Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Hold this aside.
Cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar and 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 the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla extract and mix this in, too. Beat in the 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.
Make cookie dough balls with caramel:
Scoop out a portion of the dough using a 1½ tablespoon-sized cookie scoop.
Take an unwrapped caramel, squeeze 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 peeks out.
Place the caramel cookie dough balls on the baking sheet spaced about two inches apart.
Bake the cookies:
Bake the cookies for 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.
Notes
Tips:
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.