This is an old recipe I called Mom and David's Fave's because that was the name given by the person who created the recipe, Carrie Fields. Really, these are Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pretzel Cookies! I have to rename things so people can find them. Anyway, these are big, thick, chocolate chunk cookies with peanut butter and pretzels in the dough. If you want, you can add salted caramel chips.
Old Post: I was right in the middle of making something else when I got an email from Carrie, who’d been promising to send me her latest greatest cookie recipe. Along with the recipe, she included a note saying she and her middle son created it (with a little boost from the King Arthur flour people) as a tribute to Take 5 Bars – her favorite candy bar. Well Take 5 is my favorite candy bar too, so I read the recipe knowing full well that I was about to stop my current project and make these cookies.
Luckily, this is an easy one bowl recipe. You can use an electric mixer if you want, but I just beat everything together with a spoon and the cookies came out excellent. Here’s a picture of a few. Just for fun, I’m chilling the remaining dough to see if the cookies bake up higher with cold dough…..not that it matters. These are so good! My only advice is don’t even think about eating these hot. The cookies need to cool so that the pretzels crisp up.
Mom and David's Faves (from Carrie Fields) aka...
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pretzel Cookies
2 sticks unsalted butter (230 grams)
1 cup dark brown sugar (220 grams)
½ cup sugar (100 grams)
¼ cup dark corn syrup
¾ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour (270 grams)
2 cups chocolate chunks (your choice of intensity, just use good chocolate)
Large double fisted handful of pretzel sticks lightly crushed (good and salty)
Soft caramels to melt and drizzle
Preheat oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment.
In medium bowl, cream together butter, sugars, corn syrup, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the peanut butter, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in the flour. Mix in half of the chocolate and half of the pretzels.
Drop dough by soup spoon full onto cookie sheets. Add 3 or 4 more chunks of chocolate on top and a few nice size pieces of pretzel so that they will show nicely when baked off.
Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, until they are lightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
When cool drizzle with caramel. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Yield: approximately 40 cookies
Melanie says
I made these cookies and they were terrific. I had many,many requests for the recipe so I sent them your direction. These cookies are definitely a remake!
Anna says
Amy, I can't answer your question about the saltiness of the pretzels. That really shouldn't matter in the end. Sounds like something went wrong with your measurements or maybe you just don't like this recipe. Carol's review was similar to yours, but other people (including myself) loved these.....so it's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong.
You might as well just move on to a different recipe or try a different peanut butter base. This is a good one.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/?p=2385
Amy says
I really *wanted* to like these...but I have to confess I found them disappointing. I was definitely sorry I had not halved the recipe. Maybe my pretzels weren't salty enough. But I got the saltiest ones I could find--is there a certain brand that works best? How does the salt not mostly get crushed off anyway when you crush up the pretzels?
lynn says
Would these work if I used caramel bits or chopped-up caramel and mixed it into the dough? These cooies might be "traveling" in the mail.
Carole says
Huge fan of the Take 5 so I had to try these ones out and posted my results on my blog. I think I will add more pretzels next time so the salty crunch stands out a bit more and use my favorite PB cookie recipe instead. Thanks for sharing and keep 'em coming!
Judy says
Finally made a half-batch of these a couple of days ago, and just posted the recipe and photo on my blog. I used KA white whole wheat flour and caramel bits inside the cookie instead of melting them for the top. They are very good.
Beth says
These cookies are awesome! Made them this afternoon and had to keep my husbands fingers out of the dough and my 3 yr olds hands off the cooling cookies! I love the crunch and saltiness from the pretzels. Didn't do the caramel... Liked your suggestion for using chocolate covered caramel. Thanks for the great recipe and your fun blog!
David (Little D) says
The freezer idea is an awesome one!!!! I'm David, Carrie Fields' son. These cookies are AWESOME!!!! I luv em!!!!
Sue says
I haven't gotten around to baking these cookies yet, but it may happen soon. My son LOVES Take 5 Bars and we keep talking about making a knock off, but I think we'll try these first.
