I’m a huge fan of cookie skillets! For many reasons, but to start, I’ll give you three! First, cookies in general are just a wonderfully easy dessert to make (we all know how much I love those easy desserts!) Two, a cookie skillet is even easier to assemble than regular cookies, because everything just goes in one pan! And three, one can be so creative with the flavor profiles, like with this Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookie Skillet! It may be a mouthful to say, but believe me that mouthful tastes oh so good!

This Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookie Skillet is a thick chewy skillet cookie, with layers of gooey salted caramel, and chunks of melted chocolate, basically the mother of all desserts! What makes this cookie skillet extra delish is the caramel. This ain’t no store bought caramel my friend, this is homemade-on-the-stove-caramel! (Autocorrect just told me that hyphenated line isn’t a word, but I’m keepin’ it anyway!)

The first time I made caramel I was terrified I was going to burn it (I may or may not have watched too many Chopped episodes where the person burns the Caramel and has to start over!) But here’s the deal, homemade caramel actually isn’t that difficult! I’ve worked it down to a system, that if followed, will give you golden brown caramel, and that makes this Salted Caramel Cookie Skillet oh so divine!

Tips for the Caramel

Tip 1: My first tip for making homemade caramel, is to always keep stirring! This may sound obvious, but in the past, I tried a homemade caramel recipe that told me to let the caramel sit and cook in the last step, and it gave the caramel a slightly burned flavor. Since then, I have learned, we do not, I repeat, we do not, let the caramel just sit. If you always keep stirring, the caramel doesn’t get a chance to burn.

Tip 2: The other trick I learned, is to make sure your heat isn’t too hot. I usually keep the heat on medium, because that’s just enough heat to cook the caramel quickly, but not too much that the caramel will burn easily.

Tip 3: My third tip, is to make sure that you have all your ingredients ready to go. This may sound obvious, but I have had times, where I didn’t have all the ingredients ready to go, and the time I stopped stirring to pull them out of the fridge or pantry, was enough time for the caramel to burn. Buuut if you have them already to go, this mitigates the issue and you can keep stirring as you add them. No burned caramel!

Alright, now that you have those tips for making caramel, the rest of this cookie skillet is pretty straight forward! Let’s dive in to how to make it!

How to make a Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookie Skillet

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For the Chocolate Chunks

1. Add the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave them for a minute and a half. Stir until smooth. Line a plate with parchment paper, spoon the melted chocolate onto the plate about a 1/8″ thick. Place the melted chocolate into the freezer, to harden, about 10 minutes. While the chocolate is in the freezer, start on the caramel.

For the Caramel

1. Add the sugar to a medium sauce pan, on medium heat, stirring constantly, stir the sugar until it begins to clump together, and then melts, into a golden brown syrup. Once the sugar is completely melted, add in the butter.
2. When the butter is added, the sugar will begin to bubble more, keep stirring until the butter is completely melted. Then add in the heavy cream, the sugar will bubble up even more. Keep stirring until, the bubbles begin to dissipate, then remove it from the heat.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract, then add in the salt. Pour the caramel into a jar, and set aside.

For the Cookie Skillet

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Using an electric hand mixer, in a mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar, for about a minute, until fluffy.
3. Then mix in the egg, for about another minute. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix for about 30 seconds, until your dough is fluffy.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix them together until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Assembly

1. Break up the chocolate bar into large pieces.
2. Place half of the cookie dough into an 8″ cast iron skillet. Make five pockets in the cookie dough and spoon the salted caramel into the pockets. Press some of the chocolate chunks into the cookie dough.
3. Press the the other half of the cookie dough on top of the first layer. Make 5 pockets in the top layer of cookie dough and spoon in more salted caramel. Cover the salted caramel pockets with cookie dough. Then press more chocolate chunks into the cookie dough.
4. Bake for 33 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the middle and comes out clean. Carefully remove the cookie skillet from the oven. Let cool about 10 minutes, then top with ice cream and enjoy!