Salted caramel cookies sandwiches are loaded with rich, sweet, salted buttercream frosting sandwiched between two soft and chewy salted caramel chocolate chip cookies. They're guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Its no secret that I love cookies, and I love buttercream frosting. This love inspired me to put them together to create these sweet and salty caramel sandwich cookies. With a generous amount of salted buttercream and soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies, these gluten-free delights will have everyone coming back for more.
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Why You'll Love These Cookies Sandwiches
- Soft and Chewy: The salted caramel cookies have the perfect soft, chewy texture.
- Rich Frosting: These sandwich cookies are filled with rich, sweet salted caramel buttercream frosting.
- Customizable: Fill these cookies with your favorite buttercream frosting. Vanilla, chocolate, Nutella, and caramel all work.
- The Perfect Sweet Treat: Just like my Oreo sandwich cookies, these make a great snack, dessert, or party treat.
- Easy: Both the cookies and the frosting are quick and easy to make.
Salted Caramel Cookies Sandwiches Video
Ingredients
- Gluten-Free Flour: I'm using Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour. I find it gives baked goods the best possible texture.
- Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chips: Chocolate and caramel are a classic combination, so I love adding both to the cookies for these sandwiches. I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's caramel sea salt baking chips.
- Singing Dog Vanilla Extract: I use Singing Dog Vanilla for the cookie dough and the frosting because it delivers rich, deep vanilla flavor, and it's incredibly high quality.
- Sea Salt Caramel Sauce: Sea salt caramel sauce gives the buttercream frosting its sweet and salty caramel flavor.
- Almond Milk: I used almond milk to keep this recipe dairy-free, but you can use heavy cream if you prefer.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact quantities.
Flavor Variations
- If you don't have any gluten issues, feel free to use regular flour.
- Heavy cream can be used in place of almond milk if you aren't dairy-free.
- Chocolate, vanilla, or even Nutella buttercream will work well with the salted caramel flavors in the cookies.
- Try making these sandwich cookies with snickerdoodles!
- Chopped nuts add extra flavor and texture.
- Make a simplified version of these cookies using my chocolate chipless cookies recipe.
How to Make Salted Caramel Cookies Sandwiches
For the Cookies
1: Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
2: Whip the butter, sugars, and vanilla.
3: Combine the whipped butter, egg, and dry ingredients, then stir in the baking chips.
4: Chill for 30 minutes, then scoop out dough rounds with a cookie scoop.
5: Place on a prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake until the edges are slightly brown.
6: Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
For the Buttercream Frosting
1: Whip the butter until creamy. Then, add half the powdered sugar and mix.
2: Add the salt and vanilla and mix again.
3: Add the rest of the powdered sugar, salt, and sea salt and mix on low, then on high.
4: Add almond milk a little at a time, beating between each addition until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
Assemble
1: Turn half the cookies upside down and pipe frosting onto them.
2: Add the remaining cookies on top of the frosting. Enjoy!
Hint
Your cookies MUST be fully cooled before you add the frosting or it will begin to melt and get soft or watery.
Storage
Store these cookies in an air-tight container for up to 5 days at room temperature. For longer storage, wrap the cookies individually in plastic wrap and freeze them for up to a month. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
Serve the cookies cold or bring them to room temperature before serving.
What to Serve with Caramel Cookies Sandwiches
Serve these cookies with a scoop or two of peach ice cream for a fruity caramel combo during the summer.
For themed dessert table at parties, try pairing these sandwich cookies with caramel slice brownies or caramel crunch cake.
Finally, these cookies are the perfect hand-held dessert for backyard barbecues with savory favorites like pulled pork or burgers.
Tips
- Be sure your butter is fully softened but not too warm for both the cookies and the frosting. This allows for easy creaming and ensures the best texture.
- Let your cookies cool completely before adding the buttercream frosting.
- Chill the cookies for at least 30 minutes or they will spread too much and become flat.
