One of the downsides to recipe creation… you have a lot of treats all to yourself. Like these Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies. 😀
Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
I must admit that I ate way to many of these cookies on the way from the oven to my little make shift studio. The kids helped too actually. So I guess they were good. 😉
These Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies are unique to any cookie that I’ve ever made because there’s not actually any traditional peanut butter in them. I used powdered peanut butter out of curiosity. As with many culinary adventures that I embark on, this idea is courtesy of my husband. He mentioned it after seeing it at the store and I just rolled with it. He often gives me a hard time that I never walk around the grocery store and just look around. This of course is true… I go in on a mission to get in and get out with blinders on and my “no” saying power armed and ready to go.
The majority of my shopping trips are with four kids in tow so I don’t stop to look around or find “new” things. My husband is usually at work when the kids and I hit the grocery store, but I have to say that I enjoy when we all go together because while I’m shopping for what we need and what’s on the list, he’s entertaining the kids and looking around. This is both good and bad… good because he finds things for us to try, bad because it usually means spending more than what I planned for that shopping trip. LOL
Anyway, I wanted these cookies to be chewy and we all know my love of all things sweet and salty so I thought let’s just throw some pretzels and caramel in there too. At first I thought I would make these Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies stuffed with caramel, but then I found Kraft had these unwrapped small caramels that are about the size of a chocolate chip. I decided that they would be perfect to try as a mix in. Needless to say, my brain child worked because even my non-caramel eating daughter (yeah, not sure what happened there) ate these cookies!
I also wasn’t sure how the powdered peanut butter would work. I’m happy to say that it worked just fine. The cookies still had a nice peanut butter flavor and not that we really care when were eating cookies, but the powdered peanut butter does contain less fat than the traditional version.
So if you love ooey, gooey, salty, and sweet then these cookies are right up your alley. Enjoy some Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies with the ones you love today!
xox Roxana
PS If you’re looking for more of a traditional peanut butter cookie then try these Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies. Not a peanut butter fan how about these Browned Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies? 😉
- 1 c (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
- ¾ c sugar
- ¾ c brown sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1½ c flour
- ¾ c powdered peanut butter (I used PB2)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c milk chocolate chips
- 1 c crushed pretzel sticks
- 1 c Kraft caramel bits
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars together.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Sift the flour, powdered peanut butter, baking soda, and salt together. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 additions. Mix until well combined scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Mix the milk chocolate chips, caramel bits, and crushed pretzels by hand using a wooden spoon.
- Using a small cookie scoop, drop rounded balls of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool on the pan for a couple minutes them move them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Store cookies in an air tight container.
