Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Shortbread is one of my favorite cookies to eat (and make), as it’s so simple and just melts in your mouth. As a huge fan of chocolate-covered pretzels, I thought: How do we bring these two together? Now I love a thumbprint cookie, filled with all that gooey goodness, so that seemed the perfect vessel for these salted caramel pretzel chocolate shortbread cookies.
I don’t know why, but this cookie gives me road trip vibes. Probably because it combines my previously mentioned love of chocolate and pretzels, but in cookie form. And, as stated many times over, I love a road trip. So it’s a cookie combining the best of both worlds in every delicious bite.
If you love these salted caramel pretzel chocolate thumbprint cookies, please rate and review them below and tag @accentgolden in your posts on social!
SALTED CARAMEL PRETZEL CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINT COOKIES
For this cookie, I’ve adjusted my favorite shortbread recipe to hit those chocolatey notes. We’re taking out a little flour and replacing it with cocoa powder, plus swapping the granulated sugar with brown. Brown sugar adds moisture and a rich depth of flavor, perfect for these thumbprints. Oh, and adding a touch of vanilla for balance, because of course.
In the center, we’re filling each thumbprint with my 10-minute salted caramel and topping with crushed pretzels. Chocolate, caramel, and pretzels? Sweet and salty perfection, I tell ya.
Dutch-processed cocoa powder vs regular: Chocolate is naturally acidic. To try to put it simply, Dutch-processed cocoa powder is made from beans washed in an alkaline solution. This makes it neutral, no longer containing acid. Regular cocoa powder beans have not gone through that wash.
In short, dutch-processed cocoa powder is often paired with baking powder, while regular cocoa is more likely paired with baking soda. For the difference between baking soda and baking powder, check out this video. In this recipe, we don’t use a leavening agent, so you can use either! This article goes into full detail about the two cocoa powders.
INGREDIENTS
- Brown Sugar: For added moisture and rich flavor
- Unsalted Butter: Making for a flavorful, tender cookie, plus a smooth and rich caramel
- Vanilla Extract: For a little flavor to balance the chocolate
- Flour: Provides structure
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Gives a rich chocolaty bite
- Cornstarch: Replaces some of the flour for a tender shortbread
- Salt: Added separately to control the amount of salt in the cookie
- Granulated Sugar: The base for the salted caramel
- Water: Helps to evenly dissolve the sugar to prevent your caramel from burning
- Heavy Cream: Adds a deliciously rich final flavor to the caramel
- Flaky Sea Salt: The “salt” in our salted caramel
- Pretzels: For that crunchy, salty finishing bite (plus a delicious final look)
Brown sugar vs granulated sugar: Brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses mixed in. This gives it a richer flavor, darker color, and added moisture. While you can often substitute one for the other in recipes, the difference in taste and moisture could affect the outcome of your final bake.
HOW TO MAKE SALTED CARAMEL PRETZEL CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINT COOKIES
Start by making your salted caramel. In a large pot, add your sugar and water. Use a spoon to make sure the sugar is completely covered by the water. In a small pot, pour in your heavy cream. Place both pots over burners on the stove, keeping the heavy cream burner off for now.
Under your water/sugar pot, turn the burner to high heat and leave it alone. Do not stir, just watch! After a few minutes, you’ll notice a rim of light brown start to appear along the edge of your pan. At this point, turn the burner under the heavy cream to medium-high heat, to bring to a scald (aka a rim of bubbles but not boiling).
As your sugar/water turns a light brown, keep your pan flat but start to swirl it to gently stir the mixture. Once it’s reached the color of light wood, immediately remove it from the heat and place the pot on your counter. Carefully stream in your scalding heavy cream – it will bubble, just wait for it to go down! Whisk in a piece of your butter at a time until all is incorporated before stirring in your flaky sea salt. Set aside to cool while you make your cookies.
To make your chocolate shortbread cookies, grab a large bowl and cream together your brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. This should take about a minute until it’s light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt to remove any clumps. Add your dry ingredients to the wet, folding some in with a spatula before finishing with a mixer. Folding it in first will help to prevent any dust plumes and ingredients from flying everywhere.
Cover your bowl and pop your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Halfway through, set your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you haven’t already, place your pretzels into a bowl and crush with the bottom of a glass. You want them in bits, not dust.
Once your dough is chilled, roll two tablespoons of dough together and place on a cookie sheet. I bake half my dough balls, remove them from the tray, and then bake the remaining half. It will depend on the size of your baking sheet. Once rolled, use your thumb to press indents almost all the way to the bottom of each ball.
