Double Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
These Double Chocolate Pretzel Cookies are chewy, chocolatey, and studded with crunchy pretzel pieces. Then, they’re drizzled with sweet and sticky homemade salted caramel sauce and finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Who doesn’t love something that is sweet, salty, crunchy, and sticky? Wrap it all up in a chewy chocolatey cookie package and these cookies really do hit all of the flavor notes.
Something about these double chocolate pretzel cookies feels very festive to me. Like, they would be perfect served on the cookie table at Christmas or for a loved one on Valentine’s Day. But of course, I’d also take them any day. And, they are surprisingly easy to make.
Looking for more sweet treats? Try these decadent Fudgy Espresso Brownies, these perfect Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies, or these yummy caffeinated Coffee Cookies.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These cookies are crunchy, sweet, salty, and chocolatey.
- They are surprisingly easy to make.
- You can freeze them to have whenever the mood strikes. Just thaw and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- You’ll want to make the caramel sauce first so it has time to cool and thicken.
- If you choose to go with store-bought caramel (but really, the homemade version is easy and far superior!) then just go on to making the cookies.
- The dough doesn’t have to be chilled in the fridge first but you can absolutely do that if you want to break up the process. Store the dough in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Step By Step Instructions
Note: Full list of ingredients, their amounts, and instructions can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1:
Make the Salted Caramel Sauce and set it aside. Or, use store-bought caramel sauce.
Step 2:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Line a second cookie sheet with parchment paper and insert a cooling rack.
Step 3:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.
Step 4:
Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Step 5:
Add the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces to the wet ingredients and stir until they are evenly distributed.
Step 6:
Using a spoon or cookie scooper, scoop dough balls out onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges have set. All the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to the cooling rack. Continue with another batch of cookies until all the dough is gone.
Step 7:
Once all of the cookies have completely cooled, use a spoon or fork to drizzle the caramel sauce over the cookies allowing the excess to drip down through the cooling rack into the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Then, I like to finish with a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
The caramel sauce will set enough to stack the cookies after about 15 minutes.
Step 8:
Enjoy!
Items You May Need
Stand Mixer
Cookie Scooper
Baking Sheet with Cooling Rack
Cooling Racks
Fleur de Sel Sea Salt
Tips & Tricks
- You can make the caramel up to a month in advance (follow the storage instructions in the post) then add a splash of water or cream to make it pourable consistency again.
- Break the pretzels up a bit before adding them to the dough. The mixing will break them up more but you want to give them a head start.
Substitutions & Variations
Pecans or walnuts can replace the pretzels and still give the cookies a nice crunch factor.
Storage
Storage
Once the caramel has had a chance to set, you can stack the cookies in an air-tight container.
Store the cookies at room temperature for up to 4 days.
They’ll be good in the fridge for closer to 1 week.
Freezing
You can freeze these cookies in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Pull them out to thaw about 30 minutes before you want to serve them.
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Double Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- Salted Caramel Sauce or store-bought
- 2 cups all purpose flour spoon and leveled measurement
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder spoon and leveled measurement
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup pretzel twists broken into pieces
- Fleur de Sel optional
Instructions
- If you're making the caramel sauce from scratch, make it first and set it aside to cool and thicken.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place a wire rack in one of the cookie sheets and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and the pretzel pieces and mix until they are evenly distributed.
- Using either a spoon or a cookie scooper, make medium-sized dough balls and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet without the wire rack.
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges have set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes then move them to the wire rack to finish cooling.
- Once all of the cookies are cooled, drizzle each one with the caramel sauce.
- Optional: I like to add a small sprinkle of flaky sea salt to each cookie to finish.
I like how the thick dough doesn’t need refrigeration. I only had cinnamon flavored chocolate chips but they tasted great. Wondering now how butterscotch, vanilla or peanut butter chips would taste. I’m going to have a lot of fun w/ these cookies!