Reader Query: Salted/Salty Cookie?

Alicia, a reader and fellow blogger, emailed to ask:

“Have you ever made a salted/salty oatmeal cookie? "

Thanks for writing, Alicia. Jon and I have been toying with the idea of doing a salted cookie for a while now. Though we never tried it, our first idea was to add crushed-up pretzels to cookie dough. (Who knows…we might actually try this at some point.) Otherwise, the salted cookie has been more of a “concept piece” than anything else.

But your email got my wheels turning again, and soon I settled on doing a chocolate cookie with salted caramel. I can’t claim all the credit for this idea, though, because it’s really just my take on my favorite dessert—the “gran cru” (whatever that means)—from my favorite restaurant: Eleven Madison Park, which also inspired the Eleven Madison cookie.