Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you love salty-and-sweet treats, these are for you.
Soft chocolate chip cookies with crunchy pretzels baked in.
There are so many different flavor and texture elements, making the cookies totally irresistible.
I adapted the dough base I used in Trail Mix Protein Bar Cookies and Cream Cheese Cookies. I’ve been enjoying this base lately because the cookies turn out soft, slightly chewy, buttery with rich brown sugar flavor, and the batch size is under 1 dozen, perfect for my small family. You can always double it if you need more.
The pretzels stay crunchy, snappy, and are a great contrast to the soft dough.
My family raved about the flavor combination in the cookies. They really love salty-and-sweet things and since they’re pretzel fanatics, the cookies were right up their alley.
Chocolate seems to taste even better when there’s a little saltiness present.
Even my seven year old daughter said the chocolate tasted better in these cookies, yet it’s the same chocolate chips I usually use, Trader Joe’s semi-sweet.
She said the kids at her school were all clamoring to try a bite of the cookies after spying them in her lunchbox. She said she normally shares things freely with her friends since I pack plenty of (extra) goodies, but said she kept these all to herself.
They’d make great holiday gift exchange cookies because they’re fun, unique, and different from all those sprinkles and cut-out cookies.
Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you love salty-and-sweet treats, these are for you. Soft, slightly chewy, buttery cookies with rich brown sugar flavor, and crunchy pretzels baked in. The pretzels stay crunchy, snappy, and are a great contrast to the soft dough, and chocolate seems to taste even better when there's a little saltiness present. There are so many different flavor and texture elements, making the cookies totally irresistible. The batch size is under 1 dozen, perfect for my small family, but you can double the recipe if you need more.
Yield: about 10 med/large cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: about 10 to 12 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, for chilling
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (I used 1/4 cup of light and 1/4 cup dark)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstach
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste (remember the pretzels are salted too)
1 heaping cup mini pretzel twists
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars (highly recommend using some dark brown sugar), egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the pretzels (I add them whole and let the mixer crush them, or you can crush them in your fist over the mixing bowl before adding if you prefer tinier pieces), chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined or pretzels are as small as desired, about 1 minute.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form 10 equal-sized mounds of dough (they look fairly large because the pretzels are bulky), roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip - Strategically place a few chocolate chips and pretzels on top of each mound of dough by taking chips and pretzels from the underside; shield large pretzel pieces on the undersides of dough mounds so pretzels aren't resting directly on the baking sheet because they'll be prone to burning.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 3 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don't overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don't use a rack.
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Dough base adapted from Trail Mix Protein Bar Cookies and Cream Cheese Cookies
Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
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