October 26, 2019
Caramel Cookie Cups!
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Sweet & delicious chocolate chip and caramel cookie cups! Perfect with a scoop of ice cream, and an extra caramel drizzle!
Caramel cookie cups
Cookies? Love them. Cookie bars? Love them. Cookie cups? Oh my actual days I LOVE them. Honestly, they are life changing little cups of beauty. And, here is the recipe for these ones… caramel cookie cups!
So! I’ve had this blog for nearly five years now, and I have posted cookie related recipes since the beginning… some of my favourites being my Terry’s chocolate orange cookies, and my Mini Egg cookie bars!
Anyway… request after request after request later… here is my first cookie cup post. Yeah, I apologise that it’s taken nearly five years, and a lot of badgering, but it’s happened now! And my god… you’re going to love it.
Recipe
For this recipe, it basically is just the same as my cookie bars, because why would you mess with something that isn’t broken. The only difference, is the tin you bake them into. For this, instead of making the regular 16 pieces from a cookie bar, I made 12!
Tin
I used your standard cupcake/muffin tin. It’s quite easy – spray the with a little cake release spray, and shove that cookie dough in. It really is THAT simple! You can of course line each of the cups, but I found it far too much effort. Each to their own though!
Dough
The dough itself is easy enough to make – I just use a mixer with the beater attachment, and create the wonderful dough. The wonderful thing about using more flour than usual, and the cornflour, means you don’t have to chill the dough!
Chocolate
For the chocolate, I use the finely chopped chocolate! If you use a chocolate bar that you have chopped up, or chocolate chips… you need to make sure that you chop them up quite finely. Where you are shaping the dough somewhat, you need small bits of chocolate!
Caramel
For the caramel centre… it was easy. Carnations caramel. Because of the size of these being regular cupcake size, I used a slightly heaped teaspoon of caramel! You can however use sweets such as Rolos instead if you wanted – notes below! If you wanted to make mini versions – simply use one frozen Rolo per cup! SO easy.
Seal
You just have to make sure when you are sealing all the cookie dough together, that you don’t leave any gaps for the caramel to seep out! If it gets out, you may get a sticky mess everywhereeee. It is easy enough once you get the hang of it though!
Serve
These beauties really are very simple, but so so so so SO delicious! I love them. They’re so good as they are, drizzled with extra caramel, or with ice cream. Or even more. Indulgent, and DELICIOUS.
Caramel Cookie Cups!
Ingredients
- 275 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 115 g unsalted butter
- 55 g granulated sugar
- 135 g light brown sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g finely chopped chocolate
- 12 heaped tsps Carnations caramel
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and grease and lightly flour a 12 hole cupcake/muffin tin.
- Whisk/Mix the plain flour, bicarbonate, salt and cornflour together so its evenly distributed – leave to the side.
- In a larger bowl, melt the butter. Add in the two sugars, and whisk for about 2 minutes so the sugar starts to dissolve and the mixture is smooth.
- Add in the egg and the vanilla, and whisk again briefly until smooth. (I used an electric whisk)
- Add in the dry ingredients and the finely chopped chocolate and mix with a spatula until a thick cookie dough is formed.
- Take out 240g worth of dough and leave to the side. Split the rest of the dough evenly between the 12 cups - I used a 5cm cookie scoop.
- Using the end of a floured rolling pin/pie mould/etc press each ball of dough into the cup and create a hole in the middle.
- Repeat with all 12 cups!
- Add in the caramel, I use a heaped teaspoon per cookie cup - don't over fill the hole with caramel though.
- Split the 240g into 20g each, flatten, and add on top of each cup and press down slightly to seal!
- Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes - leave to cool fully in the tin as they're easier to get out!
Notes
- These beauties are best served warm, but as you have used a caramel such as Carnations caramel, it will stay soft even when the cookies have cooled.
- You do NOT want to over-fill the cookie cups, otherwise it will be an exploded mess.
- I use Carnations caramel, but any thick caramel sauce will do - if you don't want to use caramel sauce however, you can freeze caramel sweets such as Rolos and use those! I would use two Rolos per cup.
- These will last for 3-4 days once made!
- You can make them a chocolate cookie mix by taking out 25g of flour and 1/2tbsp of cornflour and using 25g of cocoa powder!
- I really WOULD use the cornflour.
- I use a 5cm cookie scoop to evenly distribute my cookie dough!
- I also use a pie moulder to make the shape for the cookies to sit in!
- I use one of these trays for the cookie cups!
ENJOY!
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J x
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I’ve just made these and yes a slight dip but still wow.
And come out the tin no problem.
Super happy 😄 xx
Would these work with baking rings
I’d say so!
Instead of a caramel Centre could I put a chunk of frozen brownie in the centre instead? If I wanted a Brookie style cookie cup?
