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

My Favorite Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

If there's one thing I love to bake around Christmas time, it's gingerbread. For the past few years now I've been making this recipe from Food.com and it has become an absolute favorite. If you like traditional, classic gingerbread cookies then this is the recipe for you. This year, I made cookies and a gingerbread house and they were both incredibly delicious. This isn't my recipe, but I wanted to share it with you guys so you can use it, too!

You will need:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbl ground ginger
• 1 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 6 tbl unsalted butter at room temp
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. In a separate large bowl beat the butter, brown sugar, and egg until well blended. Add molasses and vanilla and continue to mix until blended. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375°. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place half of the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough 1/4-inch thick. Use more flour to avoid sticking if needed. Cut out cookies with whatever cookie cutter you prefer. Bake for about 7-8 minutes and then allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Once completely cool, it's time to decorate! I just used store bought vanilla frosting but homemade buttercream or royal icing would be great too!

I hope you all give this recipe a try this year! They would make great cookies to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve night. Just sayin!

Quick note: As you can tell, my blog posts have been fewer lately. I'm not posting as much due to the holidays and spending time with family, but I will be back to my regular posting schedule after the New Year. I have a ton of fun giveaways planned for you in January so stay tuned! XOXO

The BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I'm going to tell you a secret, something I don't normally tell people: I used to be cursed when it came to chocolate chip cookies. No, seriously... I would try twenty different recipes of the basic chocolate chip cookie and they would NEVER turn out right. Sometimes they would melt into a gooey puddle and sometimes they would harden into a rock. I could never understand why and it eventually became a running joke in the family. I had no problems baking any other type of cookie, but the chocolate chip cookie hated me. It got to the point where I just stopped trying to make them altogether. Then one day, I decided to blog 3 fun Valentines Day treats and this was the first one. The first step was to bake chocolate chip cookies so I decided to give it a try and OH MY GOD. They were a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Soft, chewy, melt in your mouth, fluffy deliciousness (and no I'm not exaggerating)! Ever since that fateful day, I've made these cookies a dozen times and they've always turned out perfectly. I decided to share the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe with you guys, in hopes that someone who has also been cursed can break through and enjoy the warm chocolate-y gooeyness that are these cookies. So without further ado...

The BEST chocolate chip cookie 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), melted
• 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 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

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

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted 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 chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Scoop out cookie dough and roll into small 1-inch balls (a little smaller than the size of a walnut) onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8-10 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!)

Now run, don't walk, to your kitchen and whip some of these babies up! You can thank me later! XOXO

Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

 We are currently on our Oregon road trip, but I've scheduled some posts for you throughout the week. Enjoy!

It's late at night... the baby is asleep. Dinner was hours ago, and Mando and I have the munchies! 90% of the time I'm making these peanut butter cookies... Super easy to make and super delicious to eat, these cookies are the perfect late night snack! Try them tonight and you won't be disappointed!

Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

First, preheat oven to 375°. Set out your egg and butter until they feel room temperature.

Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy.

In a separate mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, soda and salt and whisk together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients mixing well after each addition.

Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Dip a fork into flour and gently press into the cookies making a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 10-12 until golden brown. Cool for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack (this step is very important; it's what makes your cookies soft and chewy!)

So yummy! If you want to mix it up a bit, try adding 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips as your last step (you can skip the criss-cross step, too) for warm peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They are to die for when you have a chocolate craving! Enjoy! XOXO