Wooo, a cookie bakeoff sounds fun! My caramels are pretty good, I've mastered them over the years. They will eventually be doused in dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt, but that's for another day. At least I have all my batches made. I also make 2 other candies/truffles that will need chocolate dousing too, so I usually try to get all the candies made in advance, then do the chocolate dipping for everything at one time. My whole house smells like chocolate for about 2 days after that.