Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies

I always have to have something sweet in the house. Call it my vice or my weakness, but I just can't help myself. Cookies, cake, pudding, or chocolates, I'm not picky. It doesn't even have to be a big dessert; a small handful of chocolate chips will do.

Hello, my name is Kristin and I'm a sugarholic.

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, right?

Sometimes I'll clear the house of (aka completely devour) all of the chocolate and sugary snacks in an attempt to convince myself that I don't need them. I don't have to have a snack every single day. I don't need sugar to make me feel satisfied after a meal. Chocolate is not my best friend. These are the things I tell myself. But, really, who am I kidding? Chocolate is a woman's very best friend.

I usually make it a day or two (I think my record is three) before I cave and find myself in the candy aisle of the grocery store picking out sour gummy worms. I don't even like candy but, given a few days without my sugar fix, a girl tends to forget these things. If I still feel guilty about succumbing to the sugar cravings, I'll go to the baking aisle instead to buy important baking ingredients. You know, chocolate chips, toffee...

In my deepest, darkest, sugar deprived moment, I got out a spoon and a bag of brown sugar. Don't you dare judge me.

These chocolate salted caramel cookies are sweet, salty, and oh so rich. The caramel melts into the cookie, bringing a soft caramel flavor to the chocolate, but it stays solid enough to form ooey gooey strings when you break a warm cookie in half. Decadent and delicious, these cookies will only leave you wanting more (and a tall glass of milk).

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Yields about 20 cookies

5 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used low-fat vanilla yogurt and omitted the vanilla extract)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Soft caramel candies, rolled into little balls (I used these, but store bought works just fine)
Fleur de Sel, or flaked sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugars. The mixture should resemble a coarse sand. Add the yogurt and vanilla until well blended.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until completely blended.

Wrap the cookie dough around the rolled caramels. If you use too large of a caramel, the cookie is liable to have a bit of a caramel explosion in the oven (still tasty, though not as pretty to look at). If you are really concerned about this, do a test cookie. Leave 2 inches of spacing between each cookie when placing them on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle on a light layer of fleur de sel.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before eating. The caramel interiors are very hot and the sugar needs time to cool down or you will burn yourself.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!