Chocolate Chip Cookie HEAVEN & My Favorite Trick

I LOVE treats.  You name it - I love it (and probably have a stash of it somewhere in my house).  I'm a sucker for caramel though.  Any kind.  It's the first thing to go from a box of chocolates and the sneaky late night steal from my kids' Halloween candy.

Imagine my delight, when I thought to chop up some Kraft Caramels and throw them in my very favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!!!  SO yummy!  I'm sure it's been done a thousand times before, but I feel like I thought of it myself, and I'm going with it!!!

On a recent trip to the USA, scouring the grocery isles for "stuff you can't buy in Canada", I found these .  .  .  .  .  .  .

(If you CAN buy these in Canada, DON'T tell me.
They aren't doing my backside ANY favors!)

So here it is - My longtime favorite chewy, soft, Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe accompanied by the newest member of my pantry family!  And at the bottom is my favorite cookie-making tip of ALL time!

"Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies"

1 . 5 cups softened Butter or Margarine

3 cups Brown Sugar

4 Eggs

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

2 Teaspoons Salt

4 Cups Flour

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Kraft Caramel Bits OR chopped caramels

Cream together butter/marg, brown sugar.

Add fork beaten eggs and vanilla and blend well.

**  I always add my chocolate/caramel bits now, but it's a matter of preference.

Mix dry ingredients together, add and stir well into mixture. 

Spoon onto parchment lined pan or ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake @350 degrees for 8-11 minutes.

My new favorite trick after making and baking a dozen or two cookies is to freeze the leftovers.  I roll the dough into one inch balls and flash freeze them on a pan in the freezer.  When they are firm, they can be thrown into a Ziploc bag and kept in the freezer.  It's super handy to have pre-made, HOME-MADE cookies ready to go for unexpected company, a quick treat or a surprise bedtime snack of milk and warm cookies!  

While your oven is preheating, have the frozen balls thawing on a pan (it doesn't take long at all)  Bake for maybe a minute or two longer than you normally would (incase they're still a bit frozen) and ENJOY!