No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

Can you believe in the two and half years of our blog we have only posted 3 cookie recipes? I was shocked. Admittedly we aren't huge dessert people but I do love cookies. But evidently we haven't been making them much in the past few years. 

The times we most often do bake cookies is when our niece & nephew visit. And these cookies were recently made with my beautiful 14 year old niece that was escaping her brother's paint balling birthday party and 12 boys. It was a cold, rainy, gray day with not much going on so making cookies seemed like the best way to spend part of our afternoon. 

I actually put my niece on Foodgawker and gave her the assignment to find the cookies she most wanted to make. She found this recipe for Ridiculously Easy No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies on Half Baked Harvest. And indeed they were easy.

And they definitely met our craving for chocolate and peanut butter and it was even better that they were so quick and easy to make with some simple clean up. 

Oh yeah, that's why we rarely make cookies I hate the clean up.

RECIPE:

Ridiculously Easy No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies from Half Baked Harvest

1 cup pretzel crumbs (leave a few bigger pieces, but only a few), plus 20 whole tiny twists

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (you can use almond butter or any other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/8 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

melted dark chocolate, for drizzling

1. Combine the pretzel crumbs (for the most part, try and get the pretzels into small crumbs, but it is ok if there are a few bigger pieces, it adds a little crunch), graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, honey, vanilla and cinnamon in a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Mix together until all the ingredients are combined. If you are using a mixer this goes really fast, just beat until a ball forms. If you are using a spatula the dough will be crumbly just keep mixing until it looks wet enough to stick together (you're going to need to put some muscle into it!). Once the dough is combined fold in the chocolate chips - if using. Form the dough into one inch balls and flatten into a cookie. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double broiler.
3. Top each cookie with one pretzel and then drizzle the dark chocolate over the pretzel "glueing" it to the cookie.
4. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.