Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Caramel Pretzel Cookie

This cookie was born because although I love a good peanut butter cookie , I find it well… a little boring. What’s better than peanut butter in a cookie? How about chocolate chips, caramel, and some pretzels? That’s. what’s. up!

A few months ago my boyfriend requested some peanut butter cookies. I hadn’t made them in years. In fact, I didn’t even have a recipe for them.  He reminded me that when he bought me my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer last Christmas that he had found a Peanut Butter cookie recipe in the user’s guide and suggested I try it.

So I did. Guess what? It was one of the worst…if not THE worst cookie I had ever baked. It was dry and tasted like a mouthful of sand.  I felt really bad and embarrassed to call myself a baker.

I promised I’d make it up to him and find the most awesome peanut butter cookie recipe there was (and add my own flair to it.) I did a lot of online blog and recipe researching and came across this peanut butter cookie recipe over at smitten kitchen

I could tell from the 300 and some comments that I  had read, that it was a winner.  So I set my sights on that recipe and set out to make it my own by using the base ingredients.

I adjusted the recipe to my liking by using Peter Pan Honey Roasted peanut butter, added about 1/4 to 1/3 more cup flour for a soft and chewy cookie, and cut out the sugar coating. I also substituted dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar. Makes recipes richer and more flavorful. Then I added some chocolate chips. Cut up some Kraft caramels, and broke some thin pretzel sticks in the dough.

Can you say peanut butter cookie AWESOMENESS?  Check out the insides…

Soft and chewy. Salty, sweet, and gooey!  Just the way I like it.