Pretzel chocolate pecan cookies are salty, nutty and buttery with a bit of chew thanks to chopped pretzels, pecans and bittersweet chocolate plus brown sugar in the dough. I also added a cup of crispy rice cereal, which keeps these cookies from being too dense.
Why You'll Love Chocolate Pretzel Pecan Cookies
If you're a salty sweet fan, think chocolate-covered pretzels or potato chips, these cookies are perfection.
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 miniature chocolate chip cookies.
Do you remember the original Famous Amos?
The recipe was actually created by one of their readers, someone named Dr. Babs, who is an optometrist in Austin, Texas.
The magical part of this Food52 recipe is that it's a combination of is a combination of cereal, salty snack, nuts and chocolate.
Cookie Formula
| 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 |
Please note that for the salty snack, you can use either pretzels or potato chips, and for the nuts or seeds, they should be chopped.
- 1 cup cereal or granola (I used crispy rice cereal)
- ½ cup salty snack food like pretzels or chips (I used mini pretzels)
- ½ cup nuts or seeds (optional) (I used pecans)
- 1 cup chocolate chips or disks (I used bittersweet disks but you can use any chocolate you like. Or chop up a chocolate bar if you like your cookies with melty shards of chocolate.
And I had ingredients that needed to be used up: leftover crispy rice cereal, pecans, and a couple cups of miniature salted pretzels that are now several months old. Not stale enough to toss but not fresh enough to eat.
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.
Or swap out the chocolate for another type of bite size candy pieces such as butterscotch chips, heath bits, or peanut butter chips or Reese's Pieces.
If you'd rather not add nuts, you can leave them out.
A note about oven temperature with this recipe. I usually prefer baking cookies at 350F because I find they overcook otherwise. But not so with this cookie.
You want to bake these at 375 for 12 to 13 minutes. Check them. If there are a few cookies that are pale and puffy in the middle, leave the tray in for another minute then remove.
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 a few cups of 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.
Pecan Pretzel Chocolate Cookie Recipe
Pretzel chocolate pecan cookies are a bit salty, nutty and buttery with a bit of chew thanks to chopped pretzels, salted pecans and bittersweet chocolate as well as brown sugar in the dough.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ sticks butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup chocolate chips or disks
- 1 cup cereal or granola
- ½ cup salty snack, pretzels or potato chips , chopped
- ½ cup nuts or seeds, chopped
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 extract and blend with butter.
- Add sugar and cream with butter/vanilla on medium speed for one to two minutes.
- Add egg and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- 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
- Add chocolate (I used bittersweet disks because that’s the mood I was in). Mix until just combined.
- Add the remaining mix-ins including cereal (I used crispy rice cereal), ½ cup salty snack (I used chopped pretzels) and ½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans) into the cookie dough with a spatula.
- Scoop out dough onto plastic wrap and wrap tightly.
- Chill dough for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
- 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°, rotating the cookie pan halfway through baking time, which is from 13 to 15 minutes.
Notes
For all of you bakers who prefer to bake your cookies at 350°, this is not the dough for baking low. Stick with baking at 375° for 13 to 15 minutes.
Remember to pay attention to your nose If the cookies are done or nearly so, you'll smell them.
If you make this recipe please leave a comment and/or give the recipe a rating. Thanks! 🙂
If you make the recipe, tag me @kitchenserf on Instagram or Facebook or TikTok.
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