I wonder if it would work to use the caramel bits for baking in the dough, or to chill the dough and then wrap some of it around half of a caramel?
Joyce says
I was also looking on the Food Network web-site for the Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie recipe. Mainly as a source to enjoy my passion for eating cookie dough. I'm usually too full of dough to enjoy the finished cookies until later.
So with that said, I am so happy that the quest led me to your web site. I love it. I can't wait to start baking and maybe eating a little cookie dough!!!!
Michelle says
My first ever comment... I love your site and have found so many recipes that I want to try!!
A note to you and Carrie about why hers might have turned out differently, using different peanut butter can really have a different affect too. I have a Monster cookie recipe that I sometimes make with Jif, and sometimes make with organic PB that I buy at Costco. The cookies taste great both ways but definately come out with a different texture and height.
Anna says
Hi Carrie,
Things that may cause flatter cookies include
using butter that's too warm of too soft, using a different type or not quite enough flour, baking on a very slipper surface. I baked mine on an old broken-in Silpat, which is not very slick. If you used a greased pan or even a non-stick pan, that could cause more sliding. I also baked mine on an insulated cookie. Not sure if that contributed to thickness at all, but I do use an insulated cookie sheet.
Carrie says
Hi Anna,
I made these last night and they were excellent. My only question is why mine were much flatter than yours. I followed the recipe exactly. They are still very good, but I was just wondering...
Thanks!
Carrie
Anna says
Hi Steph,
Chilling the dough didn't have any real effect, so chill it only if you need to. As for the caramel, what I did was buy a big bag of Kraft caramels. I unwrapped about 10, put them in a small microwave-safe bowl with a tiny bit (about a teaspoon) of water and microwaved them on high for about 1 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. It was super easy.
The reason I recommend Kraft caramels is because the melted caramels will firm up quickly and the cookies will be sturdy enough to stack and carry. Using a different type of topping might make them gooey.
Another thing you might consider is instead of using melted caramels, use a couple of chocolate covered caramel bars. Ghirardelli squares or caramel kisses.
But really, melting the caramels is no big deal and you don't have to unwrap the whole bag.
steph says
Hi Anna,
I was going to make these today and was wondering if you ever chilled the remaining dough and if you did, did it make a difference?
Also can I use caramel topping or is that a different consistency then caramels? One more thing, can I use the King Arthur white wheat flour or is all purpose better? Sorry for all the questions, but I was so excited when I saw a Take 5 candy bar cookie recipe, a favorite in this house!!!!
Anna says
Stephanie, I hope you've had a chance to make the cookies by now. I baked up the rest of the dough and am kind of sad it's all gone.
Ben, you have a nice looking collection of, uh, "diet" cookies.
NP, I hide all my candy from myself too.
Just kidding. I don't hide candy from myself, but it gets lost anyway and then I find it months later and am like "Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Lost candy!". Then I throw it away because it's not fresh.
Noble Pig says
Wow, Take 5 is my favorite as well. I mean I always have one at home somewhere, sometimes even hidden from myself.
Ben Chhay says
hey Anna! love this recipe aswell. Love reading new recipes.. gives me inspiration to make different things. Ive posted some cool recipes i found. Check out my site click here
Stephanie says
I think these may very well become a famiily favorite! Take 5 is my oldest son's, my daughter's and my husband's favorite candy bar. The only thing I'll need to pick up at the store tomorrow is pretzel sticks. Thanks so much for posting this recipe, Anna! I love your blog. 🙂
P.S. - I made your No-Fail bars again....they are so yummy. 🙂
Anna says
Tram, I think light syrup would be fine. The cookies will be a little bit lighter and lack the dark syrup flavor, but they'll probably still be great. I think golden syrup would work too....or maybe half light syrup half molasses.
Tram says
Do you think it's important to use the dark corn syrup? I already have the light corn syrup.