MDBD - Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies

Last Sunday's MDBD was another recipe I found on Pinterest and it came from Chocolate, Chocolate and More. It was a twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie by adding something salty in the form of pretzels. Once I told Scott what type of cookie Zoey and were planning on making, after I had already gone to the store to buy all the ingredients, we both decided that the thing that would make these cookies better was caramel. So I decided to make some of the caramel I use when I make caramel corn and drizzle it on top.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies (with Caramel)

Our ingredients (including for caramel sauce)

Cookie Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup broken pretzels (I used the food processor)

Carmel Sauce Ingredients

1/4 Corn Syrup

1 C Brown Sugar

1/2 C Butter

1/2 tsp Baking Soda
(This made way more caramel then I needed, so you may want to adjust the amounts to make less)

Instructions

Break up pretzels (I used a food processor)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt, just stir with a fork to blend. Set aside
Cream butter and sugars. Add in eggs and vanilla, mix well.

Add in flour mixture, I add 1/2 at a time, mix well.
Stir in pretzels and chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie tray (We used our cookie scoop)

 Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
 Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

Caramel Sauce  
Melt butter with corn syrup
Add sugar
Stir constantly until it balls in water (Approx 5 mins)
Remove from heat and add soda

Use spoon to drizzle over cookies

(Picture from original source)

Final Ranking (1-10)
     1= Throw Directly in the Trash
     5= Not Bad, but Not Great
     10= Best Thing I've Ever Eaten

Scott: 
Without caramel - 6 (Pretzel consistency did not hold up)
With caramel -  7 (If the cookies are stuck together it counts as one cookie)

Kristin: 

Without caramel - 5 (The pretzel didn't really carry well. You either couldn't taste them or would get a chunk and those would taste kind of stale) 

With caramel - 5 1/2 (The caramel diffidently helped the taste profile, but didn't do enough to boost it to a great cookie. Plus they stuck together in the bowl, so the next day you basically just had to break off a chunk rather than eat a whole cookie)