Milk Dud Cookies

Featuring a dark chocolate base packed with chocolate chips and caramel Milk Duds candies, these Milk Dud cookies are the best Milk Dud cookie recipe! These bakery-style cookies are sure to be a hit with any fan of the classic chocolate and caramel combo. They feature a soft dark chocolate base, chunks of dark chocolate and plenty of Milk Duds, which melt in the oven as the cookies bake, creating a soft, gooey, ultra-caramell-y treat. They’re ideal for snacking, but I also love bringing these to bake sales, potlucks, and other events as a fun alternative to traditional chocolate chip.

What Inspired These Milk Dud Cookies?

I’ve loved Milk Duds for as long as I can remember. According to Wikipedia, Milk Duds have been around since the late 1920s. They earned the name “duds” because the creators had difficulty achieving a perfectly round ball of caramel. The brand was purchased by Hershey Foods in 1996. And in fact, Hershey’s still touts the fact that no Milk Dud candy is ever perfectly round. I probably love Milk Duds so much because of my love for all things chocolate and caramel. I’m a fan of Twix bars, Caramel Delites Girl Scout Cookies, Millionaire’s Shortbread, and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Caramel (or the US equivalent, the Caramello Bar.) In my book, caramel and chocolate cookies are always a win!

Key Ingredients

• Sugars – The dough includes a blend of granulated sugar and dark brown sugar, which contribute both sweetness and moisture and help the cookies to spread. You can replace the granulated with caster sugar, and the dark brown sugar with another dark, moist sugar like muscovado or molasses sugar. See my guide to sugars for substitution suggestions.
• Black Coffee – A small amount of strongly brewed black coffee deepens the chocolate flavor, without making the cookies taste like coffee. You can replace the coffee with another liquid (such as milk) or a tablespoon of instant espresso powder dissolved in two tablespoons of hot water.

• Cocoa Powder – Choose a good-quality, natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. Do not use Dutch processed cocoa powder, and do not substitute a sweetened cocoa powder like you’d use for making a mug of hot chocolate.
• Chocolate – Any kind of chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped chocolate will work in this Milk Dud cookie recipe. Feel free to use semi sweet, milk, or dark chocolate, depending on your preference.
• Milk Duds – Milk Duds are an American candy made by Hershey’s. They’re comprised of balls of chewy caramel enrobed in chocolate confectionery coating, and come packaged in a bright orange-yellow cardboard box. In the US, Dollar Tree is a great place to find boxes of movie theatre candy. In London, you’ll find Milk Duds in the American candy stores along Oxford Street (along with about a million other fun kinds of boxed movie theatre candies!) Tesco and Sainsbury’s sometimes carry them, too. And, they are readily available for purchase on Amazon. If you can’t find Milk Duds, you can substitute another caramel candy instead. Make sure to choose a soft and chewy caramel, rather than a hard candy like Werther’s. If the caramels are large, use a well-oiled knife to chop them into small pieces.

Tips and Tricks

• Chill thoroughly. Chilling the dough is the key to producing a chewy, bakery-style cookie. You can chill for as little as one hour, or as long as 24 hours. But whatever you do, do not to skip this step!
• Use a cookie scoop. I like to use a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop to scoop evenly-sized balls of dough.  A large melon baller will also work. If you don’t have a melon baller or cookie scoop, just use a tablespoon to portion, you can use your hands to roll the dough into balls.
• Reshape for round cookies. For perfectly round, Insta-worthy cookies, quickly reshape each cookie by “swirling” a round metal cutter around the outside edge. (You can watch me demonstrate this technique in the video below.) Reshape while the cookies are still very hot from the oven—if you wait too long, the cooled cookies will break as you swirl.

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Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Recipe by becky

• Total TimeAbout 2 hours, including chilling time
• Yield16 3-inch round cookies 1x

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Milk Dud cookies featuring a dark chocolate base with chocolate chips and caramel Milk Duds candies.

Ingredients

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113 grams unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup; 1 stick)
100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
100 grams dark brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons strong black coffee*
128 grams all purpose flour (1 cup)
50 grams unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
125 grams good-quality chopped dark chocolate, or chocolate chips (3/4 cup), plus more to decorate
115 grams Milk Duds,** or other caramel candy (2/3 cup; 5-ounce box), plus more to decorate

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Instructions

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla bean paste and black coffee and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds more. Mixture may look slightly separated.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter and mix on low speed, scraping sides of bowl as necessary, until just barely combined, with no dry pockets remaining.

With a wooden spoon or flexible rubber spatula, fold in the chopped dark chocolate and the Milk Duds, reserving a few pieces of each to press into the tops of the cookies.

Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to scoop, at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Line a half sheet rimmed baking tray with parchment or a silicone mat.

With a cookie scoop, scoop chilled dough into 16 portions. Use your hands to roll each into portion a smooth ball. Arrange 8 balls on prepared tray, allowing plenty of space for the cookies to spread as they bake.

With the palm of your hand, flatten each ball slightly, then press a few additional Milk Duds and pieces of chocolate into the top of each cookie.

Freeze tray 10 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 11-14 minutes, or until puffy and set. Do not overbake.

For perfectly round cookies, quickly reshape with a round metal cutter.

Cool 10 minutes on tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat with remaining balls of cookie dough.

Store Milk Dud cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

 

Equipment

all purpose flour

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cocoa powder

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Milk Duds

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Notes

*Or, replace the brewed coffee with 1 tablespoon of instant coffee or instant espresso, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot water.

**Milk Duds are an American candy consisting of chewy caramel enrobed in milk chocolate. In the UK and other countries, they are readily available for purchase on Amazon. If you can’t find Milk Duds, you can substitute another caramel candy instead.

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Chilling Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 11-14 minutes
• Category: Biscuits and Cookies
• Method: Oven

Other Bakery Style Cookie Recipes You Might Enjoy

Rainbow M&M Peanut Butter Cookies
Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
Lavender Latte Cookies|
Mint M&M Cookies

And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!