When you’re having a cookie craving, make yourself this giant salted caramel triple chocolate skillet cookie. It’s the perfect solution and requires no cookie sheets!
This has been a crazy start to 2018. I was sick for about a week after I got my flu shot. Then, after I got better, my daughter got pink eye and a sinus infection. As she was recovering, my husband got a tickle in his throat. And people at work have been dropping like flies (from the flu and other illnesses).
One thing I have been craving since shaking off my virus was a nice, warm chocolate cookie. You know the kind – one with a crispy exterior and nice melty center. Well, I wanted one but didn’t want to do all the work of having to scoop dough balls and clean a messy cookie sheet.
So rather than bake traditional cookies, I made myself another skillet cookie. But this time, I added some salted caramel sauce to the middle. Because I could. I made my sauce from scratch but you can certainly use pre-made sauce if you’re strapped for time.
This is probably the first dessert that I’ve made in a while that wasn’t shared outside of my family. We totally hoarded this one and kept it to ourselves because it was that good!
Salted caramel triple chocolate skillet cookie
Ingredients
Salted caramel
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Cookie
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips plus more for topping
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a cast iron pan if isn't seasoned already.
Make the salted caramel sauce
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, mix together the sugar, butter and cream and cook for about 10 minutes. The mixture should start to bubble. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Turn off the stove and remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and salt and set aside.
Make the cookie
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Then add the vanilla.
- Turn the mixer to low and slow add in the dry ingredients. Mix until everything just comes together. Turn the mixer off and fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
- Spread about half of the dough on the bottom of your cast iron pan. Make sure you smooth it out and spread everything into an even layer (an offset spatula will be helpful here). Bake in your preheated oven for about 13 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and drizzle on the caramel sauce. Then top with the remaining cookie dough. It might be hard to spread, so do your best. I found it easiest to break the dough into chunks and spread them out onto the pan and gently use my offset spatula to even everything out.
- Bake in your preheated oven for an additional 15-20 minutes. The top should be done but the cookie may appear slightly underdone. This is OK because the cookie will continue to harden as it cools.
- Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top and gently press them into your pan if desired. Allow the cookie to cool slightly before serving.