Crispy Double Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Menopause is bringing out the creative baker in me! Believe me when I say, this is the ONLY good thing it's doing. I mean, what else can you do besides bake at 3:00 in the morning, when you have insomnia, you are waking up sweating from night sweats and you are having hot flashes? I wasn't even sure I would need the oven to cook these. At any given moment during a hot flash, I could just hold them up to my forehead and trust me.....they would cook in no time at all.
When I woke up and decided to bake, I started  rummaging through my pantry to see what I had on hand and how I could create a new and tasty cookie. These have a bit of crunch from the Rice Krispies, ooey gooey caramel and lots of white and semi sweet  chocolate. Sounds good...right?
It was! All the staff and students at school today loved them. The  students sure didn't like it though, when I had to wake them from their sugar comas and tell them to get back to work ;)

3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
6 oz white chocolate, chopped (or 1 cup white chocolate chips)
20 Kraft caramels, unwrapped and sliced into 5 slices each

Heat oven to 375°

Melt 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler or a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir together and set aside. 

Mix together: butter, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla and eggs, until blended. 
Mix in melted chocolate. Slowly mix in flour mixture. 
Stir in Rice Krispies,1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate and sliced Kraft caramels. 

Bake for 9 minutes and remove from oven. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 4 minutes. Remove  to cooling rack to continue cooling. (If the cookies seem to be getting stuck to the cookie sheet, use a sharp knife to loosen them. Sometimes, the caramel sticks to the cookie sheet).