Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies

I've never really liked pretzels. They're kind of boring and tasteless and I can't really eat them unless they're flavored or dipped in something. Preferably Nutella. There's just something about adding chocolate to pretzels that makes them a little more bearable, correct? Which is why putting them in a chocolate chip cookie is a complete stroke of genius.

I found this recipe on Pinterest (obviously) and thought it would be an easy little baking project on a lazy Sunday. It turns out I was right. Here my slightly adapted version:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup of butter at room temp.
1/2 cup tightly packing light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup broken up pretzel pieces
Pretzel salt or sea salt

This recipe makes exactly 24 cookies. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda and whisk them to combine. Or you can sift them if you're into that sort of thing. 

Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until they're fluffy (about 2 minutes).

Lower the speed and add in the egg and vanilla and beat until they're well combined. With the speed still on low add the flour mixture little by little until the dough comes together. I don't think I'll ever be able to do this without spilling or covering parts of my kitchen in flour dust. No one ever said baking was a clean sport.

Next, break up the pretzel pieces. I thought about putting them in my food processor, but I didn't want them to be pulverized. I used the much more primitive method of putting them in a plastic bag and beating the crap out of them with a pestle.

Fold in the chocolate chips and the pretzel bits until they're well combined in the dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or just spray it with non-stick spray. Scoop out the dough using a tablespoon measure and place the dough about two inches apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on each cookie before they bake if you want a little more saltiness. I sure did.

Bake these for about 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. They will look like this:

And they'll taste like a salty, chocolately explosion of deliciousness. If you like chocolate covered pretzels then I guarantee you will love these. I've been told they're so full of win.

The original recipe I followed called for peanut butter chips in addition to everything else. If Trader Joe's was in the business of carrying peanut butter chips then I most certainly would have added them. Sadly they're not so I had to leave them out. These would also be good with a peanut butter cookie base. I can think of few things better than a chocolate covered pretzel dipped in peanut butter. For now, tough, I'll have to accept these sans peanut butter and I'm just fine with that.

Do you like salty with sweet? What are your feelings on pretzels? If you can think of another way for me to improve them, by all means share it!