Salty-Sweet-Crunchy: White Chocolate, Tahini, and Pretzel Cookies

I really like salty-sweet combinations in baked goods, especially anything involving pretzels. Last December I included Christina Tosi's compost cookies as part of my holiday cookie assortment and I used pretzel balls in the batter instead of breaking up mini pretzels. They worked out great -- the pretzel balls are super crunchy, require no prep, and are perfectly sized for baking. I had some pretzel balls left over and decided to use them in a recipe I found in Olive Magazine: White Chocolate, Tahini, and Pretzel Cookies.

 

To make the dough, you melt butter with tahini; transfer the mixture to a bowl and beat with brown sugar and granulated sugar; add in eggs and vanilla; mix in flour, sesame seeds, cinnamon, and baking soda; and incorporate white chocolate and pretzels. For the chocolate, I used Callebaut Gold callets, which are caramelized white chocolate. I didn't have quite enough pretzel balls for the recipe, so I also threw in pieces of variously-shaped Synder's pretzels (I had a variety pack that included snack-sized bags of mini-twists, sticks, and snaps, so I used some of all three shapes). 

You chill the dough briefly before scooping it; I used a #20 scoop and got 23 cookies from a batch. I topped the cookies with more chocolate callets and pretzel pieces before baking, as well as a sprinkling of more sesame seeds. The recipe instructs you to grate more white chocolate on top of the cookies right after taking them out of the oven -- but that just seemed like a gratuitous hassle, so I skipped it.

I thought that the predominant flavor of these cookies would be sesame, but the component that made the biggest impression on me was the pretzels. The salty, crunchy, flavorful pretzels. You could taste the sesame, to be sure, and the chocolate added richness and creaminess, but I think the pretzels were the star of this cookie. The cookie had a nice chewy texture and if I have one complaint it's that the outer crust of the cookie was soft; I would have preferred a crisp exterior. But this cookie was memorable and incredibly good. I would happily make it again any time. It's a salty-sweet-chewy-crunchy delight.

 

Recipe: "White Chocolate, Tahini, and Pretzel Cookies" from Olive Magazine.