Cherry Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

These cherry chocolate pretzel cookies are my love language. They’re sweet, a little salty, slightly chaotic (in the best way), and swirled together into one marbled cookie so you don’t have to choose just one flavor. These are “marbled” cookies, meaning there are three types of cookie dough rolled together. Each has it’s own unique flavor, but the cherry + chocolate + salty-sweet combo is in every bite. Plus, the cookies are as soft and chewy as your favorite chocolate chip cookie, just with much more to offer. They’re Valentine’s Day–esque without being aggressively pink and are perfect for sharing… or not.

These cookies are a love letter in their own right, and I hope you love them as much as I do!

What are “marbled” cookies?

Marbled cookies are a fun kind of cookie recipe where three (or more) flavors are rolled into one. It’s kind of my ideal cookie scenario: one base dough, three different flavors, all super simple to make, so I never have to choose between my favorites. These cookies start with the same wet-ingredient base which is then split it into three doughs and flavored differently. From there, you roll them together into one glorious, swirly situation.

You can keep this simple or go a little extra, like we do here. For a more simple version of the same idea, check out Eric’s favorite cookie recipe!

Ingredients you’ll need for these cherry chocolate pretzel cookies

Ingredients for the base dough:

• 1 cup (226g) salted butter
• 2 tablespoons (32g) whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup (230g) packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

Ingredients for the red cherry batch:

• 1 tablespoon (10g) beet powder, see Note for substitutions
• 1 tablespoon (24g) cherry jam
• 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (60g) dried cherries, chopped

Ingredients for the chocolate batch:

• 1/4 cup (24g) 100% cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (50g) chocolate covered pretzels, chopped

Ingredients for the berry batch:

• 1/2 cup (16g) freeze-dried berries
• 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (50g) raspberry covered pretzels, or any kind of chocolate covered pretzels

For topping:

• 1/4 cup (50g) turbinado sugar
• 3 tablespoons cherry jam
• 18 chocolate pretzels

Ingredient substitutions

This recipe is really customizable! Here are some substitution suggestions:

• All-purpose flour: Can be swapped for King Arthur’s 1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour.
• Beet powder: Instead of beet powder, you can blend up freeze-dried berries or cherries until you have a fine powder. Red dye also works 🙂
• Cherry jam: Can be swapped for any flavor of berry jam! To keep the color and the Valentine’s Day theme, I’d suggest either strawberry or raspberry jam.
• Chocolate pretzels: Any kind of pretzel works here – salty, crunchy is the goal. Pocky is also a great add-in!
• Freeze-dried berries: Think of these like add-ins like you would chocolate chips. You can swap them for berry cereal or honestly anything you want to crush up and fold into cookie dough.

How to make the brown butter

When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk solids until they darken and deepen in color, lending rich caramelization flavor in the cookie.

To brown the butter, it’s best to put a saucepan on medium-low heat and melt the butter until it is golden yellow. Stir constantly to prevent the butter from scorching.
Continue to cook down the butter until the mixture starts to fizz slightly. Stir constantly as the butter begins to brown. When it gets to a golden brown color, remove from the heat and keep stirring until you get a rich dark brown color. Pour this into a large bowl.

Then you’re ready to make your dough cookie!

Tips for how to make the best marbled cookies

When it comes to marbling, the more pieces you use, the more intricate the swirl. Here, we use six small dough balls rolled together for really detailed marbling, but you can absolutely get a similar (and still very cute) result using just three.

The real key to the best marbled cookies, though, is the sugar. Rolling the dough in turbinado sugar before baking gives you that crackly, bakery-style top and helps highlight the different flavors in each dough. It’s a small step that makes a big difference!

Why is this recipe in grams?

Grams is always my preference for baking, and I hope it will be yours, too. The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, not volume. One cup of flour can weigh all the way from 120 grams to 160 grams, depending on how it was packed. This ends up causing some volatility and miss-matched results.

I want to ensure you get the best results with this recipe (and I want to keep this recipe fool-proof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this particular recipe.

Watch the recipe here:

The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.

Looking for more Valentine’s Day recipes?

Strawberry Chocolate Truffles

These strawberry chocolate truffles are creamy, decadent and simple to make! The choppable method means no rolling, zero fuss and no mess.

Check out this recipe

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Muffins

While these muffins themselves might not be chocolate covered, they feel exactly like biting into a chocolate covered strawberry – except a little warmer, a little gooier, and definitely more moist. You'll be shocked at how well the strawberry flavor comes through on these, and for that I have a massive amount of freeze-dried strawberries to thank.

