Butterscotch Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last month, I was browsing the internet randomly and came across this post by CakeJournal.com on Butterscotch Recipes: Sweet, chewy and delicious desserts. And what caught my attention immediately was the Butterscotch Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies by Sally's Baking Addiction.

I have mentioned before that I love desserts that are both sweet and salty, such as my Chewy Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I decide there and then that I'm going to attempt this recipe! The thing is, where am I going to find butterscotch chips? I couldn't find it at Phoon Huat which is the largest retail supplier of baking ingredients in Singapore. I guess butterscotch chips is not commonly found here. When I did a search on the internet, there was very little info about where to buy it. Then I came across a blog thread where someone from Singapore also asking the same question! And someone replied that she got it from Cold Storage Supermarket at Parco Bugis Junction.

I didn't want to make a special trip to Bugis area, so I searched a few Cold Storage in the West area and even the bigger NTUC Fairprice Supermarkets but to no avail. Then so happened that I had to go Bugis area recently and I reminded myself to pop in Cold Storage at Parco Bugis. Yahoo! I managed to get hold of a pack of butterscotch chips, that was the last pack left on the shelf! Lucky me!

Here are the three key ingredients for the cookies. Nestle Toll House Butterscotch Morsels bought from Cold Storage at Bugis; Salted Mini Pretzels bought from Marks & Spencer and Valrhona Chocolate Solid Baking Perles bought from Shermay's Cooking School.

I converted the original recipe from cups to metric which is what I'm used to. I love to weigh most of my ingredients to be more precise. Yes, I'm anal about the weighing, I have two kitchen digital weighing scales, one of them has precision of 0.1 and the other 0.5 :p:p:p I also reduced the amount of sugars by half as based on past experience, American recipes tend to be too sweet for my liking, moreover the butterscotch chips and chocolate perles are already quite sweet.

I prefer my cookies to be smaller, and to get a uniform shape, I like to use my 3cm-diameter disher.

Butterscotch Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

• 260g Plain Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 170g Salted Butter
• 100g Light Brown Sugar (original 200g)
• 50g Caster Sugar (original 112.5g)
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (original 2 tsp)
• 50g Pretzels, chopped into small pieces (I use Marks & Spencer Salted Mini Pretzels)
• 80g Butterscotch Chips (I use Nestle Butterscotch Morsels)
• 80g Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I use Valrhona Chocolate Solid Baking Perles)

1. Preheat oven (fan-assisted) to 170 degree celsius.
2. Sift plain flour and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and both sugars on medium speed using paddle attachment, till light and fluffy. Scrap sides of mixing bowl as necessary.
4. Add egg gradually, then vanilla extract.
5. Add flour mixture gradually, until just blended.
6. Add pretzels, butterscotch chips and chocolate chips and fold into the dough.
7. Chill the dough for at least 30 mins. (I put the dough in the freezer).
8. Scoop dough using ice-cream scoop (disher) and arrange dough on silpat mat/baking sheet placed in a baking tray. Leave each dough at least 2cm apart from each other.
9. Bake at 170 degree celsius for 13-15 mins.

Surprisingly, the cookies didn't spread much unlike the Chewy Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies. Probably coz I freeze the dough before baking, and reduced the amount of sugar. Anyway, they turned out totally scrumptious! I liked it that it's not too sweet. It's crunchy on the outside and chewy inside, with taste of both chocolate and butterscotch. The chopped bits of pretzel added an extra crunch as well, a nice contrast to the chewy interior of the cookie. Perhaps I could add a little more of the three key ingredients next time, just for additional kick!

Both dear son and hubby liked the cookies, especially dear son who kept asking for more! Anyone wants to give these a try?