Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's face it- I'm a Pinterest addict!  While perusing the boards one day, I saw this recipe and after reading through the linked blog decided I MUST try these cookies!  After all, who doesn't like chocolate and salted caramel?  Ok, my husband asked me to leave the salt off, he's not a "salted caramel" kind of guy, but he's the exception to the rule.

You can find the original recipe here, but below I have listed the recipe as I have modified it.
Hats off to Sally's Baking Addiction for delivering a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I actually LOVE!
I made these twice with a couple of changes between batches.  I modified the recipe to my taste and baking style in the following ways:
1. I doubled the recipe and used 1.5 bags of chocolate chips- because I don't think you can ever have too many chips in a cookie.  Single recipe amounts listed below.
2. I didn't mix the dry ingredients ahead of time, I just dumped them into the stand mixer as I went.
3. I put in my eggs straight from the fridge, Sally suggests having them at room temperature.
4. Pictured are the cookies with the bits mixed in right after the chips- some cookies did stick to the pan, so I will list the original caramel step as I did it the first time.
5. Apparently my "tablespoonfuls" are larger than most peoples (Mom always had us use the large silverware spoon as a tablespoon when "dropping" batter and the smaller silverware spoon as a teaspoon) so the first batch turned out about the size of my whole hand... Second time around I did my teaspoonful and had a much better portion/cookie size.
6. I left the dough on the counter during cooking as I always do, Sally suggests chilling the dough between batches.
These changes are reflected in the recipe below.

So, here goes- enjoy!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 3 dozen

-3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened-1 cup light brown sugar
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 egg + 1 egg yolk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 of 11.5 oz bag semi-sweet chips
-16 wrapped caramels cut into 4 or 5 pieces each OR 1/2 bag Kraft caramel bits
-sea salt

Preheat oven to 325*F.

With hand/electric mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
Add baking soda, then add flour 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir/mix until dough forms.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
DO NOT OVER-MIX DURING ANY STAGE!

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet & press a few pieces/bits of caramel into the tops of the cookies.
Bake 10 minutes (oven variations: 8-11 minutes) or until edges are slightly brown; center should be puffy, soft and slightly moist.
Sprinkle cookies with sea salt immediately after removing from oven.
Cool completely and dig in!