Absolutely, sounds yummy! x
Hi Jane, Had a go at these, couldn’t make 12 though, think more due to not enough practice
rather than not enough ingredients, made 11 and one didn’t have a top lol, but what i made
turned out nice, will have another go at these again, maybe with nutella next time, thanks.
Hi again
I wanted to make some more but shop was out of stock in soft brown sugar. Would dark brown soft sugar be any good, or would that change the flavour?
Thank you 😊
I made these today for my sons 12th birthday. Wow I was so impressed at how well they turned out. I also used a silicone cup tray, no greasing or flouring and they came out so easy. They tasted amazing 😻 Thank you for providing this amazing recipe 👌😍👌😍
Hi Jane, I just wondered if I wanted to freeze these would I do this before cooking or after cooking and then slightly warm them once defrosted? Thank you!
Hiya, after cooking and yes you can do xx
Hi Jane,
I was wondering whether I could use your red velvet cookie recipe end using finely chopped white chocolate instead and making these cookie cups? With A Nutella filling? Do you think that Would work??
Thank you x
Yes that would work!
Great revipe used a cadburys caramel spread filling . Think I need to do the tops a little smaller but otherwise perfect. Can I freeze these ?
Ahh yay! And yes you can x
Haven’t tried thus recipe yet but hoping to at the weekend. I was wondering can use butter round the tin first to prevent sticking and what is the best way to ensure that the top stays on?
Love all ur recipes!
I used butter and they came out the tin without a problem at all 🙂
A fab recipe, tasted great! I don’t know if it was just me though but the dough only just about made 9 cookie cups – I wouldn’t have been able to make 12 at all!
Made these today. They are amazing. I added a slice of banana inside with the caramel to make them banoffee. It worked out fab!
Recipe seems slightly off – it only made 7 (at a push) & the chopped chocolate chips made it very difficult to work with.
Next time I will make 2 times the dough and skip the chocolate chips & just make sure the inside is exciting.
That means the tin you have used is differently shaped – it definitely makes the 12 in my tin x
Delicious- everybody loved them!
I tried these today and they didn’t work for me at all. I found the cookie dough crumbly and when trying to put into moulds it kept breaking apart. Not sure why this is?
How did you mix the dough?
I’m not a fan of the caramel – would these work with a
Nutella filling? Would I need to do anything with the Nutella or just spoon it in? 🙂
I had the same problem. Mixed the dough with a spatula, and then my hand as it was too dry.
Made these tonight, haven’t tried they yet but the look n
smell devine !
I must have portioned wrong as I only managed to get 9 lids from the 240g so will work on that next time, filled 6 with caramel n 6 with biscoff spread 😛
Have you got a video of how to do this? I can’t get my head around how to press into the tin and make a hole
I don’t I’m afraid!
So roll a ball of dough in a ball (60g) and put it in the cupcake tray
Gently push down with the back of a rolling pin (thicker end type) you then just shape the sides
If that makes sense?
These taste unreal. I was just wondering could you use baking cups? I just found getting them out a little tricky and didn’t look as neat as I’d like so is there any reason baking cups wouldn’t work? Thanks x
Baking cups would work fine x
Hi Jane I love your recipes. With these cookie cups they cooked from the top and didn’t cook well from the bottom… So broke very easily when removing them. I left them in a little longer than what recipe suggests. What am I doing wrong? Baked them twice and both times same thing.. Do you think it could be to do with my ingredients? Thank you.
It’s hard to say for sure, but ingredients can do it but also the oven itself/what you are baking them into. Usually they break apart because they haven’t finished baking or you need to be more gentle when removing them x
Can I do a mince pie cookie cup version?
Maybe I can add some cinnamon instead of chocolate and then mince pie filling inside? Would that work OK?
Thanks Jane, love your recipes x
I’m sure it would be fine! x
I had left over mincemeat due to making mince pies over Xmas. So I did some with mince meat and some with caramel.. the caramel ones came out perfectly, however the mincemeat filling came out when I took them out of the tin. I haven’t tasted them yet. But I hope they still taste nice.
Hi Jane I now only bake with your recipes, thanks for the detailed methods and recipes
Hi Jane I love making your recipes they are amazing especially your cheesecakes. Like you I am a total Biscoff fanatic have you tried making these cookie cups with Biscoff
It’s a straight switch for Biscoff!
These were amazing! How do we get them to stop sinking in the middle?? They come out fine and then sink when cooling.
Thanks!
That means they needed a bit longer baking usually!
I’ve made these so many times & everyone loves them! But annoyingly the best ones I ever made were the first ones because none of them caved in & broke! Now I just can’t seem to figure out what I’m doing differently.. sometimes the dough is so sticky & really difficult to handle without it sticking to my hands.. could I be over mixing when I add the egg & vanilla? I measure everything exact too! Then other times it’s really easy to handle & comes out fine? Please help! Xx
Usually if the cookie dough is suddenly sticky but wasn’t before, an ingredient has changed.. usually it would be the wet so the egg! It’s worth adding in a smidge more flour just to make it easier to handle if you are worried! x
just got them out of the oven and none of them have exploded or caved in😊!!They smell delicious, how long would you recommend leaving them in the tin for?
