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