Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

I love cookies where you start with a base dough and then throw in an assortment of some of the delicious things that you have on hand.

This recipe started out with plain peanut butter cookies but I wanted to make it a bit more interesting so I took inspiration from a “Take 5” bar and added chocolate chips, crushed up pretzels, caramel and a bit of sea salt sprinkled on top. The result was a soft and chewy cookie with plenty of flavor and texture; the perfect cookies for fans of salty/ sweet combinations.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

• Chocolate chips – Semi-sweet chocolate is a dark chocolate made up of a at least 35% cacao. Semi-sweet chocolate can be used interchangeably with bitter-sweet chocolate. Because of it’s strong chocolate flavor this is great for cookies. Use either high-quality chocolate chips or chop up chocolate bars.
• Peanut butter – I use smooth peanut butter in the cookie dough so that the dough itself is smooth.
• Mini pretzels – The addition of pretzels to these cookies add a texture as well as a bit of salty contrast to the other ingredients.

How to Make Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

1. Heat oven. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Beat the butter, peanut butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until creamy.
3. Mix egg and vanilla. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Make the dough. Slowly add the flour mixture until it has all been incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips, pretzels and caramel until combined.
5. Bake the cookies. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet and bake until just lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and move the cookies to a cooling rack.
6. Add salt and serve. Sprinkle with sea salt. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Other Recipes to Try

If you enjoy this recipe, I recommend checking out some of these:

• 12 Days of Christmas Cookies
• Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Covered Raisins
• Grandma Mary’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

Print Pin

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Serves 24 cookies

US Customary – Metric

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 packed cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup gently crushed mini pretzels
• ½ cup caramel sauce
• Coarse sea salt, as needed

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
• In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• Slowly add the flour mixture until it has all been incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips, pretzels and caramel until combined.
• Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet and bake until just lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and move the cookies to a cooling rack.
• Sprinkle with sea salt. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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