Double Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

As my first step away from the computer into the blogger community, I'd say my first year as a cookie swapper was a success.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 2012 was the brainchild of Julie and Lindsay, which must have been a huge undertaking. Each food blogger is matched with 3 other bloggers, each of whom receives one dozen cookies from 3 other bloggers. This year, there was a charity contribution and a match from OXO to Cookies for Children's Cancer. Cookies for a great cause near the holidays - who could resist?

Not wanting to get too crazy or inventive with my cookie ingredients, I stuck with a pretty classic play on salty and sweet. Next time I'll use a darker cocoa powder and a bit more salt in the cookie as it didn't quite turn out as rich as I'd envisioned. I also may have overbaked a couple of the cookies which were sent to my matches (sorry ladies!), Kim, Rebecca and Kelly. You really do want to make sure they're taken from the oven when they look a little underdone. Lesson learned - this was also one of the first several cookie recipes I developed on my own, without a recipe.

In return, I received the following delicious cookies in the mail:

Cherry-almond/chocolate-walnut cookies from Nora
Saffron-vanilla snickerdoodles from Kathleen
Salted oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Morgan

I can't wait for next year and I really hope my matches enjoyed their cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup crushed pretzels (I used waffle pretzels)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until fluffy.  Blend in the eggs one at a time. Add the cocoa powder and mix until well blended.  Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon, then add the crushed pretzel pieces and mix.

Drop onto a baking sheet and bake for approximately 11 minutes. The cookies should appear slightly underdone; do not overbake!