We’re throwing it back to 2016(!) when I first shared these incredible salted caramel stuffed chocolate snickerdoodles.
It may seem wild to throw all of these flavors at you, but I think you’ll find that the caramel, cinnamon, and chocolate paired together make one of the best holiday cookies you will ever eat. Ever, ever, ever.
I remember first coming up with this recipe almost a decade ago when I wanted to come up with a flavor that would truly knock it out of the park at all of your cookie exchanges. Let’s just say, these cookies will do just that.
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Ingredients in these chocolate snickerdoodles
Chocolate dough is rolled in a cinnamon sugar coating and wrapped around a giant square caramel. They’re then baked and topped with flakes of sea salt for a sweet and salty combo like you’ve never had before. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Flour: we’re using regular all purpose flour for the perfect cookie texture.
- Cocoa powder: get that wonderful, deep chocolate flavor from high-quality cocoa powder.
- Cream of tartar: an essential for that true snickerdoodle flavor — read more about cream of tartar below!
- Baking staples: you’ll also need ground cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Butter: butter adds the perfect amount of moisture. Salted or unsalted butter will both work.
- Sugar: we’re using both light brown sugar and granulated sugar for sweetness.
- Eggs: you’ll need 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.
- Soft caramels: we’re adding a chewy soft caramel right into the center of each cookie! Do not use hard caramel candies as they will not soften.
- For rolling: before baking, remember to roll your cookies in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar for that snickerdoodle look.
The classic snickerdoodle key: cream of tartar
You might be unfamiliar with cream of tartar, but it’s truly essential in every snickerdoodle cookie recipe, including these chocolate snickerdoodles! It gives the cookies an amazing, soft texture because it prevents the sugar from crystallizing, and it reacts with the baking soda to make them puffy and delicious.
Cream of tartar also has a very slight acidic flavor that pairs with the sugar, which you’ll find in traditional snickerdoodles.
Can I make them gluten-free?
I have not tested these chocolate snickerdoodle cookies with a different flour, but if you’d like to experiment, feel free to try using a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour, and let me know how it goes in the comments. You can also check out all of my gluten-free cookie recipes here!
Can I skip the caramel?
Sure! You can simply roll the dough and bake the dough balls without adding the caramels.
Alternatively, try adding a Rolo to each dough ball for more chocolate-caramel flavor!
How to make caramel-stuffed chocolate snickerdoodles
Adding a soft caramel to each cookie may seem tricky, so I’m here to show you an easy, step-by-step guide for doing so! The trick to rolling the dough is right in these photos.
Step 1: once you’ve made your dough, use a cookie scoop to grab about 2 tablespoons of it, flatten it, and place a caramel in the middle.
Step two: carefully roll the dough around the caramel until it’s in a ball. Make sure none of the caramel is showing.
Step 3: once you have your chocolate snickerdoodle cookie dough ball, roll it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Yes yes yesssssss, who else is ready to bake up a little cookie heaven? This is what Santa really wants for Christmas. (And all of your loved ones, too.)
I’m going to be making these for Christmas this year, and I’m sure they’ll be gone in a matter of minutes…Pull them apart or bite into a melt-in-your-mouth cookie with a chewy middle and perfectly crisp edges.
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Storing tips
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days. Perfect for sharing over the holidays!
I’ve heard from readers that freezing these cookies could solidify the caramel too much and make it hard to chew, so freeze at your own risk!
More cookie recipes you’ll love
- Vanilla Brown Sugar Oatmeal Latte Cookies with Espresso Icing
- Death by Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Chocolate Cookies
- Incredible Gingerbread Oatmeal Cream Pies
- The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies You’ll Ever Eat
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
If you make these epic chocolate snickerdoodles, let me know by leaving a comment below or tagging #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups (280g) all purpose flour
- ½ cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder (choose a high-quality)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (226g) salted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (213g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 20 soft caramels, unwrapped (I use Werther's soft caramels and rolled them into balls)
- For rolling the cookies:
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Add in vanilla, egg and egg yolk; beat again until well combined smooth and creamy; about 30 seconds longer.
- Mix the dough and chill: Add in dry ingredients and mix on low until just combined and the dough forms. Cover and transfer the bowl the fridge and refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours.
- Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Stuff the dough balls: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a cookie scoop to grab about 2 tablespoons of dough, then flatten and put a caramel in the middle of the dough; roll dough around the caramel into a ball (make sure none of the caramel is showing).
- Roll dough in cinnamon-sugar: Roll dough balls into the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches apart from one another. Do not flatten the dough.
- Bake: Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges begins to crackle just a tiny bit. Remove and allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- If you'd like, sprinkle flaked sea salt and each cookie. Enjoy! Makes 18-22 cookies depending on the size of the cookies.
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz | Photography by: Sarah Fennel
This post was originally published on December 9th, 2016, and republished on December 1st, 2025.
Perfection at it’s peak ! You have gathered top ingredients for the Top of the Pops product. Thank you and have a pleasant weekend !
NOM. There’s nothing like breaking a cookie in half and having caramel ooze out. Love the video too Monique! 🙂
I am loving the videos! And baking perfection as always, you are my go-to for holiday baking
THESE ARE ACTUALLY EPIC.
These cookies look like absolute PERFECTION!! I love the photo with the caramel oozing out, it’s what cookie dreams are made of 🙂
These cookies have that WOW factor that I’ve been dreaming of! The fact that it’s stuffed with caramel makes them 1000% even better!