Bake your thumbprint cookies for 15 minutes, rotating at the halfway mark and reforming that indent with a spoon before returning to the oven. The original indent is likely to puff a little as it bakes. Remove from the oven and allow your cookies to cool on the tray for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, spoon in your salted caramel and sprinkle over your crushed pretzels.
3 reasons you’ll love these cookies
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- Compared to my other shortbread thumbprint cookies, this chocolate shortbread dough is less crumbly. You won’t need to press it together, but it is still likely to crack a little as you press your thumb into each cookie. Simply press it back together, no worries.
- You can use dutch-processed or regular cocoa powder for this recipe, or a mix of both.
- Carefully watch your caramel as you cook it. Depending on whether you’re using a gas or electric stove, the liquid may start to color quickly. Remember that it will continue to darken as you remove it from the heat. Don’t wait for the color to deepen too much on the stove. For more caramel tips, check out my tip section here!
- Note that your caramel won’t fully set in the cookies; it’s going to have a little drip to it even once it’s fully cooled. Make sure to store them flat to prevent any leaks. It will firm up (but still be biteable!) once you store the finished cookies in the fridge.
MAKING AHEAD & STORING
You can make your chocolate shortbread dough in advance and store it in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for two months. Make sure to wrap and seal it in an airtight container before storing. If freezing, remove and place in the fridge the day before, to thaw before shaping.
Additionally, you can make your salted caramel ahead of time, too! Salted caramel can last in the fridge for up to a month or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Noting that you should pull it out ahead of those dates, so it’s still good to use for these cookies.
Once baked and filled, these salted caramel pretzel chocolate shortbread cookies should be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 weeks (again, if you prepped your caramel in advance, you need to subtract those days from your cookie expiration date). They can also be frozen for up to 4 months.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES
If you love a thumbprint cookie, you have to try these Easy Lavender Thumbprint Cookies filled with a white chocolate raspberry ganache. For my sprinkle sugar cookie fanatics, these soft Rainbow Sprinkle Cookie Sandwiches are simply perfect. Now, if you’re a fan of cookie dough, you’ve got to try my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake, complete with cookie dough frosting and edible cookie dough bites. You heard that right!
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
- Cookie Scoop
- Mixer
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Large Pot
- Small pot
- Spoons
- Wire Rack
Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter slightly softened
- ¼ tsp flaky sea salt
- 4 mini pretzels slightly crushed
Instructions
- For your caramel, combine your sugar and water in a large pot. Use the back of a spoon or a spatula to gently cover all the sugar with the water. It should look like wet sand. Make sure no sugar is stuck on the sides of the pot (not covered in water), or it will burn
- In another small pot, add your heavy cream
- Place the pot with water and sugar on the stove over high heat. Do not stir!
- When your sugar-water mixture starts to turn lightly brown (straw-colored) around the edge, place your pot with heavy cream on another burner over medium-high heat and bring it to a scald (a rim of bubbles) but not boiling
- Keep a close eye on your sugar/water mixture as it turns light brown. Once you see brown around the edges, keeping your pot flat on the stovetop, lightly swirl it to move the browning around and evenly color your liquid. Once it is the color of light wood, immediately remove it from the heat (it will continue to brown in the pan) and place it on your counter
- Carefully stream your scalding heavy cream into your pot with the browned sugar. It will bubble; don’t be alarmed, this is why we use a large pot, to allow the bubbles to subside before continuing
- Add in one piece of your lightly softened butter at a time, whisk in, and repeat until all is incorporated
- Sprinkle in your sea salt, whisk in, and allow your caramel to cool while you prep your cookies
- For your cookies, cream together your brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat for a minute on a medium speed until light and fluffy
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt
- Pour your dry ingredients into your butter mixture, stir together with a spatula until mostly combined, and then beat with your mixer until fully mixed in. Cover your bowl and pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the flavors meld and allow the flour to absorb into the dough
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Once set, roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into a ball. Place on a cookie sheet about an inch apart. Depending on the size of your cookie sheet, you’ll have to at least do two bakes (half the balls first, bake, and then the next)
- Once your dough is rolled, use your thumb to press an indent into the center of each cookie; be careful not to push all the way through. If needed, use your fingers to press the edges back together if they crack
- Bake for 15 minutes. At the halfway mark, remove your cookies from the oven and use a teaspoon to re-form the indent, as it will have likely puffed up a bit as the cookies baked. Rotate your tray and place the cookies back in the oven for the remainder of their baking time. You want your shortbread to have a lovely chew in the middle, so don’t overbake these!
- Cool on the tray for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
- Spoon your caramel into each of your thumbprints and top with your crushed pretzels
- Allow to set for an hour, to cool your caramel and make sure it doesn’t run right out
- Enjoy!
Wonderful flavor combination!😋
One of the best, thank you!