These Toffee Pretzel Cookies get an overnight chill that builds toffee flavor right into the dough, so you end up with a rich, buttery cookie that's a little bit sweet and a little bit salty, with crunchy pretzel pieces on top.

Chocolate chip and pretzel cookies with sea salt on a wire cooling rack, next to a bowl of chopped toppings.

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Note from Erin

This cookie recipe was inspired by the toffee pretzel bark I make for Christmas. I wanted something with similar flavors that would be impressive at a cookie exchange.

The first batch I made was way too sweet and tasted like a candy bar, so I dialed back some of the mix-ins and shifted my focus to building flavor in the dough.

I'd started with a chocolate chip cookie dough, but I ended up tossing that idea and building this off my snickerdoodle cookie dough instead, because I love the flavor and texture.

There's no cinnamon in this one, of course, but that dough turned out to be a really good foundation for toffee.

Helpful Ingredient Tips

The recipe card at the bottom of this post includes the complete list of ingredients, measurements, and instructions.

Top-down view of baking ingredients labeled: flour, butter, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, chocolate, and other staples.

Dark brown sugar: My first batch used light brown sugar, which was pretty good, but I ended up going with dark brown sugar because it has more molasses which enhances the toffee flavor.
Toffee bits: I tested these with Heath Bits 'O Brickle (just toffee) and Heath English Toffee Bits (toffee coated in chocolate), and they came out almost the same, so use whichever one you can find. Heath bars broken into small pieces work too.
Pretzels: I like mini pretzel twists because they break into random shapes and spread the pretzel through the whole cookie. Stick pretzels work fine too. Either way, break them into about 1-inch pieces.
Chocolate chunks: You can buy a bag of chocolate chunks or chop a bar, just make sure it's good-quality chocolate (not a Hershey's milk chocolate bar). I loved the results I got from chopping Ghirardelli semi-sweet bars, but honestly, a bag of chunks is easier and it's probably what I'll use most of the time.

Do the Pretzels Get Soggy in Cookies?

I was worried the pretzels would get soggy in the dough, and turns out they just softened a little, and I actually liked the texture contrast with the crunchy pretzels pressed into the top of the cookie.

They do continue softening as the cookies sit, so these are at their best in the first 2 to 3 days.

Tips for Making Toffee Pretzel Cookies

A clear glass bowl filled with white flour and other dry baking ingredients.

Mix Dry Ingredients

Whisk it well so that the baking soda gets mixed evenly throughout the flour.

Four panels showing the steps to mix cookie dough in a metal bowl, from adding ingredients to incorporating flour.

Prepare the Dough

Beat the butter and sugars until the mixture is noticeably lighter in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. This helps make a thicker cookie.
Stop mixing in the flour while you can still see a few dry streaks. The mix-ins will finish the job, and overmixing makes the cookies tough.

Two side-by-side bowls showing cookie dough before and after mixing in pretzels, chocolate chunks, and toffee bits.

Add Mix-Ins and Chill

Lots of cookie recipes say to stir these in by hand, but I think it's just fine to use your mixer as long as its on low speed.
The chilled dough gets pretty firm, so if you're refrigerating it overnight, scoop it into balls before refrigerating.

Side-by-side comparison of cookie dough balls and baked chocolate chip pretzel cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Add Toppings and Bake

Pressing a few pieces of chocolate, toffee, and pretzels into the dough balls gives you more of a bakery look and also adds nice texture.
Let them sit on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving them, so they don't fall apart.

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Top Tip!

Chill the dough overnight if you can. One hour is enough to firm the butter back up so the cookies hold their shape in the oven, but the toffee flavor deepens with a longer chill.

A stack of chocolate chunk and pretzel cookies on a plate.

Make Ahead⏳

I love to prepare the dough for my Christmas cookie boxes a month or two early, so when we're in the chaos of the holiday season, all I have to do is bake and package them.

Scoop the dough, press the toppings into each ball, and freeze them on a baking sheet until they're firm. Then move them to a freezer bag. You can bake them straight from the freezer, just add 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time and sprinkle on the sea salt as soon as they come out of the oven.

A chocolate chip and pretzel cookie broken in half, surrounded by chocolate chunks and pretzels.

Recipe

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Note from Erin