Caramel Popcorn Dark and Milk Chocolate Cookies

Caramel popcorn chocolate cookies. Soft, chewy, and packed with caramel popcorn, and a mix of dark and milk chocolate. So easy to make and so good with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt!

These caramel popcorn chocolate cookies are the ultimate for cookie lovers! They are chewy, and packed with caramel popcorn, and a mix of dark and milk chocolate.

I recently made the most amazingly crunchy and sweet Caramel Popcorn . It is perfectly crisp and sweetened without corn syrup. It’s so good and it made me wonder how it’d taste if I added it to cookies!

If you’re looking for more chocolate cookie recipes, try my Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies, these Shortbread Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips and my Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

• Your friends and family will be so excited to bite into cookies with caramel popcorn!
• These cookies are a chocolate lover’s dream. Milk chocolate adds more sweetness. Dark chocolate adds a bolder, less sweet chocolate flavor.
• Easy to make!
• Popcorn and cookies sounded fun together!
• No special tools needed to make these cookies.

INGREDIENTS

Caramel popcorn- Caramel popcorn couldn’t be easier to make! You just mix up a simple caramel, mix it with fresh popcorn, and bake it for about 20 minutes.

Brown sugar-The dark brown sugar helps the cookies get their nice chewy middles and adds a tasty molasses flavor! I prefer dark, but you can also use light brown sugar.

SUBSTITUTIONS & VARIATIONS

• Store bought caramel popcorn- I haven’t used store bought, but I think it’d be fine.
• Cracker Jacks– Since Cracker Jacks are basically caramel popcorn with nuts, this would definitely work especially if you like nuts.
• Plain or buttered popcorn. I haven’t used buttered popcorn yet, but I’m so curious to try it in these cookies! Buttered popcorn chocolate chip cookies, anyone?!
• Chocolate chips- Use chocolate chips in place of chopped chocolate. The chocolate in the chips won’t melt the same as dark chocolate, but they will still be delicious. Use dark, semisweet, white chocolate or a mix.
• Chocolate-I used more dark chocolate here since I’m using caramel popcorn which is already pretty sweet.

EXPERT TIPS

I usually use Lindt bars and just chop them up. I usually get the 70% dark bars. Use all of one type of chocolate, or combine them to make 1 cup like I did.

An ice cream scoop makes your cookie dough easy to scoop. It also cookies that are all the same size.

You can also measure out 1/4 cup of dough and form it into balls. If you prefer smaller cookies, be sure to reduce the baking time by a few minutes.

Add a pinch of sea salt before or right after baking these cookies. Salt intensifies the chocolate flavor! It also balances out the sweetness from the milk chocolate and caramel popcorn.

No need to flatten the dough and no chill time is needed with this dough.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat an additional minute. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients. Stir in the popcorn followed by the chocolate.
4. Use a large ice cream scoop or 1/4 measuring cup, scoop out the dough and place balls onto prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until edges turn golden brown. Top with flaky sea salt, if desired. Allow to cool for five minutes on baking sheet before eating or transferring to a rack to cool completely. 

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