This Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter Caramel cookie recipe has everything you need to satisfy your sweet tooth! From soft and chewy peanut butter cookies with the perfect salty crunch from the pretzels and the gooey, chewy caramels in the middle, these cookies have it all!
Why You’ll Love…
You’ll love how easy is it to make this simple cookie dough for chewy cookies with the perfect caramel filling! With just a few ingredients, you can have a delicious peanut buttery cookie with a gooey caramel middle!
Peanut Butter
For this recipe, I like to use smooth peanut butter instead of crunchy peanut butter! I feel like the bits of peanuts can throw off the mixture! If you want to add extra peanut butter flavor, you can add some chopped peanuts with the pretzels later on! Or you could skip the peanut butter completely and add in peanut butter chips for melty little bits of peanut butter flavor!
If you use natural peanut butter, be sure to stir it up really well before measuring it out for this recipe!
Looking for more peanut butter desserts? Be sure to check out my other recipes here!
Substitutions and Additions:
This Peanut Butter Cookie recipe really has it all, but here are a few additions to spice up this recipe!
Chocolate Chips: The only thing that could make this recipe better would be to add a few chocolate chips to the batter! You could do milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips! If you wanted to be really wild, you could add in white chocolate chips, my personal fav!
Cinnamon: I love the combination of caramel with just a pinch of cinnamon, I think it brings out the warmth in the caramel and the peanut butter!
Equipment Needed:
Cookie Scoop – I like to use a 2 ounce cookie scoop to help get large cookies! But you can use whatever size cookie scoop you have, just keep in mind, the smaller the cookies, the shorter the baking time!
Baking Sheet – Cookie sheets are essential for baking cookies! I like to use a large baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the cookies from sticking!
Electric Mixer – I use an electric mixer to make sure everything gets fully combined! If you don’t have a hand mixer, you could add everything to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment as well or use a rubber spatula and mix by hand!
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Ingredient List:
See Recipe Card for Full Details
Step by Step Instructions:
Step 1. In a large bowl, add butter and peanut butter. Mix together with brown sugar and sugar.
Step 2. Then add in egg and vanilla extract.
Step 3: Add in the flour and baking powder, before mixing in the crushed pretzels.
Step 4. Then scoop cookie dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet because adding a caramel candy to the center before baking in a preheated oven.
Storage Instructions:
I like to store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about 4-5 days! I don’t recommend freezing these cookies as the pretzels can get a little soggy during the freezing process!
Helpful Tips and Tricks
If you need an extra little bit of salt, you can add a pinch of sea salt on top of the caramel after the cookies are done baking!
These have to be the best peanut butter cookies I’ve made yet! With the chewy texture of the caramel center with the salty pretzels and creamy peanut butter! Be sure to add these Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies to your summer baking list!
Cheers!
-Holly Michelle
Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie recipe
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop
- Baking Sheet
- Glass Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar packed
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 12 Caramel Candies
- 1/2 cup Pretzels crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream together butter and peanut butter.1 stick Butter, 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
- Then, add in brown sugar and sugar.1/2 cup Brown Sugar packed, 1/2 cup Sugar
- After the sugar has been fully incorporated, add in the egg and vanilla extract.1 Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Then add in flour and baking powder.1 1/2 cups Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- After the dry ingredients have been mixed in, add in crushed pretzels.1/2 cup Pretzels
- Scoop out cookie dough and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Flatten out the cookie dough ball, and add one caramel in the middle of the cookie dough.12 Caramel Candies
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 14 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and enjoy!
