Salted Caramel Cutout Cookie Recipe (No Spread & Perfect for Cookie Cutters)

If you're looking for a salted caramel cutout cookie recipe that tastes as good as it looks, you're in the right place. These no-spread cutout cookies are packed with rich caramel flavor and finished with just the right touch of flaky sea salt for a perfectly balanced sweet-and-salty bite. Designed specifically for cookie decorators, the dough bakes with crisp, clean edges that hold their shape beautifully, making it ideal for cookie cutters and royal icing decorating. Whether you're creating fall cookies, holiday treats, or everyday sugar cookie designs, this easy recipe delivers soft, flavorful cookies that are as fun to decorate as they are to eat. Once you try the combination of buttery caramel and a hint of salt, this recipe is sure to become a favorite in your cookie decorating collection.

What Gives These Cookies Their Salted Caramel Flavor?

The signature flavor of these cookies comes from three simple ingredients that work together to create the perfect balance of sweet, buttery caramel and a hint of salt.

The first is LorAnn's Caramel Bakery Emulsion, which gives the dough a rich, buttery caramel flavor that holds up beautifully during baking. It's the foundation of the recipe and adds much more depth than vanilla alone.

Next are caramel bits, which are folded into the dough before baking. They create little pockets of caramel throughout each cookie while adding beautiful golden speckles for extra visual appeal and a subtle chewy texture.

Finally, there's the coarse or flaky sea salt. Rather than sprinkling it on top after baking, I like to sprinkle it onto the bottom of each cookie before it goes into the oven. As the cookies bake, the salt lightly fuses to the dough, creating a delicate crystallized crust on the bottom. This technique keeps the salt from falling off while decorating or packaging the cookies, while still giving you that irresistible sweet-and-salty finish in every bite. It's a small detail that makes a big difference.

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Salted Caramel Cut-Out Cookies

Makes approximately 2 dozen 3” cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp caramel emulsion
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup caramel bits
• Sprinkle of flaky sea salt

Instructions

Step 1      

In a mixer, cream together butter and two sugars. Mix until light, fluffy, and well incorporated.

Step 2    

Add egg, vanilla extract, caramel emulsion, and salt. Mix until it is all well incorporated.

Step 3      

Add flour and baking powder, mixing a cupful at a time, to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. After everything is well mixed, the dough should be non-greasy to the touch. The dough should pull cleanly from the bowl. If still sticky to the touch, add half a cup of flour.

Step 4    

Stir in the caramel bits.

Step 5      

Roll to desired thickness (I like 5/16") between two sheets of parchment or wax paper. After rolling, chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Step 6      

Once the dough is well chilled and hard to the touch, cut out shapes.

Step 7      

Before placing them on a parchment paper-lined, light-colored baking sheet, sprinkle a tiny amount of sea salt to the bottoms of the cookie. Chill the cutout shapes again before baking.

Step 8      

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes. Remove from the oven as the tops begin to turn matte.

Step 9      

If the caramel oozes from the cookie edges, press the caramel back onto the cookie with a small rubber spatula.

Step 10

Remove cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula and place on a cooling rack to cool before decorating.

Don't forget to take a look at the bottoms of the cookies! During baking, the flaky sea salt lightly adheres to the dough, creating a gorgeous crystallized crust that's full of texture and flavor. Unlike topping the cookies with salt after baking, this method locks the crystals in place, so they won't fall off while you're decorating, packaging, or enjoying your cookies. It's a simple technique that makes these cutout cookies both more practical and more delicious.

Whether you're decorating cookies for a special occasion or simply want a cutout cookie that tastes as good as it looks, this salted caramel recipe is one you'll come back to again and again. The rich caramel flavor, pockets of caramel bits, and hint of flaky sea salt create a cookie that's every bit as impressive to eat as it is to decorate. Best of all, the dough bakes with clean edges that hold their shape beautifully, making it perfect for cookie cutters and royal icing. If you give this recipe a try, I'd love to hear what you think. Don't forget to tag me on social media so I can see your delicious creations!