Name: Pretzel Chocolate Pecan Cookie Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 1 h 3 min
Yield: 24
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 3/4 + 2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature (1.75 sticks or 14 Tablespoons); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 1/2 cups brown sugar; 1 large egg; 1 cup chocolate chips or disks; 1 cup crispy rice cereal; 1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans; 1/2 cup chopped pretzels

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Pretzel chocolate pecan cookies are loaded with salty pretzels, toasted pecans, bittersweet chocolate and crispy rice cereal for a cookie that’s crispy and chewy. Use my cookie formula to make a sweet and salty version or create your own compost cookie with whatever you have in the pantry.

The fun part of this recipe is that the mix-ins are flexible.

Keep the amounts roughly the same and swap in whatever you have: leftover cereal or granola, pretzels or potato chips, pecans or another nut and whatever chocolate you like or is lingering in the pantry.

This recipe is excellent for using up the odds and ends hanging around your kitchen: the last of a box of cereal, half a bag of pretzels, a handful of nuts or whatever candy hanging around.

stack of cookies on plate with glass of milk — Pretzel chocolate pecan cookies are a bit salty and nutty with a bit of chew thanks to chopped pretzels, salted pecans and bittersweet chocolate as well as brown sugar in the dough. I also added a cup of crispy rice cereal, which keeps these cookies from being too dense.

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Before you start
What Makes These Cookies Different
Cookie Formula
Recipe Notes
Cookie Baking Advice
Recipe
Comments

Before you start

This cookie dough needs to chill for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. You can also chill it overnight.
These cookies will spread even if you’ve chilled the dough. That’s normal because the recipe has a high ratio of butter to flour.
Chop the nuts and be sure to toast them first for the best flavor.
Don’t pulverize the cereal. You want it to add texture to the cookies.
Bake the cookies on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If you add something like toffee bits, which are one of my favorites in these cookies, they can stick to a bare baking sheet.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack.

What Makes These Cookies Different

If you're a salty sweet fan, think chocolate-covered pretzels or potato chips, these compost style cookies are perfection.

They remind me of Famous Amos cookies back when when the cookie company was still baking cookies from scratch in Hawaii.

I was a young teenager on family vacation when I had my first Famous Amos cookie. I still remember sitting on the hot beach devouring a bag full of those still warm miniature chocolate chip cookies.

The beauty of this kitchen sink cookie is the formula.

Once you’ve got the basic cookie dough, you can change the cereal, the salty snack, the nuts, the chocolate to whatever you have in the pantry.

Ingredient	Measurement
Flour	1 ½ cups
Baking Powder	1 tsp
Baking Soda	½ tsp
Salt	1 tsp
Butter	1 ¾ sticks
Vanilla Extract	1 tsp
Brown Sugar	1 ½ cups
Large Egg	1
Chocolate Chips or Discs	1 cup
Cereal or Granola	1 cup
Salty Snack (e.g., pretzels or potato chips)	½ cup
Nuts or Seeds	½ cup

If you love pecans, you must try Pecan Pie Bark, Espresso Pecan Pie with Dates and Miniature Pecan Tarts and of course Sand Tarts.

Recipe Notes

If you don't want to use chocolate, first of all, what's wrong with you? But in all seriousness, swap out whatever you'd like for the chocolate such as dried fruit, say cranberries or blueberries.

You could also toss in some grains or seeds.

A note about oven temperature

I usually bake cookies at 350°F because I find they can overcook it higher temperatures but not these cookies

Bake these at 375°F for 12 to 13 minutes, then check them. If a few cookies still look pale and puffy in their centers give them another minute or two.

The cookies will continue to set up as they cool, so let them sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving to a wire rack.

How to bake cookies if you've run out of eggs

Too much flour or not enough can ruin your batch of cookie dough. Weighing flour is best using a kitchen scale but failing that, use the dip and sweep method to measure your flour. Pour flour into a bowl and fluff it up with a spoon. Now spoon flour into your measuring cup until slightly heaped. Then slide a butter knife or a bench scraper across the top of the measuring cup to remove the excess.

You may find these baking posts helpful: from How to Avoid Flat Cookies, How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Do I need Parchment Paper? might also be helpful. This Cuisinart 5-speed is my favorite hand mixer. Why do my hand mixer beaters fall out? Cookie dough freezes great as do already baked cookies but find out what other desserts you can freeze.

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Recipe

Yield: 24

5.0 Stars (1 Review)

Pretzel chocolate pecan cookies are a bit salty, and nutty with thanks to chopped pretzels, salted pecans and bittersweet chocolate as well as brown sugar in the dough.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes

: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes

Ingredients

1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ + 2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature (1.75 sticks or 14 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup chocolate chips or disks
1 cup crispy rice cereal
½ cup chopped, toasted pecans
½ cup chopped pretzels

Instructions

Measure the dry ingredients flour through salt and place in a small bowl.
In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy and lighter in color--three to four minutes.
Add vanilla, sugar and egg and beat until combined.
Stir in dry ingredients--flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda--into mixing bowl and mix until just combined. Don’t over mix or your cookies will be tough
Fold in the chocolate, cereal, pretzels and pecans with a spatula.
Cover dough and chill dough for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Scoop dough onto parchment lined baking sheet using a cookie scoop or teaspoon.
Bake one tray at a time at 375°F, for 13 to 15 minutes. Because oven temperatures vary, check cookies after 10 minutes. They may need a minute or two more or less.

Notes

For all of you bakers who prefer to bake your cookies at 350°F, this is not the dough for baking low. Stick with baking at 375° F for 13 minutes.

These cookies spread, even if you've chilled the dough so be sure to place dough balls at least two inches apart.

Use a Winco #40 scoop for even portioning of dough. This will ensure your batch bakes consistently and looks more polished.

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Nutrition Information

Yield 24 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 6469Total Fat 189gSaturated Fat 61gUnsaturated Fat 128gCholesterol 208mgSodium 6677mgCarbohydrates 1158gFiber 42gSugar 536gProtein 97g

Nutrition information is approximate because I am not a registered dietician.

This recipe was adapted from a Food52 community recipe by Dr. Babs. I’ve made a few changes over the years, including using all brown sugar instead of a combination of brown and granulated sugars because I like a super chewy cookie.