These Rolo cookies bake up thick and chewy with molten caramel centers, buttery edges, and just a hint of sea salt. Chill the dough, chop the Rolos for even caramel pockets, and finish with fleur de sel for bakery-level chocolate-caramel cookies.
What Makes Ours Different?
What’s not to love about these rolo cookies, what with the caramel, chocolate and perfectly crisp edges?
- Chopped Rolos– Most recipes wrap cookie dough in a piece of Rolo candy, but this leads to a very common problem of the caramel goodness leaking out. When you bake bits into the cookie, you get both caramel and chocolate in every bite and prevent the leakage.
- Sweet & Salty– Salt helps to balance the sweetness of both sugar cookie dough and the candy. This can be omitted, but for sure makes these chewy rolo cookies more gourmet.
- Bakery finish– With a light sea-salt sprinkle while cookies are still tacky, you get a finish that is bakery quality.
Gather This
You only need a handful of pantry ingredients to make these rolo sugar cookies. A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Rolos – You need about 30 of them for this recipe, all unwrapped obviously. You also want them to be chopped. It’s a great way to use up leftover Halloween candy!
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking soda
- Fine sea salt
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Fleur de sel
Chef Tips from Jessica
Get the perfect rolo cookies every time using these tips and tricks. This recipe has been tested and perfect several times- use these tips to get your cookies as delicious as mine.
- Chill the Dough– Premature cookie spreading happens when the dough isn’t properly chilled and the fats melt before the rest of the cookie has time to cook. I like to chill my dough overnight and I realize this might not be on everyone’s schedule, so do me a favor and chill for at least 4 hours.
- Swap out Parchment– Some of the fats will stick to the bottom of the parchment paper. Buy it in bulk from Amazon (versus the grocery store where it is way more expensive) and use a new sheet for each batch.
- Cool Cookie Sheets– Either rotate out two cookie sheets or allow your main one to cool before plopping cold cookie dough on it. The residual heat will start to melt the dough on the bottom resulting in uneven baking. I also like using insulated cookie sheets so air circulates around while baking.
- Chop Rolos Well– I like a coarse chop, like chopping each into quarters, for the perfect size. If they are too big, it messes with baking. Too small and you won’t get the signature Rolo flavor. I’m like the Goldilocks of Rolos cookies over here.
Variations
These cookies are fantastically chewy as-is, but if you want to customize them, I highly encourage it.
- Nuts– Add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts like toasted pecans to the cookie dough for a crunchy texture and nutty flavor.
- Holiday Rolo Cookies– Instead of or in addition to the fleur de sel, sprinkle the tops with holiday sprinkles right from the oven while still tacky.
- Stuffed version– Wrap a dough ball around a whole Rolo for a lava center; bake for an additional minute.
- Pretzel crunch– Try folding in ½ cup of crushed pretzels for even more salty-sweet flavor and texture.
Rolo Sugar Cookies Recipe
Upgrade your usual sugar cookies by adding rolo candy! These Rolo Cookies are filled with chocolatey, caramel goodness, and make the perfect dessert for any occasion!
Servings: cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter , room temperature
- 3/4 cup brown sugar , packed
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Rolos , chopped (approximately 30)
- 1 tablespoon fleur de sel , optional
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl and using an electric hand mixer, cream together the softened 3/4 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup white sugar for 2-3 minutes or until fluffy, scraping down the sides.
- Beat in the 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 eggs. In two increments, add the dry ingredients until just mixed, scraping down the sides. Add the chopped 1 cup Rolos.
- Cover and chill cookie dough for 4-24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line insulated cookies sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a 1 1/2 tablespoons cookie dough scoop, place even scoops 3 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges are lightly toasted. The cookies might still look slightly undercooked cooked in the center. Immediately sprinkle with a tiny bit of the 1 tablespoon fleur de sel while still tacky.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to cooling racks.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Notes
Adapted from AllRecipes.
Storage
Store any leftover rolo sugar cookies in an airtight container. They can be kept at room temperature or in the refrigerator.Freezing
You can freeze both the dough or the baked cookies. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap before freezing. Make sure cookies are in a freezer safe container.Nutrition
Calories: 192 kcal, Carbohydrates: 28 g, Protein: 2 g, Fat: 8 g, Saturated Fat: 5 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2 g, Trans Fat: 0.2 g, Cholesterol: 29 mg, Sodium: 441 mg, Potassium: 52 mg, Fiber: 0.4 g, Sugar: 17 g, Vitamin A: 197 IU, Calcium: 17 mg, Iron: 1 mg
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I am dying to make these cookies! Rolo’s are my favorite candy … this could be dangerous 🙂
These are absolutely mouthwatering cookies! A huge hit with me and my family.
This is a nice way to use up all those candies from trick-and-treat! Will be doing this first thing in November!
Rolo’s in a cookie! Sign me up! Excited to bake these bites of heave this weekend!
Well now I know what I am going to do with rolos in my kids’ Halloween booty! These cookies look SO good with all that melty chocolate and caramel.