These chocolate caramel pretzel cookies have a story.
There were days when I was one, and my fridge represented that of a woman cooking for one. My freezer was always stocked with salmon fillets, and the fridge bursting with sweet potato and tenderstem broccoli. The endless Tupperware boxes for all my meal prep would always be stacked haphazardly, so if you opened the cupboard door just a tad, they’d scuttle out in a hurry. Weekends came and went, almost always consisting of “dippy” eggs {soft boiled for 6mins, of course} and soldiers for breakfast and coffee from a one-cup cafetière that did my caffeine intake justice.
It became our joke when we started dating that “my fridge was always empty” or that I “had no snacks in the cupboard”. Minus the slim bar of dark chocolate that sat in the fridge door, I could never trust myself with a packet of chocolate Digestives {my favourite} for fear that I may inhale them all at once. And if I ever baked, my Tupperware collection would go to good use to transport chocolate cookies on the Piccadilly Line for eight stops – jostled and melted by the time they reached the office.
Then I met you, our first date lingering into the night and two speak-easy bars. You told me one vital piece of information that night, which I promptly forgot when I made two salted caramel chocolate fondants and brought them over on our fourth date, to pair with the meal you’d cooked for me. You didn’t like chocolate. I remember you eating it sheepishly, remarking that the caramel centre was the most delicious bit. I told you that you didn’t have to finish it but you mmmm’d and ahhhh’d to make me feel better, because there was still that air of awkwardness about my mistake that you knew might make me feel embarrassed.
The next morning you made mugs of steaming coffee with your one-cup cafetière that we shared on the sofa, toes tucked beneath us, the sleep of the night in our eyes. Two and a half years later we’ve upgraded to a six-cup cafetière for our morning ritual, and a Lavazza milk frother – the first purchases we made together as we prepare to move into our first home as two. It’s these moments, of sipping coffee bleary-eyed with you, that are the moments I love in our day. It’s “our” time, without even ever realising it.
Now I make you cookies, without chocolate – because your nose would wrinkle otherwise. Usually “man cookies” to be precise. Made with cornflakes and oats, and sprinkled with sea salt for good measure. But if there were a cookie that might steal your heart more, it would be this one. The chocolate caramel pretzel cookie. A cookie with a little chocolate {so I can eat the chocolatey bits}, hints of Ethiopia Uraga coffee, flecks of Maldon sea salt and generous pools of salted caramel – an ode to one of our first dates.
What makes these chocolate caramel pretzel cookies so special?
A cookie sounds like a simple bake, and it is. Saying that, there’s a huge difference between a good cookie and a great one. Here’s what gives these cookies their special flavour:
- The coffee deepens the chocolatey flavour. By adding a little coffee to your cookies, it enhances the richness of the chocolate.
- A sprinkling of sea salt brings out the sweetness. Adding a little flaky sea salt on top of your cookies is a must before baking! I also suggest sprinkling salt on your baking tray before scooping the cookie on top of it. This means the salt will hit your palette first when eating, causing an explosion of beautiful rich sweetness.
- It uses a mixture of white and brown sugar. Aside from adding sweetness, granulated sugar means your cookies will caramelise a little, making them more golden with crisp outer edges. It also absorbs the fats in your cookie for deepening the flavours when resting your dough. Brown sugar on the other hand, creates that telltale chew and fudgy taste to the centre of your cookies.
- Scoop, scoop, scoop! Using a size 20 scoop means your cookies will be uniform and perfectly formed.
- You can bake straight away, or age the dough. “Aging” your dough deepens the flavours. I suggest a minimum of 3 hours for this recipe, but overnight is best. Alternatively, if you just can’t wait, this recipe can totally be baked straight away!
What chocolate should I use in these cookies?
There’s a certain type of chocolate that elevates chocolate chip cookies to the next level. Found out my top tips for cookie chocolate below:
Chocolate caramel pretzel cookies
Ingredients
- 1 can condensed milk
- 225 g unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 50ml boiling water
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 320 g light brown sugar
- 240 g rye flour
- 240 g plain flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g dark chocolate at least 70% or above, roughly chopped
- 60 g salted plain pretzels roughly chopped
- Flaky sea salt to finish
Instructions
To make your own caramel
- Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil, then carefully submerge your tin of condensed milk in the water, ensuring the top is covered completely.N.B. If your tin has a paper slip, remove this before putting it in the water.
- Pop a lid on top and then boil for 3hrs, topping up the water that may have evaporated as you go, so the tin is always submerged. Meanwhile, prep your cookie dough.
To make the cookies
- Melt your butter in a saucepan over a low to medium heat, stirring occasionally and swirling the butter around the pan. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam and sizzle around the edges. Keep on the heat for about 5-8 minutes, until the butter starts to turn a golden brown. The milk solids on the bottom of the pan will start to toast and darken in colour and it will smell intensely buttery, nutty, and rich.N.B. Your butter can burn, so keep the heat low to medium and stir regularly, keeping an eye on it at all times
- Now make your coffee. You only need a little bit so either mix 1tsp instant powder with half a cup of water, or use freshly ground beans in a cafetière and take 4tbsp from that. Add this to your browned butter.
- Set the saucepan aside to cool for 30mins.
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F.
- Once the butter and coffee mixture has cooled, pour into a large bowl and whisk in the sugars using an electric whisk until pale in colour.
- Add your eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition and then add 2tsp of vanilla extract. Whisk once more.
- In a separate bowl, mix your flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
- Add this to your wet ingredients in thirds, whisking after each addition. Then use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and combine once more so no flecks of flour are left.
- Add your roughly chopped chocolate and pretzels, then use a spoon to ensure that everything is evenly distributed.
- Place the bowl in the fridge to rest for 1hr.
- When the caramel has cooled completely, take your bowl out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 15mins so it’s easier to work with. When ready, add teaspoons of caramel in and amongst the cracks in the dough. Do not mix. You want pools of caramel in your cookie dough. I use a spoon to “open up” parts of the cookie dough that are really stuck together to wedge some caramel in there.
- Line two large baking trays {that will fit in your fridge!} with parchment.
- Using a size 20 portioner or ice cream scoop, scoop balls of cookie dough onto your trays, spacing them an inch or so apart. They are going to spread!N.B. A size 20 portioner is the equivalent of about 50g of cookie dough, so if you don’t have one, you can use scales to measure out your dough.
- Pop your tray in the fridge for 30mins for the dough to firm up again.
- Bake for 13-15mins, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden in colour. They should still be slightly gooey in the centre if you want a slightly more chewy texture.
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Rosie Wild
Lottie that’s the sweetest (pun unintended) story ! What a lovely way of describing one becoming two!
The cookies look delicious as well, I don’t have a kitchen though so I will have to imagine the taste!
Charlotte
Haha love the pun! Glad you liked it, and hopefully at some point in the future you can make a batch of these when you have a kitchen 😉