Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies

4.49 from 35 votes. Tap stars to vote

Prepare yourself for an incredibly delicious flavor combination! Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies have sweet and gooey centers. *Recipe updated 1/23/26.

Prep Time30

Cook Time13

Chilling Time30

Total Time1 13

Course: Christmas, Comfort Food, Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 198kcal

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
Mix together the 3¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon baking powder in a large bowl. Hold this aside.
Cream together the 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1 cup packed light brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer—cream the butter and sugars for about 5 minutes.
Mix in one at a time 2 large eggs, room temperature, then add the 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and mix this in, too. Beat in the 1 cup smooth peanut butter until the mixture is smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the bowl in two additions, scraping the bowl a couple of times to be sure everything is incorporated.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 minutes, to firm it up.

Scoop out a portion of the dough using a 1½ tablespoon-sized cookie scoop.
Prepare the 40 Werther's Originals soft caramel candies: squeeze each caramel into a little into a ball shape. Then, push the caramel into the dough ball. Fold the dough around the caramel until just a tiny bit of caramel is peeking out.
Place the caramel cookie dough balls on the baking sheet spaced about two inches apart—the exposed caramel should be pointing straight up.
(Between batches, cover the bowl with the remaining dough and hold it in the fridge.)

Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are set. The cookies will be flattened with a pool of caramel in the center. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.
Sprinkle a little Flake sea salt over the tops of the cookies.
Repeat the dough and caramel steps, and the baking until all the cookies are baked.
Store the cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Makes about 39 cookies.

Don't skimp on the quality of the caramels. (I found out the hard way on this one.) For caramel that's soft after baking use a good brand of soft caramels.
Werther's Soft Caramels are cylindrical in shape. Squeeze the caramels between your fingers for a squat shape to tuck in the cookie dough.