Chocolate Pretzels
How cute are these? They’re little chocolate cookies shaped like pretzels. And don’t worry, that’s coarse sugar on top, not salt! Mike bit into his first one a little skeptically, thinking it was salt, and was happy to discover sugar instead. These were so fun to make and not as difficult as I expected. The dough is very easy to work with and it’s actually pretty easy to form a pretzel shape. I imagine you could form any shape you wanted, but I think the pretzels are pretty cute.
The cookies themselves are not very sweet. They’re more of a chocolate biscuit than a cookie and would be perfect to serve with tea or coffee. They remind me a little of chocolate biscotti, but more fun. The coarse sugar on top is the perfect compliment and adds a nice sweet crunch. I’m very happy with how these turned out. Mike’s not a huge fan, but he also doesn’t like biscotti, so I’m discounting his opinion. I’ll definitely be making these again.
Chocolate Pretzels
Ingredients:
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten
pinch of salt
coarse sugar
Directions:
Melt chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring each time. Set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, cream butter and shortening with brown sugar. Mix in cinnamon, eggs, and melted chocolate. Sift together the flour and salt and stir into the batter to make a smooth dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using walnut sized balls of dough, roll each ball into a thin strand, about 10 inches long. Form into a pretzel shape, pressing together to seal. Place on prepared cookie sheet, brush with egg white and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
from The Ultimate Cookie Book
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
These look awesome! And I have to say I'd like to try it WITH salt (maybe half salt half sugar) because I've been on a salty-chocolate bender recently.
These are cute~ love the idea of some different shapes of cookies for a change.
oh these are ADORABLE!
These are so cute! I've been wanting to make some soft pretzels but I think pretzel cookies might be even better!
Ok, that's a great idea… chocolate pretzels! I love it! and they are so cute!!!
Such cute cookies! I could actually go with a mix of rock salt on these too – but just a little.
Yum! I've never heard of chocolate pretzels before but what doesn't chocolate make better?
Yummy…this is so cool! You made them Chocolate..great idea!!Nice photos
These are soo cute! What a great recipe!
What fun and delicious cookies!~
Those are darling!
These cookies are so cute!
Since I love biscotti I'm pretty sure I would love these too. I think they very high on the CUTE factor meter also 😉
These are so cute – love them! I do have a dark chocolate recipe with sea salt on the top…. that would be a good variety too!
Susan http://www.ugogrrl.com
I like pretzels dipped in chocolate but these already have chocolate and are just perfect the way they are. I can't wait to try them!
They are super super super cute. My chocoholic hubby would love them!
You could shape then into a heart too. Kinda sounds like a biscotti! Yum yum!
Such a great idea! I love the shape. I wonder how they'd be dipped in chocolate…
Super cute. I have tried to make pretzels and I think I lack the coordination!
Adorable! And so fun for the Superbowl 🙂
Pam – Great idea shaping them into a heart! I totally should do that for Valentine's Day! 🙂
CrystalsCozyKitchen – I like the way you think!
My daughter loves chocolate anything and she just saw these and was so excited. I would love to make these!
Hahaha I always discount my boyfriend's opinion since he's not a huge fan of sweets to begin with! These look cute and delicious! Great job!
This is absolutely awesome!!:)) ~
These look so delicious and of course, super cute!
Oooh! Like these a bunch! Can I place an order?
What a cute idea! And I love the salt with the chocolate.
These are very cute! I love that it uses coarse sugar. A chocolate biscuit cookie shaped like a pretzel sounds delicious.
these are adorable, megan!
I made something similar to these a few years back. Funny story–it took me forever to figure out how to twist a pretzel the correct way LOL. I can make my way through college, but I have a hard time twisting pretzels.hahaha
Those are cute! I would like one dunked in a steaming cup of coffee please!
these are adorable! I have some raw sugar and I was looking for a way to use it…perfect!
These are adorable.
Perfection! My friend and I are going to make these on Friday. I will post pictures if they turn out.
I got a little discouraged about rolling so many pretzles, so I turned them into Reindeer Noses. Great cookie!
http://whatthedogate.blogspot.com/2012/12/reindeer-nose-cookies.html