Who doesn’t love freshly baked warm gooey cookies? These Vegan Chocolate Caramel Cookies are rich and crispy on the edges and full of caramel in the middle. Top them off with sea salt and you get sweet and salty, the perfect combo for a dessert!
A couple notes about vegan chocolate caramel cookies with sea salt:
Let’s talk about caramel:
Traditional caramel sauce takes quite a while to make. Sugar and water are boiled until it reaches a temperature near 340 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the caramel reaches the appropriate temperature, cream is added to give it a smooth finish. The caramel in this recipe takes less than five minutes. Within a few minutes, large rolling bubbles will form and the almond butter will start to stick to the bottom of the pan. These are both good indicators that the caramel is should be removed from the heat and is done.
I have a silicon mat for making mini muffins which works really well for portioning out caramel. The mat prevents the caramel from sticking.
If you don’t have a silicon mat like I do, I recommend using a baking sheet lined with parchment and dropping half a tablespoon of the caramel right onto the paper. Place the tray in the freezer and wait until they are cool and hard enough to handle and roll into little balls. It is really important that these caramels are frozen when being stuffed into the cookies. If they are not frozen, they will run out of the cookies and burn on the baking tray leaving you with only chocolate cookies…which I guess isn’t that bad. There are worse things.
I hope you love these vegan chocolate caramel cookies as much as my family does! They have become one of our go to desserts since they satisfy our sweet tooth. They are not just for special occasions. These cookies are easy to throw together any night of the week!
Vegan Chocolate Caramel Cookies with Sea Salt
Ingredients
For the caramel:
- 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
For the chocolate cookies:
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup ghee, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp coarse sea salt
Instructions
For the caramel:
- In a small sauce pot, combine all caramel ingredients and heat over medium heat
- The caramel will start to form thick bubbles fairly quickly. Make sure to stir continuously. The caramel will start to turn a golden brown and start to stick to the bottom. This will take about five minutes. Once this happens, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly
- With a spoon, scoop out a 1/2 tablespoon of the caramel and place in a silicon mold or on parchment paper (see notes in post above)
- Continue to scoop out all the caramel. You should end up with 24 caramels. Place in the freezer for one hour to allow the caramel to harden
For the chocolate cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- While the caramel is cooling, sift the coconut flour, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium sized bowl
- In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, melted ghee, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated
- Once the caramels are hard, roll into balls
- Taking about two tablespoon amount of the cookie mixture, roll into a ball and press a frozen caramel ball into the center. Work the cookie mixture around the caramel making sure to cover it completely. Place the cookie on the baking tray and continue with the remaining dough until you have 24 cookies
- Sprinkle each cookie with a touch of the coarse salt and place in the oven
- Bake for 25 minutes and then rotate the baking tray in the oven
- The cookies will take about 45 minutes in the oven. They are done when they are slightly crispy on the edges and start to crack on top. Cool before enjoying
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