So good looking! You definitely saved the best for last, no joking!
love how dark and chocolate-y these look! and surprises in the middle are always a treat, especially when it’s caramel (:
Is it possible to make these as bars, similar to how you did your UH-MAZ-ING nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies as blondies? Any changes to the recipe in doing so? I’m looking to make these in massive but easy proportions (read: my kids’ teachers will be the envy of the school!).
Thanks!
I have a cookie exchange to attend tomorrow, aaaand I am making these. Looks scrumptious!
These looks amazing – and even worth giving up the diet for a bit to make and eat them.
My mouth is watering just looking at these photos!
Testing out recipes today for my work cookie exchange and these worked out like a dream! They are so good! It’s coming down to these or your soft ginger/white chocolate pistachio ones (a good old standby for me). I’m also about to try your almond flour sugar cookies. Thank you for the amazing recipes Monique.
I’m having trouble finding unsweetened cocoa powder. Will the regular type work or should I keep searching?
I would keep searching. Most grocery stores carry it! 🙂
I don’t typically right reviews, but this cookie was totally deserving. My family and I agreed that this is one of THE BEST cookies we’ve ever tasted! Thank you for the incredible recipe. Your recipes are always some of my favorites, and this was no exception.THIS cookie made indulging in a holiday treat worth it! ?
Would you suggest not using wheat or almond flour for these?
These were a hit at my cookie exchange today! I definitely needed to flatten the caramels out before wrapping the dough around; when I left them as cubes they were too heavy in the middle and the cookies fell apart. I also recommend you serve these slightly warmed up, so the caramel isn’t too chewy. I’ll definitely be making these again; they turned out beautiful and the flavor was GREAT!
THESE ARE INCREDIBLE! Huge hit at our holiday party. I’ll be making them again for Christmas 🙂 Thanks again!
these are the best cookies that I have ever made!!!!!
So happy to hear that Kate!!
Look no further than this recipe for your next cookie exchange cookie!
These are delicious! SO good! But I would recommend cooling them on the baking sheet or on waxed paper, not a rack! After I cooled mine on the sheet for several minutes, I moved them to racks, but the caramel oozed out of the bottom of the cookies through the rack and made big blobs on the bottom. So I would definitely say cool them on a flat surface!! But these are so delicious and well worth making! Huge hit at a party I went to!
Whoops! Good tip on the cooling 🙂 glad everyone loved these!
I baked these for a friend’s birthday and they were a hit! The caramel, however, didn’t melt much, and hardened after the cookies cooled. Any tips to avoid this????
Did you use the caramel squares? If so, maybe try a diff brand! Glad they were a hit regardless!
I had never had chocolate snickerdoodles before making these. The cinnamon and chocolate pairing work together beautifully. I stuffed mine with mini marshmallows instead of caramel and they were amazing!
Delicious! Love that idea!
Could I replace the softened butter with brown butter, like the kind you use in the brown butter snickerdoodles?
I wouldn’t recommend in this recipe! It’s best as is for texture purposes 🙂
Have you tried making these GF with a 1:1 flour?
I haven’t – sorry! Let me know if you do.
I typically don’t bake with all the “real stuff” but I was gifted caramels and used them for these cookies. Amazing! Local stores were out of cream of tartar but I used 1.5 tsp baking powder and .5 tsp baking soda and the texture was fantastic! Holiday keeper!!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
I made these wonderful cookies and have to say they are delicious but mine turned out extremely flat, not thick and gooey like the pictures. I would definitely make them again but wish I know what would make them thicker
So strange, mine always come out thicker. Are you flattening the cookies at all before baking? Another option is to chill the dough for longer if necessary (maybe 1 hour) and make sure you are using room temperature butter.
Oh my gosh Monique these are SO GOOD! My caramel and snickerdoodle loving husband is in heaven! So easy to make and so professional looking and tasting! My batter made so many cookies that I ran out of caramels and started cutting them in half haha. Thank you!
YAY!! So happy that you guys are obsessed!
These are amazing!! One of the best cookies I’ve ever made. My boyfriend inhaled 3 as soon as they cooled.
Omg my favs too!! Happy you both loved them ❤️
Made these cookies today, excited to bring them to holiday parties! Thank you for easy to follow recipes 🙂
Hi! I’ll be doing these cookies a few days before Christmas, as gifts. I was wondering, if I want to freeze them to bake them later, do I do so with the chocolate dough already stuffed with the caramel? Thanks!
Yes, fully make and stuff with caramel and then freeze! Enjoy 🙂
woah, this is a sweet cookie! I halved each Werthers soft caramel and made a slightly smaller cookie and only dipped the top half in cinnamon sugar. Granulated has a nice sparkle effect, but next time i’d use sparkle sugar for even more holiday wow!
Can these cookies be frozen?
Yes! Check out all my tips for freezing cookies here.
Absolutely loved these cookies fresh! But I froze them baked and after freezing, the caramel in the middle is too hard to chew through. Maybe dunked in coffee they’ll soften enough. I plan to remake them because they’re that good and either won’t freeze or will try with a rolo in the middle if freezing.
Oh no! Did you use the werther’s soft caramels?!
Very fun and easy to make. Soft chewy. A bit too sweet but I would try to make again.