Once a month, it's imperative that I go through my pantry. You see, I am an impulsive food shopper. I follow my shopping list to a tee, but when it comes to sale items, especially baking supplies or candy, all bets are off. I will buy them, throw them into the cupboard when I get home and forget all about it until I start the process all over again the following month. Ultimately what happens is the need to become creative and use up the items before they start growing worms or become a science experiment. It's not a sale if it ends up in the trash.

This month, I found a delicious bag of chocolate covered pretzels stashed in the dark corner of the pantry. I was surprised they were up there only because they are usually gone on the ride home from the grocery store. As I was debating whether to toss them or just eat them, I compromised and decided to use make cookies with them.

To make a long story short...putting them into the cookie batter was the best decision I made. From this moment on, these are my new go-to cookie when I'm hankering for something sweet, something salty, something crunchy or just craving a damn good cookie.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cookies.

A damn good cookie.

CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZEL COOKIES

2¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cocoa

1 cup butter

½ cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups coarsely chopped chocolate covered pretzels

1 cup chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in small bowl; set aside.

Beat butter, brown sugar until creamy. Add peanut butter and vanilla extract in until incorporated. Add egg and mix well.

Gradually beat in flour mixture and mix until everything had been well blended. With a spoon, stir in pretzels and chunks/chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets. Using an ice cream scoop is super helpful!

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove and cool completely.

Yield: 3½ dozen cookies.

Happy Baking!