Cookie Jar Series #6: Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

This month, I tried a recipe for chocolate chip cookies featuring crunchy pretzel pieces, soft and gooey caramel chunks, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. It sounds jar worthy, but will that be the verdict?

About the Series

As always, a reminder about why I started this series – it is inspired by my grandma’s Christmas tree cookie jar. I think that seeing that jar on her table filled with cookies gave me a romanticized idea having a cookie jar always full of fresh cookies for anyone who stops by. Also, with this series, I’ve come to love the ability to easily grab a sweet little treat from the jar when the craving strikes. Another thing I love is trying new recipes, so this series has been my way of putting cookies in my jar while also getting to try those new ones out. As I try these new recipes, I determine if they are worthy to be in the cookie jar. I will provide the recipe I used, along with a review and verdict. So far, the cookies I’ve tried are –

This post is number six of “The Cookie Jar Series.” Enjoy!

The Recipe

I have been on a bit of a caramel kick lately, so I knew I wanted to try a cookie recipe that included caramel. I saw this recipe and had a feeling that the sweet and salty combo would be amazing. Here’s how I made them:

Preheat oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Before beginning on the dough, prep the inclusions by roughly chopping 1 cup of mini pretzels and chopping 15-18 soft caramels into pieces.
In a microwave safe dish, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter. Pour the butter into a mixing bowl and let it cool.
Once the butter is cooled, add 1 cup brown sugar and ½ cup white sugar, and beat until well combined.
Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, and then add 2 tsp vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together 2½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and ¾ tsp salt. Then, add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating on low until the flour is fully incorporated.
Gently fold in the chopped pretzels, caramel pieces, and 1½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking.
After refrigeration, scoop dough into 2 tbsp balls, press extra inclusions into the top (if desired), and sprinkled with some flaky sea salt.
Bake 11-13 minutes, let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Review and Verdict

I’ll just come right out and say it – these cookies are absolutely delicious. The chocolate chip cookie flavor is strong, but then you add the pockets of gooey caramel and the crunchy, salty pretzel pieces, and it’s a whole different flavor experience. There are bites that give a little more chocolate chip cookie than salted caramel, but it just depends on the dispersement of the inclusions within the cookie. If you would even consider that an issue, it’s incredibly minor.

Aside from the flavor, I also really enjoyed the texture of these cookies. The butter is melted, rather than softened, so the texture is a little more chewy and fudge-like, which I prefer in a cookie. Along with that chewy cookie, the pretzel pieces provide a little bit of crunch, and the combination is great.

I’m sure the verdict is already obvious, but we still have to ask if these cookies are jar worthy. As a reminder, the following is my rating scale:

Jar Regular – These are the cookies that will become a go-to, repeat recipe.
Jar Guest – These cookies are tasty and were great to try, but they just aren’t top tier.
Not My Jar, but Maybe Yours – These are cookies that weren’t my taste, but still worth trying.
Toss the Cookies, Keep the Jar – These are cookies that are a hard no, likely due to a faulty recipe.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies = Jar Regular

These cookies have that perfect balance of sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy, that makes them absolutely top tier. I try to limit how many cookies I have each day, but these are so good that I just keep thinking about them, even when I’m not craving something sweet. Something I will add, though, is that I would probably only make these cookies if I want to do something special or am taking them somewhere. The only reason for that is because they were more involved to make than the cookies I bake more regularly. Cutting up the caramel and having to refrigerate the dough added a lot of extra time to these cookies that I just don’t have on the regular. I will 100% make these again, though, and they 100% deserve to be a jar regular cookie, when I have time.

Sweet Things Remembered