Chocolate Duo and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies

. The title alone should catch peak your interest and that's exactly what happened to me when I came across this recipe on Picky Palate.  I mean really, how enticing!  Picky Palate's actual recipe is called Double White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies, but I had to add in another ingredient.  We'll get to that in a second though.

To be honest, this recipe got some mixed reviews.  Actually, they were pretty one-sided except for my own opinion but I'm guessing that's because my own hard work went into making these cookies.  The majority of people loved the flavors (who wouldn't!?).  But they weren't exactly fans of the actual peanut butter cookie.  Most felt like it overwhelmed the other flavors and they weren't really feeling the texture of the cookie.  I would have to agree slightly with these two opinions but I'm a die-hard peanut butter fan so this is hard for me to admit.  However, I do have to  'fess up to something...I realize this is a complete baking sin, but I opted for reduced-fat peanut butter (don't ask me why, because I'm still pondering this question) and I firmly believe this changed the consistency of the cookie.  So never again will that happen and I'm sorry to my co-workers for dragging you through this experiment ☺  I also got to use for the first time my new Wilton Whoopie Pie Pan [which I was SO incredibly excited about!!] and I think this made the cookies much more dense than the ones over at Picky Palate.  I personally loved this but again, the others weren't so keen.

To switch the recipe up in only an extremely slight way, I did decide to divide the batter, mixing in Guittard's Milk Chocolate Chips to one half and white chocolate chips to the other.  And, of course, I was by my lonesome when it came to this preference as well.  I really loved the original recipe and the white chocolate chips, while EVERYONE [literaly] else preferred the milk chocolate chip cookies.  Who knows, maybe my taste buds were on vacay that week...

So here's my ever-so-slightly altered version of the recipe, but I highly recommend you check out Picky Palate's original recipe [link above ^] as well, she has too much to offer to not at least take a peak! .

Chocolate Duo and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies

from Picky Palate

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed

1 c. white chocolate chips, melted

1-1/4 c. creamy peanut butter (2 tbsp. reserved)

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. broken pretzel pieces

3/4 c. white chocolate chips

3/4 c. milk chocolate chips

Sea salt

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Melt white chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons peanut butter.  Add melted mixture and remaining peanut butter to butter and sugars.  Beat in egg and vanilla extract.

2.  Place flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; mix to combine.  Add to wet ingredients until just combined, then pour in pretzels.  

3.  Divide batter in half in two separate bowls.  Add white chocolate chips to one bowl and milk chocolate chips to the other.  Form balls of 2 heaping tablespoons of batter and gently pat down into each whoopie pie slot.  Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt.

4.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden.  Let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.  

Yield: 24 cookies

*My Notes:

• Not feeling like milk chocolate chips?  Then don't divide the batter and use the 1 cup of white chocolate chips called for in the original recipe.
• If you don't want to use the whoopie pie pan, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and  make slightly smaller balls of dough.  Pat down, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake!
• If you do use the whoopie pie pan, let the cookies cool thoroughly before attempting to remove.  My patience failed me (not shocked by this at all!) and the cookie fell apart.  I had a great pre-treat to eating an entire cookie but I'm guessing most people don't want bits and pieces of goodies.