Check out this recipe

Strawberry Shortcake

In the summer, I think a classic Strawberry Shortcake is as close as you can get to the perfect dessert. Here, the recipe is as traditional as you can get, with an extra add of citrus sugar that makes it just a little more special. This recipe has it all, subtly sweet strawberries that have been mixed with the citrus sugar, shortcakes that fall apart with just a nudge of your spoon (a very good thing!), and whipped cream to bring it all together. It's an ideal summer dessert, and a classic for a reason.

Check out this recipe

And that’s everything for these Cherry Chocolate Pretzel Cookies!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

You can also shop this video if you’re looking for the exact pieces I use – I’ve linked everything on my ShopMy! *some links may contain affiliate commissions

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3

Cherry Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

5 | 3 reviews

One base dough, three flavors, all rolled together into a marbled cookie that’s sweet, salty, chocolatey, and a little crunchy. Roll in turbinado sugar for a crackly top and maximum flavor, you get Valentine’s vibes with zero decisions required!

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Prep Time 35 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 18 cookies

Cook mode:Prevent your screen from going dark

Equipment

• ▢
  1 small sauté pan
• ▢
  1 stand mixer or hand mixer
• ▢
  3 medium bowls
• ▢
  2 half sheet pans

Ingredients

For the base dough:

• ▢ 1 cup (226g) salted butter
• ▢ 2 tablespoons (32g) whole milk
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 1/4 cup (230g) packed dark brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

For the red cherry batch:

• ▢ 1 tablespoon (10g) beet powder, see Note for substitutions
• ▢ 1 tablespoon (24g) cherry jam
• ▢ 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup (60g) dried cherries, chopped

For the chocolate batch:

• ▢ 1/4 cup (24g) 100% cocoa powder
• ▢ 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup (50g) chocolate covered pretzels, chopped

For the berry batch:

• ▢ 1/2 cup (16g) freeze-dried berries
• ▢ 3/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (110g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup (50g) raspberry covered pretzels, or any kind of chocolate covered pretzels

For topping:

• ▢ 1/4 cup (50g) turbinado sugar
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cherry jam
• ▢ 18 chocolate pretzels

Instructions 

1. First, brown the 226g of butter in a small sauté pan. Do this by melting the butter, then keeping it on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk solids at the bottom of the pan reach a deep golden brown. Transfer this to a medium bowl.
2. Whisk in 32g of whole milk to cool the butter. Whisk for a minute or so, so it’s no longer hot, then crack in 2 eggs and mix. Add 230g of brown sugar, 100g of granulated sugar, and mix with a hand mixer or electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until it’s a shade lighter in brown, glossy and kind of gluey.
3. Divide this base into two other bowls, pour 227g of “batter” into each. You should now have three bowls with a portion of the base dough.
4. To make the red cherry batch: Mix in 10g of beet powder and 24g of cherry jam by hand. Then add 110g of flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix until a dough forms, then mix in 60g of chopped cherries. Set aside.
5. To make the chocolate batch: Mix in 24g of cocoa powder, 110g of flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix by hand to form a dough, then mix in 50g of chopped chocolate pretzels. Set aside.
6. To make the berry batch: Crush up 16g of freeze-dried berries to a rough powder. Add those in along with 110g flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix into a dough, then mix in 50g of chopped raspberry covered pretzels. Set aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 350°F convection, 375°F standard.
8. Now is where the (fun!) work comes in – use a teaspoon to scoop each dough into teaspoon-sized balls. Roll them up and set them to the side. Each dough will give you around 36 balls.
9. Next, form one cookie by taking one ball from each batch and pressing them together in your palm. Layer another trio from each batch on top, making sure the same colors don’t overlap. Roll this into a smooth, marbled ball in your hands. Repeat this until you have 18 cookies.
10. Coat each cooking in turbinado sugar, then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press them down slightly and top each with 1/2 teaspoon of cherry jam and a crushed chocolate pretzel.
11. Bake for 9-10 minutes. When they are out of the oven, give each sheet a smack on the counter to help them flatten. Then, enjoy!

Notes

Note: For the beet powder, you can also sub 1 teaspoon red food dye, or 1 tablespoon blended up freeze-dried berries

Serving: 1 cookieCalories: 245kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 2gFat: 11g