Thick, chewy, salty, sweet. These caramel cornflake cookies are the delicious snack you didn’t know you needed! Sure to be a staple in your cookie jar, they won’t last long!
I am a big fan of cornflakes in bakes. Not so much as a cereal – but that’s mainly because I can’t deal with soggy cereal and I feel like cornflake goes soggy far too quickly! Right?? But add chocolate to it and make an Easter nest? Yes please! Or mix into caramel for my Caramel Cornflake Crunch Brownies? Hell yes! It adds a salty crunch that I find so delicious!
These cookies are thick and chewy – think American style but rugged! And actually I think they taste best the day after baking one they’ve completely cooled. Though you can absolutely pop these in the microwave briefly to melt the chocolate and get that caramel oozing again!
Ingredients you’ll need
- Unsalted butter – you always want to use unsalted butter so that you can then control the salt content in the cookies. The butter doesn’t need to be at room temperature though, as we’ll be melting it!
- Caster sugar & soft light brown sugar – the combination of caster & brown sugar helps add chewiness, depth and moisture to the cookie. With just caster sugar your cookie could end up being dry and not as chewy.
- 1 large egg & 1 large egg yolk – When I first tested this recipe, I only used one egg but the dough ended up being quite dry. It was still tasty, but sooo hard to roll into balls. So the addition of an egg yolk really helps to bind and keep the dough together!
- Vanilla extract – Vanilla has got to be the hardest working ingredient in baking. It helps to bring out the flavours in your bake, which is why its included in recipes that aren’t aiming to taste like vanilla. A bit like when you add coffee to a chocolate cake, like in my whipped ganache cake here.
- Plain flour – I prefer to use plain flour in the majority of my bakes, rather than self-raising. Again like the salt in butter, so you can control the amount of raising agent in the flour. This is especially helpful for cookies where you don’t need a big rise!
- Baking powder & Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda) – These combined help the cookies to rise.
- Salt – It might seem counterintuitive, but you always need salt in your bakes. Salt helps bring out flavours in your cooking/baking and will help the bake taste better overall.
- Dark chocolate – Please only use a bar of dark chocolate and not chips or chunks. The chocolate will be much more delicious and give your cookies a better bite with large pools of chocolate rather than tiny chips. I use Dr Oetkers 54% dark chocolate, but you can use any you like.
- Cornflakes – When it comes to cereal I am a big own-brand fan, but go for whatever brand cornflakes you like. Just don’t buy any frosted or nut versions! We want plain here 🙂
- Caramel sauce – As the caramel is being placed inside the cookie dough, we need a caramel that is thick and holds its shape fairly well. So for once I am not advising to make your own! Unless, you have the time to make it a few days in advance and keep it in a sterilised jar in the fridge. But I thought that seemed a little excessive just for cookies, even for me ;)!
How to make caramel cornflake cookies:
These cookies are super simple to whip up, but you do need to factor in chilling time!
Making the cookie dough
Firstly, you need to melt the butter and then combine with the two sugars using an electric hand-whisk. The electric hand-whisk will help to combine the mixture thoroughly. Then add the egg & egg yolk and vanilla and whisk again for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is much paler in colour. You can then mix in the dry ingredients to create a dough!
Finally add the chocolate and cornflakes to combine. I like to chop the chocolate quite roughly so you get some slightly larger pieces and some smaller. Then place a sheet of clingfilm directly onto the dough and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. You need to chill this dough as it’ll spread too much in the oven otherwise and you won’t get that thick and chewy cookie.
Rolling the cookie dough
Once your cookie dough has chilled, roll into 12 balls – the dough will be very stiff so just use a spoon to scoop out and then roll in your hands. The balls should be around 77g each. You don’t have to be super accurate and use a scale like I do, but it does help to make sure the cookies are all evenly sized when baking!
Now to add the caramel, take one of your cookie balls and hold it in the palm of your hand. Press down in the middle to make a ‘cup’ with a deep hole in the middle. Fill this with just under 1 tablespoon of caramel, and then wrap the cookie dough around the top to cover and make a ball shape again. It doesn’t matter if some of the caramel oozes out, so long as the majority is encased. Repeat this for all the balls and place back in the fridge for 20 minutes while you pre-heat the oven.
Baking the caramel cornflake cookies
Finally the good bit! Baking! These cookies need to be baked in batches so they don’t spread into each other – I like to bake four at a time on one baking tray. Make sure the baking tray is lined too!
They should be fully baked between 16-18 minutes (for me it was dead on 17 minutes each time, but every oven is different!). You want to take them out when they are a light golden brown, and then rap the tray heavily onto your cooling rack. This just helps to deflate the cookies slightly. Leave them on the tray to cool for 10 minutes, and then place the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Tips & Tricks
Make sure you are chilling your cookie dough for the full 2 hours before you roll it into balls. And chilling again once they have been rolled and the caramel added.
YES! Once you’ve rolled the cookie dough into balls you can freeze the dough, and then bake direct from frozen when you fancy a cookie. This is a great way to not end up with too many baked cookies that may go to waste!
If your cookies are coming out of the oven a little uneven, you can ‘scoot’ them with a large cookie cutter. Straight from the oven, place the cookie cutter over the cookie and move in a circular motion – the cookie should move with it and neaten up. Though uneven cookies are still delicious too!
I really hope you love these caramel cornflake cookies as much as I do! Even just for the alliteration in the name alone 😉 They are thick, super chewy, sweet AND salty and last really well in an air-tight container. That is…if they last that long!!
You may also like:
Caramel Cornflake Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 115 g unsalted butter
- 110 g caster sugar
- 110 g soft light brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 75 g cornflakes
- 180 g caramel sauce chilled
Instructions
- Firstly, melt the butter either in a microwave or in a small saucepan. Then pour into a large bowl with both sugars and whisk together using an electric hand whisk until combined and with no lumps. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla, then whisk for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is paler in colour. Then add the dry ingredients and mix again to combine.
- Chop the chocolate roughly, then add to the dough along with the cornflakes and mix in with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. You may find it easier to mix in with your hands. Then place a sheet of clingfilm directly onto the cookie dough and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls roughly 77g in size. Then one by one, hold the cookie dough ball in the palm of your hand and push down in the middle to make a 'cup' shape. Place just under 1tbsp of the caramel into the hole and then wrap the dough around to encase it. Don't worry if a little caramel oozes out. Then place all the balls back in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas Mark 4 and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Place 4 balls onto the baking tray with space to spread. Place the remaining balls back in the fridge to chill. Bake for 16-18 minutes, then rap tray heavily onto the cooling rack to defalte slightly and leave to cool slightly for 10 minutes. Then remove the cookies and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat the process until all the balls are baked.