- If your cookies seem a bit too tall after baking, use the bottom of a large coffee mug and press gently downward and in a circular motion to create the perfect cookie shape.
FAQ
Creamy buttercream frosting starts with the butter. Fully soften it and beat it until it's smooth and creamy. You can't do it too much! It's important to add just a little liquid at a time when adjusting your buttercream consistency. You can always add more, but you can never take it out.
Cookie dough made with a lot of butter should be chilled to slow down the melting of the butter as the cookies bake. This makes softer, chewier cookies rather than flat, crispy cookies.
Butter should be softened so it creams easily. Cold butter is very hard, and even if you beat it to death, it won't cream nearly as well as softened butter. This can lead to little bits of butter in your batter, dough, or frosting.
If you plan to eat your cake or cookies made with buttercream withing 2 to 3 days, there's no need to refrigerate it. That's because the huge amount of powdered sugar used in the frosting makes it shelf-stable for a few days.
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📖 Recipe
Salted Caramel Cookies Sandwiches
Ingredients
Salted Caramel Cookies
- 1 bag Trader Joe's salted caramel chips
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- 2 ¼ cups Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 sticks butter softened
- 1 teaspoon Singing Dog Vanilla extract
- 2 eggs room temperature
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- 1 stick butter softened
- 2 teaspoon sea salt caramel sauce
- pinch salt
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Singing Dog Vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon almond milk
Instructions
Salted Caramel Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla extract until cream.
- Add the eggs and dry ingredients to the whipped butter and mix until fully combined.
- Stir the caramel chips and chocolate chips into the dough with a rubber spatula.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 9 to 10 minutes until the edges are slightly brown.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, whip the butter until creamy.
- Add half the powdered sugar to the butter and mix on low until almost combined. Then, add the salt and vanilla and mix again.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar, sea salt, and caramel sauce and mix, beginning on low, then increase the speed to medium-high until combined.
- If necessary, add 1 teaspoon at a time of almond milk, mixing after each addition, to adjust the frosting to your preferred consistency.
Assemble
- Turn half the cooled cookies over so the flat side is facing up. Then, use a piping bag to cover them in buttercream frosting.
- Top the frosted cookies with the remaining cookies. Enjoy!
Notes
- Store at room temperature for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
- Refrigerate for up to a week in an airtight container.
- Wrap cookies in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month in an airtight, freezer-safe container.
- Serve cold or at room temperature.
- Your butter should be softened but not warm before creaming it for the cookie dough.
- Mix the cookie dough until just combined. Don't overmix the dough, or the cookies will lose that soft, chewy texture.
- If you freeze your sandwich cookies, chill them before wrapping them in plastic to avoid sweating.
Calley says
These sandwich cookies are incredible! Such a delicious recipe.
Nicole Kendrick says
SO glad you were able to enjoy them. Thanks for stopping by! -NK
swathi123 says
Salted caramel cookie sandwiches is perfect treat, I made it for my kids, they asked me to make it again.
Nicole Kendrick says
They never last long in my house either, LOL! Have a great day!
Freya says
What a treat! The cookies came out perfectly soft and chewy, with just the right amount of caramel-chocolate goodness.
Nicole Kendrick says
How could you not love all the caramel-chocolate goodness?!?! Sending my best to you and yours. -NK
Brittany F says
These cookies are the perfect soft and chewy treat! The recipe is easy to follow and turns out beautifully.
Liz says
Oh, my gosh, I'm a caramel fanatic and had to make these cookies! They were amazing!
Nicole Kendrick says
You and me both Liz! I want ALL the caramel, LOL!
Patricia says
I’m so excited to have found your recipe! I’ve been contemplating what with wonderful Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Caramel Chips!! I’ve decided to add them to my Assorted Christmas Tray!! Thank you so much!!
NKendrick says
Yay!!! Love that you found it!
Anonymous says
This worked exactly as written, thanks!