Crumbl Copycat Caramel Shortbread Cookies
These gourmet Caramel Shortbread with TWIX® Cookies pack on the indulgence! This recipe is based off of Crumbl’s popular TWIX cookie which features a sugar cookie filled with (you guessed it) chopped TWIX® pieces and is topped with layers of soft caramel, smooth milk chocolate, and chopped TWIX® bars. These showstopper cookies are perfect for sharing! If you are digging this recipe, you should also try my Crumbl Copycat Brownie Sundae Cookies!
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TWIX bars might just be my favorite candy bar. They are perfectly balanced with a crisp shortbread, chewy caramel, and smooth chocolate exterior. They are hard to resist!
Put all that goodness into a cookie and we might have a real problem on our hands!
Crumbl is known for their indulgent dessert lineup and their over-the-top cookies are no exception. Layers of sweet goodness make calorie-laden treats that are the ultimate YOLO moments.
I’ve been slowly working through my checklist of Crumbl Copycat Recipes which now includes a lineup of 10 copycat recipes on this website. This TWIX cookie recipe has been in the queue for so long, I’m excited to finally have it published!
Great Things About This Recipe
- You won’t need an electric mixer for this easy-to-mix dough.
- These showstopper cookies are a hit at parties (maybe a Crumbl-themed party?!).
- It’s a Crumbl copycat! Save money, put extras in your freezer for later, and customize them just how you like!
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Recipes by a Real Person in a Real Kitchen
In the age of AI-generated content, I like to share how I’ve created and tested my recipes. My recipes have been hypothesized, baked, taste-tested, and refined by a real human (me!). I only publish recipes I think are awesome.
I started with my sugar cookie recipe and made a few very small tweaks. The main event here is the decadent caramel and milk chocolate layer on top of the cookies.
It’s really quite easy to do! Just soft caramels, melted to a smooth spreadable caramel and milk chocolate chips.
Finish with a sprinkle of more candy bars of course!
Helpful Hints
The cookies include pieces of TWIX candy bars inside the cookies. Because these candy bars contain caramel, sometimes it can flow out of the cookie dough and create slightly misshapen cookies or even little burned caramel edges that should be trimmed away.
If you need to be particular about the finished appearance of the cookies you can either:
- Chop the candy bars quite fine to eliminate large blocks of caramel within the cookies.
- Or, opt to carefully press several pieces of chopped candy bar into the formed cookie dough disks (instead of mixing the pieces into the cookie dough). You probably will not use as many TWIX bars if you go this route, so maybe start by only chopping around 10 bars.
Ingredients in Caramel Shortbread Cookies
A few notes on some of the ingredients used in the cookies:
Unsalted Butter – I always use unsalted American butter in my recipes. I shop at Costco the most frequently so I often go with their store-brand of butter for baking.
Neutral Oil – Canola or vegetable oil.
Granulated Sugar – for spread and sweetness.
Eggs – two large eggs.
Vanilla Extract – use your favorite.
All-Purpose Flour – I use all-purpose flour in my baking. It’s very very important to measure your flour correctly. Never pack flour into a measuring cup. Use a scale for best results.
Baking Powder & Salt – don’t forget these important ingredients!
TWIX Candy Bars – We’ll use the fun-size bars here, but if you have larger ones on hand, I’ve provided weight measurements in the recipes so you can substitute accurately if desired. Be careful not to leave the chopped pieces too large for mixing into the cookies. Large blocks of caramel will flow out from the cookies as they bake and cause them to lose their shape.
Soft Caramels – I use Kraft baking caramels, though caramel bits should work as well.
Heavy Cream – A little heavy cream is used to slightly thin the caramels for a spreadable consistency.
Milk Chocolate Chips – You could sub another favorite chocolate chip, but milk chocolate is the classic choice of TWIX!
How to Make These Cookies
Here’s a summary of how this recipe is made. Find the complete ingredients list and full instructions within the printable recipe card below!
First, we’ll whip up a simple sugar cookie dough. Because the dough starts with melted-and-cooled butter, it’s easy to mix without an electric mixer.
Once the dough is ready, we’ll add the chopped Twix bars. To avoid large pockets of caramel bleeding from the cookies, you can chop the bars a little smaller.
The dough will be pretty soft, so chill it for two hours.
Each Crumbl-size cookie is a whopping 1/3 of a cup. Use a cookie scoop or a measuring cup to measure these out. You’ll have about 13 cookies. Flatten each scoop into a disk and bake.
Allow the cookies to cool and then it’s time to decorate!
Melt the unwrapped caramels with a little heavy cream and spread onto the cookies.
After the caramel sets, it’s time for the chocolate. This is super easy too–it’s just melted chocolate chips.
Are you getting hungry yet?
Finally, top the cookies with a generous sprinkle of chopped TWIX bars.
How to Store or Make Ahead
Allow cookies to set fully and then store in airtight containers at room temperature. Cookies can be stacked (once totally set) with parchment or wax paper between them. I’ve found that the caramel topping makes these cookies dry out a little faster than usual, so I like to consume them within 2 days or freeze. You can freeze the cookies in freezer-safe packaging for up to 2 months.
More Tasty Crumbl Copycats
If you love a good Crumbl copycat recipe, also try my Skillet Cookies, Key Lime Pie Cookies, and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunk Cookies! Make a few batches and host a fun taste-testing party!
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Thanks so much for trying one of my recipes!
Caramel Shortbread Cookies with TWIX®
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled for 10 minutes
- ¼ cup neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (10.5 ounces)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (16.7 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 14 fun-size TWIX® bars, chopped small (this is 5 ounces or a heaping cup—see notes)
Topping:
- 14 fun-size TWIX® bars, chopped fine for topping (5 ounces, or a heaping cup)
- 11 ounces wrapped soft caramels (1 bag)
- 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add melted-and-cooled butter to a large bowl. Add oil and sugar and whisk until the mixture is totally combined. It should be thick and shiny. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined and smooth, about 60 seconds.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt into the bowl with the other ingredients and use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in chopped Twix pieces. Dough will be soft.
- Chill dough for 2 hours or up to overnight.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Use a 1/3 cup cookie scoop (I use this green color-coded one from Vollrath) or a 1/3 cup measuring cup to measure out 13 cookies. Flatten each scoop into a disk (about ¾” thick) and arrange with 3” of space between on baking sheets.
- Bake 15-17 minutes until cookies appear set, but still quite soft, and lightly golden on the edges.
- Allow to cool completely before decorating.
- Microwave unwrapped caramels and heavy cream together in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth and creamy. Top each cookie with about 1 tablespoon of caramel. Allow to set.
- Melt chocolate chips in microwave, stirring every 15 seconds until smooth. Top each cookie with swirl of milk chocolate (about ½ tablespoon). Sprinkle all cookies liberally with chopped TWIX® pieces.
