Chewy, chocolatey, and studded with crunchy pretzel pieces. Then finished with a drizzle of caramel sauce and topped with flaky sea salt. These cookies hit all the right spots!
2cupsall purpose flourspoon and leveled measurement
3/4cupunsweetened cocoa powderspoon and leveled measurement
2teaspoonsinstant espresso powder
1teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt
1cupunsalted buttersoftened
1cuplight brown sugarpacked
1/2 cupgranulated sugar
2largeeggs
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
1cupsemi sweet chocolate chips
1cuppretzel twistsbroken into pieces
Fleur de Seloptional
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.
Notes
I use the spoon and level method for dry ingredients. That means that I use a spoon to "fluff" the ingredient (ie. flour and cocoa powder) and then scoop it out into the measuring cup. If you scoop with the measuring cup you will almost certainly get more than the amount I used in the recipe.