You know the saying “the greatest thing since sliced bread”? I proposed that be changed to “the greatest thing since beer and pretzel cookies.”
Obviously I like everything I blog about. I wouldn’t share a recipe with you if I didn’t think it was awesome – that’s in my Hungry Redhead code of ethics – and believe you me, I’ve made many a cookie and bar since starting this blog that looked oh so wonderful on Pinterest only to become a disaster out of the oven. Even if it looks pretty, but tastes blah, I’m not posting it.
Now that we have that out of the way, I hope you can understand how serious I am when I say these cookies are life changing. These cookies are mind blowing. These cookies are everything that is good about cookies.
Forget for a second that they have beer and pretzels in them, because that is sort of tripping you out right now. Beer and pretzel novelty aside, these are just a wonderful cookie as far as cookies go; soft, chewy, thick, chocolatey. Now add the saltiness and crunch of the pretzel and the faint tang of the beer that makes you go “whaaaat?” and you have yourself one flipping awesome cookie.
These are stellar on their own, but the chocolate frosting and pretzel on top put them over the edge. The first time I made these, I made the big mistake of not reading through the entire recipe to see that a) I needed to chill the dough and b) I needed to chill the frosting. So, I short-cutted and didn’t chill the dough nor did I make the frosting. In that form, the cookies were lovely, but I still had all these extra pretzels hanging around and a little more time on my hands the week after, so I decided to give the full recipe, as written, a go.
Lesson: do not forgo the chill, do not forgo the frosting. Sweet Jesus in heaven help me to not eat all of these before I pack them up and give them to their rightful owner. I kid you not I ate four of these upon completion. Then another four for lunch the next day. The smell of chocolate and beer permeated my apartment and I wanted them all!
And this is after I successfully managed to not eat the entire bowl of dough while making them (this is the dangerous part of letting the dough chill).
The one, minuscule, slightly disappointing thing about these cookies is that the pretzels loose a bit of their crunch the longer the cookies sit, making these the best the day of baking.
Perhaps these would make a perfect Father’s Day present? Dad likes beer and pretzels, right?
Beer and Pretzel Cookies
by Cookies and Cups
Ingredients
1 (12 oz) bottle stout, minus 2 Tablespoons reserved for frosting (I used Guinness)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp espresso powder or 1 tsp ground espresso
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups flour
2 cups quick oats (quick, not old-fashioned rolled, you want the tiny flakes)
1 cup coarsely crushed pretzels*
1 cup chocolate chips
Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons reserved stout
Pretzel twists for garnish*
*Please, please, please in the name of all things Holy use SALTED pretzels. I made with unsalted once and a part of me died inside.
Directions
Reduce beer (minus 2 Tablespoons) in saucepan over medium heat until there is only 1/8 cup left. This will take 25-30 minutes. Watch the beer on the stove, as it will foam up easily at the beginning. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Enjoy your awesome smelling kitchen.
Cream butter, brown sugar and espresso powder together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and reduced stout and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, salt, flour and oats. Add to butter/sugar mixture and mix on low until combined. Finally add in pretzels and chocolate chips, stirring until evenly incorporated.
Let dough chill for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
Frosting
In small saucepan heat butter and heavy cream over medium heat until just boiling.
Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate chips until smooth. Add 2 Tablespoons reserved stout, stir to combine.
Chill frosting for an hour or two, until spreadable consistency.
Cookies
Preheat oven to 350°
Drop by heaping tablespoon size onto a parchment lined baking sheet, pressing dough slightly, so cookies aren’t so rounded.
Bake 9-10 minutes until golden around edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
When cookies are cooled and frosting is ready, spread on a teaspoon sized amount onto each cookie and top with a pretzel twist
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 
Well if there ever was a food that was truly the way to a man’s heart, this is it. Heck, it’s the way to a woman’s heart too. I don’t even like beer, and I’m drooling over these.