Ahh yay!! If you can leave them for as long as possible it just makes them easier to get out haha!
Does any cookie bar recipe work for cups?
Yes x
Hi, could these be made like normal cookies? I have leftover caramel from the caramel recipe u use in ur millionaires shortbreads, if I froze them into balls and encased them in the dough would it work?
Unfortunately it won’t work the best as the caramel doesn’t freeze solid so tends to not work as well outside of the cups x
Just made these, they look and smell amazing, haven’t tasted yet 👌
I made these today. They looked good and tasted ok, but half of them broke… the tops came away from the bottoms and the bottoms broke when I removed them from the tin (it was greased). What went wrong?
That usually means that they haven’t been baked quite long enough, but you do also need to be incredibly careful when taking them out x
My cookie cups sunk in the middle while cooling – why could this be 😩
That means they needed a little longer baking, but also now means you have the perfect place to put ice cream!!
Hi, I’m planning on using this recipe to make a giant cookie cake instead of a trad birthday cake for my kid (who is weird and hates cake). As this recipe makes 12 cookies, any idea how big a pan I’ll need for one giant cookie?
Thanks
Lauren
I would look at my cookie bar recipes, which is already a giant 9″ square (about a 9-10″ circle) because of the timings!
When you freeze these (and brownies etc) do you defrost them in the microwave and if so how long for? Thank you xx
I personally do yes, but timings really can depend on the microwave – some thaw really well on full power for a short time, some need half power for longer xx
Can you make these with biscoff spread in the center?
Yes!
I made these as open cookie cups without the “lid” and filled them once they were cool, half with chocolate fudge filling and half with caramel, I felt they were a bit big so I’m gonna try a mini muffin tin, the only problem I had was they had risen when baking and i had to squish them down, I’ve since bought a pie mould, mini cake cases and baking beans, I’m making them again tomorrow 😀
Hi, could you use homemade caramel? If so, have you got a recipe you would suggest – can’t get the carnation caramel anywhere at the moment! Thankyou 🙂
Yes you could! There’s one on my blog – search Homemade Caramel Sauce!
My tops totally sunk into the caramel cavity so they didn’t look very good (as in gaping holes) but they tasted amazing anyway! Thanks for yet another amazing recipe
Oh no aha!! At least it’s perfect for a scoop of ice cream! X
When you say light brown sugar in your recipes do you mean soft light brown sugar or golden caster sugar?
Light brown soft sugar/light brown sugar are the same!
Can I skip adding the chocolate chips in the cookie cups dough? and instead of caramel, i change it to nutella.
The chocolate helps with the moisture of the cookie cups, but if you don’t want it and rather it plain then yes – and yes to nutella!
Can you freeze these (either the cookie dough or once baked) ? Thanks! 🙂
I would say yes to either – however, because of how you have to structure it for the caramel, it’s probably easier to freeze them baked!
I’ve not made these yet but was wondering if you could put kinder choc inside? x
Yes you definitely can, it just won’t be a gooey centre!
Could you bake these using silicone or paper cake cases or would they be impossible to remove?
I would definitely say it’s worth a go – but they would definitely have to be completely cooled and you’d have to be gentle!
I might put some Manilife peanut butter in them, amazing recipe!
Fantastic recipe .
I didn’t have any chocolate bars, so smashed up a few easter eggs. I made my own caramel for the centre using another recipe of yours. The kids loved them 😋
Can I use self raising flour instead of plain?
You can, but the texture will change and they will probably rise and then sink more than usual!
Hands down the best thing I’ve baked 😍 would Nutella work inside then the same as carnations? & would it be best to freeze first (like your Nutella stuffed cookies) I want to make more but maybe with different fillings!
Yes you could use Nutella!
Can these be frozen .thank you
Can these be baked as empty cups? Minus the filling and top? Thanks!
Have just eaten two of these! I didn’t have any seeping caramel, but mine weren’t very robust so it was difficult removing them. I think my error was that I spread the dough all the way up my muffin tin holes – this meant there was too much of a gap inside so they started to collapse a little – oops! Should’ve read the recipe more closely! Still yummy though and fun to make 🙂
These taste amazing!
I tried making these and they came out pretty good. The only problem 8 had was the tops collapsed in on themselves. Any idea how to prevent this?
They do sink a little naturally – but it’s not a fault – it’s the place for the icecream to go!
What is the purpose of the cornflour/why do you use it in this recipe?
I use it in lots of cookie recipes. It’s there for a reason. It changes the texture, helps the cookie to bake, and stops it spreading in general cookie terms. It’s important.