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I'm a massive fan of salty sweet! These chocolate chip pretzel cookies are the ultimate combination of a crunchy salty pretzel with semi-sweet chocolate morsels. An easy small-batch cookie recipe for the chocolate pretzel lovers out there.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pretzels
These are essentially classic chocolate chip cookies with a couple of twists:
- Only use brown sugar - no white granulated or caster sugar.
- The added special ingredient of crushed salted pretzels.
What kind of pretzels to use in cookies
In theory you could use any hard pretzels in these cookies - large ones, pretzel sticks, sourdough pretzels, etc. As long as they can be crushed to small-ish bits to mix into the batter, they're able to be incorporated.
In practice, it is best to use mini hard pretzels with salt. This is because they are small enough to make for easy crushing without pulverizing. Lightly smashing these with a rolling pin or other heavy kitchen utensil will give you small bits, that are still large enough to add a crunch to the cookie.
Mini pretzels in cookies also offer an easier opportunity for adding a decorative touch to the top when ready to bake. Simply press an extra uncrushed mini pretzel straight on top of the dough ball before baking.
What chocolate goes best with pretzels
I always find that chocolate choices are a very personal decision based entirely on preferences.
For these chocolate pretzel cookies, I'd recommend using a dark chocolate chip or a semi-sweet variety. This gives a good balance with the salt. You can certainly use milk chocolate if this is your preference, or white chocolate, or even a mixture of different types!
Tips for Making Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies
This is a fairly straightforward cookie dough.
Begin by creaming together the butter and sugar. Then add egg and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Follow this by sifting in the flour and baking soda, stirring with a spatula. Then finally stir through the pretzels and chocolate chips.
For best results with this recipe, chill balls of cookie dough for an hour prior to baking. This isn't strictly necessary and you can definitely bake straight away if you're in a rush! But, the chilling will make them softer and chewier because it will help prevent spreading.
When ready to bake, press a pretzel in the top for decoration and place in the centre of the preheated oven. Since these cookies are made with brown sugar only, they will bake darker than conventional chocolate chip cookies, so don't worry if they seem to be darker than normal - this doesn't mean they're overdone.
FAQs for these Pretzel Cookies
These cookies are best fresh from the oven, but they also keep well for a few days stored in a cookie jar or other airtight container at room temperature.
Yes absolutely! As with other cookie recipes, these are best freezing as dough rather than baked.
Even though this recipe is for a small batch of cookies, you can freeze the dough balls rather than baking them all at once. This gives you individual fresh baked cookies on demand from the freezer.
So there are a couple of things that may be happening here. Firstly, these cookies are made with brown sugar, so they will be darker than conventional chocolate chip cookies and may start to brown more deeply than you're used to. This can make you think they are done early.
Once you've removed the pretzel cookies from the oven, also be sure to allow these to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes. This will help them to stay nice, soft and chewy, but will also help the base of the cookie to firm up to make them easier to move across to a cooling rack. If trying to move them immediately from the pan when fresh from the oven, they will be too soft and may fall apart.
If you like this recipe, try out some more easy cookie recipes:
- Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
- Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
- Cookie Bottomed Brownies
- Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar (muscovado) firmly packed
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon flaked sea salt
- 1½ oz salted pretzels plus a few extra to top the cookies
- 4 oz semi sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Then add the egg and vanilla, beating to combine.
- Sift the flour and baking soda into the sugar mixture and add the flaked sea salt. Stir with a spatula to combine into a dough.
- Place 1.5 oz of pretzels into a ziploc bag and seal. Smash the pretzels with a rolling pin or other heavy utensil, until these are crushed into smaller bits.
- Pour the pretzel pieces and chocolate chips into the cookie dough and stir to combine.
- Dollop balls of cookie dough onto a piece of parchment paper or a plate and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour (up to 3 days).
- Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Once the dough has chilled, place the balls of dough well spaced on the cookie sheet and top each with a pretzel pressed lightly into the top centre. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes until the edges are darkening.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat the baking process until you are out of dough balls.
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