Chocolate Cookies with Caramel & Fleur de Sel - and - Chocolate Cookies with Cadbury's Easter Eggs

By now we're all over those annoying resolutions to eat better, right? It's almost Easter, after all. We should put all those crazy diet books back on the shelf, until next year. It's time to move on. Please and thank you.

This was one of those recipes I bookmarked because it looked so good and then I forgot about it for 6 months. It's originally from Obsessed with Baking. The kids and I were assembling the batter for the cookies, working harmoniously as a team (heavy sarcasm and exaggerated eye-roll), when it occurred to me that I had spotted a bag of Cadbury's Easter Eggs in my cupboard, hidden in the back with the Kraft caramels I was using for these cookies. And then I had a flash of the post I saw on With Sprinkles on Top, a chocolate based cookie with crushed Cadbury's eggs. Why not do both cookies? That's normal, right?

So I divided the dough in half, (I decided to forgo the chocolate chips for both types of cookies, it just seemed a bit redundant). In the first half I added the crushed Cadbury's Easter Eggs. *Make sure you reserve a few eggs that you hand chop so that you can put those nicer looking pieces on top of your cookies before baking. (I kinda forgot that part but salvaged a few large crumbs.)

The second half got the chopped Kraft caramels, and on a whim, I decided to add a few flakes of Fleur de Sel. By now I'm sure we can all agree that caramel and salt belong together so this didn't feel like much of a leap. (I cut the caramels into quarters with kitchen shears.)

The end results for both were amazing. This is a great chocolate cookie recipe to use as a base for whatever you want. White chocolate chips, milk chocolate chunks, nuts, whatever you want. Isn't Ina the best? 

Chocolate Cookies with Caramel & Fleur de Sel and/or 

Chocolate Cookies with Cadbury Easter Eggs
(adapted from Obsessed with Baking, original cookie base recipe from Ina Garten)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I omitted)
Chopped caramels and/or large bag of Cadbury Easter Eggs 

*Note I used a 140 gram bag of Easter Eggs for half the batter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add vanilla then the eggs,one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the cocoa and mix again. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the batter with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if using.

For Caramel Cookies: 
Drop the dough by a rounded teaspoon on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put chopped caramel pieces on top. Sprinkle with a few flakes of Fleur de Sel. Use sparingly! Press cookie gently to flatten slightly. 

For Cadbury Easter Egg Cookies

After adding the chocolate chips (if using), place the easter eggs in a ziploc. Pound them with a rolling pin until broken to a coarse consistency (reserve a few larger crumbs) before folding into batter. Drop the dough by a rounded teaspoon on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place a few of the larger easter egg crumbs on the cookies. Press cookie gently to flatten slightly. 

Bake for 12 -15 minutes (I baked for 12). The cookies will seem underdone. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.