This cookies should come with a warning: one cookie is never enough. Combining salted peanuts, pretzels and dark chocolate would have been a madcap idea once upon a time, but now it seems like everyone is on the salty and sweet bandwagon. With good reason. It's deliriously good.
There's something intriguing about the way salty and sweet play off against each other. The sweetness of a dessert can be overwhelming on the palate sometimes, but if you introduce a salty element then suddenly your tongue is twitching, your palate is reinvigorated and I always find my appetite is immediately primed for more.
Combining peanut butter and pretzels has been an obsession of mine since I had my first scoop of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream over ten years ago - a mix of vanilla malt ice cream with swirls of peanut butter and nuggets of fudge-covered peanut butter pretzels. Designing a cookie with peanut butter, pretzels and dark chocolate sounded like my kind of heaven. A sprinkle of Murray River sea salt flakes made it even better.
I happened to find a bag of peanut pretzels in an Eastern European deli but they're not really essential in this recipe - normal salted pretzels will do. These cookies veer between salty and sweet with every mouthful which makes them dangerously addictive. Even more so if you're a peanut-lover like I am. Bake a double batch. Maybe three. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Griski Macedonian peanut pretzels; dark chocolate chunks; and raw cookie dough
Salted Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
250g (1 cup) salted butter, softened
250g (1 cup) crunchy peanut butter
200g (1 cup) brown sugar
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
450g (3 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
200g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
150g (1 cup salted) peanuts
60g (1 cup) smashed salted pretzels
Murray River pink salt flakes for sprinkling
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) or 160°C (320°F) if fan-forced.
- Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat well.
- Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix until combined.
- Stir through the dark chocolate, peanuts and pretzels.
- Roll the mixture into balls the size of a teaspoon and place on a tray lined with baking paper, leaving a gap of about five centimetres between each one. Press each ball down lightly with a fork and then sprinkle with Murray River pink salt flakes.
- Bake at 180C for 8-10 minutes.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Cookies before baking
Salted Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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I can imagine these would taste soooo good!!
ReplyDeleteOOOH yeah! Another cookie recipe...love all the flavours and I adore the sweet and salty combination.
ReplyDeleteWHAT a combination. Clever you. As well as sounding lipsmackingly delicious, I like that there are baked goods inside these baked goods ;)
ReplyDeleteThese look SO good. I love sweet and salty dessert and have been planning to bake something with pretzels soon :D
ReplyDeleteah, pretzel in cookies!!! this sounds lovely!
ReplyDeleteYou've managed to mix three of the most addictive foods in one cookie. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I haven't had plain pretzels in so long.... Is this a little 'Stoner's Delight' inspired? :)
ReplyDeleteyou have single-handedly ruined my diet :)
ReplyDeletei heart pretzels! bring on the cookie overload!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Great combination of ingredients!
ReplyDeleteOh. My. God! These look freaking good!!! Love the salty sweet and this is like the perfect beer snacks all combined in to one cookie. YUUUUM!
ReplyDeleteSome of my favourite flavours, all in the one place!! I'm scheming to make a caramel popcorn version of this... I have high hopes! (and blood sugar levels to match!)
ReplyDeletemmmm.... salty peanuts
ReplyDeleteIt's like those Japanese choc-coated pretzel sticks, but with the added bonus of peanut butter AND in cookie form!
ReplyDeleteI love the whole salty and sweet combo and this looks delicious!
ReplyDeletezomg how awesome is salted peanut butter :D put it into a cookie and it's even better
ReplyDeleteSalty chocolatey goodness, another killer biscuit recipe Helen!
ReplyDeleteOne day, I'll marry you.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought these were only available in one of the fabulous Sydney restaurants but then I saw the recipe...amazing!! Cannot wait to try these out!
ReplyDeleteI'm so hungry now!
ReplyDeletelooks like a wonderful recipe. I like the combination of dark chocolate and pretzel.
ReplyDeleteOMG Griski peanut pretzels!! I first fell in love with them after picking up a pack at Belgrade train station, just to get rid of my spare change before leaving Serbia. It was the best comfort food you could ask for after getting my phone stolen at the station! Where did you find them? I MUST get my hands on some!
ReplyDeleteHi Hungryandfrozen - lol yes there's something oddly alluring about including baked goods in baked goods!
ReplyDeleteHi Tina - I haven't had the Stoner's Delight before - it was mostly my obsession with Chubby Hubby ice cream!
Hi Mim - It was an Eastern European deli in Liverpool, corner of Moore St and Northumberland - diagonally opposite Akash Pacific Indian restaurant. Good luck and enjoy!
I've been making the compost cookies a la Momofoku, but these look better - the compost cookies come out a bit flat for me. I'll have to try these.
ReplyDeleteMade these this weekend and they were a huge hit. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteIntriguing combination! If it tastes anywhere near as good as it looks it must be great.
ReplyDelete