Chocolate chunk pretzel cookies

Lately I've been craving the sweet and salty combination in desserts and I've been pouring sea salt on everything I make! There's nothing like the crunch of salt to bring out the sweetness of chocolate. It's to DIE FOR. I've been looking for the perfect chocolate/pretzel dessert but every recipe I come across has something I either don't have or don't like. I decided to do my own take on the chocolate chip/pretzel cookie and created my own recipe! This is one of my most successful cookies to date! It's the perfect combination of soft and chewy and salty and crunchy. I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe as a base and then made a few changes as needed. They turned out beyond delicious so I knew I had to share the recipe!

You will need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature 
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk at room temperature 
• 1 cup broken pretzel pieces (I put pretzels in a ziplock bag and just crushed them with my hands until I got the right size pieces)
• 1 cup milk chocolate roughly chopped (I chopped up a giant Hershey kiss that Mando gave me for Valentines Day, but you can use a few Hershey bars instead or any good milk chocolate bar or even milk chocolate chips)

First, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. Then mix the flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk and set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Then beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate and pretzel pieces by hand using a wooden spoon. The dough will be very chunky and delicious!

Scoop out cookie dough and loosely roll into 1 inch balls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Don't worry if the balls of dough are falling apart a little bit, they don't have to be perfect! The cookies will spread a bit while baking so make sure to allow enough room.

Bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. (DO NOT skip this step! It's what keeps them soft and chewy!)

Make sure to try the cookies while they are still warm! The melted chocolate with the crunchy pretzels will send your taste buds over the edge! Delicious! If anyone tries these make sure to let me know how you like them! Enjoy! XOXO