If you love chocolate chip cookies, but are looking to bring a bit of a crunchy variation to them, you've got to try these Pretzel Cookies. Pretzel cookies offer the ideal sweet and salty taste in a soft, chewy treat that's simple to make.
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Why This Recipe Works
- Homemade Cookie Delight: There's nothing better than a batch of freshly baked homemade cookies, and when I have a few extra minutes at hand, I love putting these pretzel cookies together.
- Quick and Easy Pretzel Cookies: This one may not be a no bake pretzel cookies recipe, but they quite literally need just a few minutes of kitchen time to put together.
Pair these cookies with The Best Strawberry Milkshake or some Ninja Creami cookies and cream Ice cream!
📋 Ingredients
- Salted Butter (Softened): Makes your cookies tender and adds a rich, buttery flavor.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens your cookies and helps them achieve a crisp exterior.
- Light Brown Sugar: Provides sweetness while also imparting a subtle hint of molasses for added depth of flavor.
- Creamy Peanut Butter: Gives your cookies a delicious, nutty flavor and contributes to their soft texture.
- Egg: Is a key binding ingredient that holds all the other ingredients together and adds moisture.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Infuses your cookies with a warm, aromatic flavor that complements the other ingredients.
- All-Purpose Flour: Is the structural backbone of your cookies, providing the necessary gluten for them to hold their shape.
- Baking Soda: Acts as a leavening agent, causing your cookies to rise and become fluffy.
- Salt: While it might seem counterintuitive in a sweet recipe, a little salt actually enhances the other flavors in your cookies.
- M&M Candies: Add a pop of color and a sweet, chocolatey crunch to your cookies.
- Pretzels: Give your cookies a delightful salty twist and a unique crunch, contrasting wonderfully with the sweetness of the other ingredients.
For the complete list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
🔀 Substitutions & Variations
- Sea Salt: Is a great addition to cookies. You can also opt for salty pretzels. Remember to use flakey sea salt for the best salty burst in chewy cookies.
- Flavor Enhancer: If you have a sweet tooth, you can choose to add some white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips, or salted caramel chips into the cookie dough balls.
- Butterscotch Chips: Create a delightful harmony when paired with peanut butter in the sweet and salty cookie dough.
- Sweet Toffee Bits: You can also choose to add some sweet toffee bits into the cookie dough to make toffee pretzel cookies.
- Melted Chocolate: To make pretzel chocolate cookies, you can also consider adding some melted chocolate into the mix.
🔪How To Make Pretzel Cookies With M&M's?
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In the bowl or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla together until fluffy.
- Step 2: Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating until well blended. Fold in the M&M candies. Drop a tablespoon of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes until lightly browned.
- Step 3: Immediately after removing from the oven, carefully press two pretzels into the top of each cookie. Place the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 4: Serve your pretzel cookies for a perfect sweet and salty treat. Enjoy!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
- Start with Pre-made Dough: To cut down the cooking time for this recipe, you can start with the pre-made cookie dough of your choice.
- Alternative to Peanut Butter: If you don't have peanut butter, you can use any other nut butter of your choice.
- Pretzel Variations: If you don't want to use Whole Pretzels, you can just use roughly crushed pretzels too. Pretzel twists can also be a great option to consider. If you can get your hands on some itty bitty mini pretzels, you can choose to press them into the cookie dough too.
- Achieve the Perfect Texture: The key to getting the perfect chewy texture for the cookies is to remember to use fresh and high-quality baking soda and baking powder for the recipe.
- Proper Ingredient Proportions: Also, make sure to get the proportion of the ingredients right for this recipe. Using too much flour, for instance, can cause the cookies to become flat and dry.
💭 FAQs
You can just wrap up the individual cookies in cookie sheet or parchment paper and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They should stay fresh in there for a few days.
Yes, you can use various pretzel shapes such as mini pretzel twists, rods, or even pretzel crisps. Just ensure they are broken into small pieces to distribute evenly throughout the cookie dough.
To minimize spreading, it's advisable to chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. This helps the dough firm up, resulting in thicker cookies.
Yes, you can freeze both the dough and the baked cookies. For the dough, scoop it into balls, place them on a baking sheet to flash-freeze, then transfer to a freezer-safe container or bag. Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months.
To customize the cookies for different occasions, consider using seasonal M&M's with appropriate colors and designs. Additionally, adding a sprinkle of colored sugar or festive sprinkles on top before baking can enhance their visual appeal.
Serving Suggestions
These are my favorite ways to serve Pretzel Cookies With M&M's:
- Caramel Sauce: Drizzle warm, homemade caramel sauce for a gooey sweet twist that complements the salty crunch of the pretzel cookies and the chocolatey M&Ms perfectly.
- Apple Butter: Spread some apple butter on your pretzel cookies for a rich, autumnal flavor that pairs wonderfully with the candy’s sweetness.
- Strawberry Jam With Orange: Add a dollop of strawberry jam flavored with a hint of orange to introduce a fruity, slightly tangy taste that balances the cookie's saltiness and the M&M's sweetness.
- Peach Jam: Top your pretzel cookies with peach jam for a sweet and slightly tart combination that enhances the overall taste, offering a summery vibe.
🍜 Related Recipes
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Pretzel Cookies With M&M’s
Ingredients
- ½ cup Salted Butter 1 stick softened
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 cup M&M Candies
- 48 Pretzels
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla together until fluffy.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet mixture, beating until well blended. Fold in the M&M’s candies.
- Drop a tablespoon of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes until lightly browned.
- Immediately after removing from the oven, carefully press two pretzels into the top of each cookie. Place the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve your pretzel cookies for a perfect sweet and salty treat. Enjoy!
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