These chewy Pretzel Cookies With Chocolate Chips and Caramel are the best twist on a classic chocolate chip cookie. The addition of crunchy pretzel bits and chewy caramel make these cookies the ultimate indulgence.
If you have a strong love of chocolate chip cookies, I have a lot of options for you. Einkorn chocolate chip, brown butter spelt flour chocolate chip, and salted rye chocolate chip cookies are all made with ancient grain flour and are perfectly nutty. If you are wanting a gluten-free whole-grain option, I have those as well. Buckwheat chocolate chip cookies and oat flour chocolate chip cookies are just as tasty as their gluten-containing counterparts.
Tips for making the best chocolate chip cookies
- Choose Quality Ingredients: Use high-quality unsalted butter, a mix of brown and granulated sugar, and good-quality chocolate chips or chunks.
- Proper Mixing: Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Mix dry ingredients until just combined to avoid tough cookies.
- Scooping: Use a cookie scoop for even-sized cookies that bake evenly.
- Baking: Bake at 350°F (175°C) for balanced texture or 375°F (190°C) for crispier edges and gooey centers. Bake 8-12 minutes until edges are golden and centers are just set.
- Finishing Touches: Sprinkle flaky sea salt on top before baking for flavor contrast. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Ingredients
- Butter- unsalted room temperature butter.
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar- Both for the perfect flavor and texture on these cookies.
- Eggs- They are used as binder, for flavor, and add moisture.
- Vanilla
- All-purpose flour- most of my recipes use whole grain flours, but I went with regular on this one.
- Baking soda
- Salt- I like to use koshed in the cookie dough and flake salt for sprinkling on the top before baking.
- Chocolate chip- I use semi-sweet, but love dark chocolate as well. You can use milk chocolate if you prefer. You can also use chocolate chunks too.
- Pretzels- I use regular pretzels, but you can also use pretzel sticks if you prefer.
- Caramel bits- I could not find any locally, so I used kraft caramels and cut them down to size.
How to make
Start by mixing together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set this aside. Crunch up your pretzels to ½-inch pieces or even a little larger, they will get broken up with you are mixing the dough. If you are using Kraft caramel like I did, cut those down now as well.
Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light, it will take about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix these only until they are combined. To this add in the flour mixture, again, only mixing to combine.
Last in are the pretzels, chocolate chips and caramels. Mix to combine again.
Scoop the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. The parchment is optional, but so much easier for cleanup, especially with the caramel in the cookie dough.
Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are a very light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. You can eat these right away if you want, but know the caramel is going to be REALLY hot! So be careful.
Other Cookie Recipes
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Dark Chocolate and Rye Cookies
- Strawberry Sugar Cookie Bars
- Caramel Pecan Bars
- Raspberry Shortbread Bites
- Lemon Cookies with Lemon Drizzle
Pretzel Cookies With Chocolate Chips and Caramel
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks butter (1 cup), softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup caramel bits
- 1 ½ cups pretzel bits I used pretzel rods, and broke them into about ½-1 inch pieces.
- flake salt optional
Instructions
- Start by mixing together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set this aside. Crunch up your pretzels to ½-inch pieces or even a little larger, they will get broken up with you are mixing the dough. If you are using Kraft caramel like I did, cut those down now as well.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light, it will take about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix these only until they are combined. To this add in the flour mixture, again, only mixing to combine.
- Last in are the pretzels, chocolate chips and caramels. Mix to combine again.
- Scoop the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. The parchment is optional, but so much easier for cleanup, especially with the caramel in the cookie dough.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are a very light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. You can eat these right away if you want, but know the caramel is going to be REALLY hot! So be careful.
Tessa says
I made these last night and they turned out great! I didn’t have the salt and thought they were amazing! Thank you Amy for sharing!
admin says
Tessa, thank you so much for trying the cookies. I bet you can guess how fast they disappear in our house! I am glad you guys liked them!!