Preheat oven to 350F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the dates in a heat-safe bowl, and cover with hot water. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine quinoa flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut oil and sugar until fluffy. Then whisk in the egg, maple syrup and vanilla.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined and a sticky dough forms. Place in the fridge while you prepare the caramel.
Add the soaked dates to a food processor, keeping the soaking water in the bowl. Pulse the dates until they begin to breakdown and form a sticky ball.
Stop the food processor and add salt and coconut oil. Process until smooth. If the dates are too sticky or become hard to process, add a few tablespoons of the soaking water to thin (I used about ~3 tablespoons).
To form the cookies, use a cookie dough scoop or large spoon to scoop the dough into a ball. Make an indent in the dough with your thumb, and fill the indent with ~1/2 - 1 Teaspoon of the caramel filling. Cover the indent with cookie dough, and roll into a ball. Repeat until all dough is used.
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool, before using a spoon to gently flatten the cookies.
Recipe by The Balanced Berry at https://www.thebalancedberry.com/caramel-chocolate-cookies/