NO HOLDS BARRED SALTED CARAMEL COOKIES!

There’s all sorts of good going on in these cookies. Sugar-galore on the inside, rolled in vanilla sugar on the outside. Crunch from the pretzels with their kick of salt. Nutty browned butter and liquid smoke. Chewy caramel. I honestly can’t recommend these cookies highly enough. If you love that salty/sweet combination as much as I do, these will be a hit!

RECIPE: SALTED PRETZEL COOKIES

MAKES: 12 COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

• 115g BUTTER, cold
• 75g BROWN SUGAR
• 30g DARK MUSCOVADO SUGAR
• 50g WHITE SUGAR
• 1 EGG
• 165g FLOUR
• 1 tsp. VANILLA PASTE
• 1 tsp. LIQUID SMOKE
• ¾ tsp. BAKING POWDER
• ½ tsp. SEA SALT, plus extra for sprinkling on top if desired.
• 30g SOFT CARAMELS, chopped into chunks
• 12 PRETZEL CRISPS
• 2 sachets (16g) VANILLA SUGAR

METHOD:

1. Put the BUTTER into a small frying pan and cook over a medium heat. You want the butter to get brown and nutty. Swirl the pan a few times as it starts to foam. 5 minutes.
2. Put the BROWN SUGAR, DARK MUSCOVADO SUGAR, WHITE SUGAR and EGG into a mixing bowl and whisk until light and creamy.
3. Add the BROWNED BUTTER, VANILLA PASTE, and LIQUID SMOKE to the EGG-SUGAR-MIX.
4. With the whisk running on a low setting, add the FLOUR, BAKING POWDER, and SEA SALT, until just combined.
5. Fold in the SOFT CARAMEL chunks. Chill the mixture for half an hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 180c.
7. Scoop the dough into balls. This mixture will make 12 balls weighing 40g each. Roll each ball into the VANILLA SUGAR and arrange on a lined baking sheet, allowing some space in between for them to spread as they bake. Press a PRETZEL CRISP into the top of each cookie.
8. Bake for 11 minutes. After taking out of the oven, leave the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes to firm up, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.