","unit_id":4730,"id":823,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1 & 1\/2","unit":"teaspoons","unitParsed":"teaspoons"}}},{"uid":20,"amount":"1\/2","unit":"teaspoon","name":"salt","notes":"","unit_id":4724,"id":754,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1\/2","unit":"teaspoon","unitParsed":"teaspoon"}}},{"uid":22,"amount":"2","unit":"7-oz packages","name":"Chocolate-Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels***","notes":"divided (or any brand of butterscotch caramel)","unit_id":5055,"id":1702,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2","unit":"7-oz packages","unitParsed":"7-oz packages"}}},{"uid":24,"amount":"","unit":"","name":"coarse sea salt","notes":"or other coarse salt","id":1663,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}}],"originalServings":"28","originalServingsParsed":28,"currentServings":"28","currentServingsParsed":28,"currentServingsFormatted":"28","currentServingsMultiplier":1,"originalSystem":1,"currentSystem":1,"unitSystems":[1],"originalAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"currentAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0}}}