I realize that today is the official first day of Autumn, and therefore I should be singing the praises of all things apple and pumpkin and harvesty. But I did that last week. Today, I’ll just tell you that we slept with our bedroom window open last night, and it got down to around 45 degrees, which means I am currently wearing fuzzy socks, jammie pants, my flannel reindeer nightgown (it’s as amazing as it sounds), and am burrowed deep beneath our down comforter.
But this is kind of the perfect time for completely un-harvest-related cookies. These are full of chocolate and peanut butter and crunchy things, which makes them some of my favorite cookies of all time, which is saying something, considering how many cookies I have consumed in this blog’s 5 years.
For those of you who don’t love the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter (I know you exist), you can either completely ignore this particular cookie, or take comfort in the fact that it is not actually a chocolate peanut butter cookie. It’s a chocolatey, fudgy cookie with some peanut butter chips. So you’ll take a bite and taste mostly chocolate. But then, what’s that? A delightful peanut butter burst otherwise known as the peanut butter chip. It’s not overpowering. It’s just enough. And for those of you who love the magical chocolate peanut butter combo, you can add as many peanut butter chips as you please. Or just eat the peanut butter chips while the cookies bake. I’m not judging.
The most magical part of this cookie is the pretzel topping. I require something crunchy in almost all of my desserts (making me a very difficult person to please), and these pretzel pieces are perfect. Think of them as chocolate’s crunchy, salty best friend. While I made these, I kept thinking back to these glorious Peanut Butter Buckeye Pretzels, which also top the list of things I could eat every day for the rest of my life. So, think of these cookies as a reverse chocolate covered pretzel (a.k.a. everything you’ve ever wanted).
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1¼ cups packed light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup strong brewed coffee
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups peanut butter chips
- 2-3 cups crushed pretzels (amount will depend on how thoroughly you coat your cookies)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and coffee.
- In another bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until well-combined. Stir in the peanut butter chips.
- Put your crushed pretzels into a small bowl. Use a cookie scoop (or your hands) to form small balls with the cookie dough, then roll the dough into the pretzels until they are thoroughly coated. (I found it was a little easier/less sticky after chilling the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, but it's not necessary.)
- Bake for 12 minutes. Move to a wire rack to cool.
For easy cookie baking, I love my Silpat liner and my cookie dough scoop (<–affiliate links)!
-Ally
Anne says
These cookies are delicious Ally! Thank you for sharing.
Ally says
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them, Anne! I saved a few at home for myself too…