Sweet & Salty Cookies

As far back as I can remember I have always liked sweet and salty food combinations.  When I was very little I remember that my favorite thing to order at Wendy's was french fries and their chocolate frosty.  I always dipped my fries in the frosty because, even then, I loved the sweet and salty flavors.  I never would have eaten a frosty without the fries to dip in it (especially because I'm not much of a fan of chocolate), and I never would have ordered fries without the frosty!  Fast forward to now, and that is still my favorite thing to get at Wendy's!  Chocolate covered pretzels....um, let's just say that item would be on the top 10 list of my favorite things to eat.  

Recently we were going to have some family over for a cookout, and so early in the day I prepared a dessert.  It was something I had never made before, and without getting into details, it ended up being a kitchen disaster!  So, I had to come up with something else fast.  I had always wanted to try chocolate chip cookies with pretzels and potato chips in them, and I knew I had all the ingredients on hand so I quickly decided to go with that.   

Personally, I really like these cookies.  Now that I've created this recipe, I am already thinking of other ways to alter it...like maybe using mini Reese's peanut butter cups (those really tiny ones I've seen at the grocery store lately).  I bet those would go well with the potato chips and pretzels.  Mmmm.....

Sweet & Salty Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

¾ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I like to use Hershey chocolate chips)

1 cup crushed potato chips

1 cup pretzels, broken into little bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In separate bowl combine the flour and baking soda and set aside.

In another large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until combined, then stir in the chocolate chips, potato chips and pretzels. I usually measure out about a ¼ cup of dough for each cookie and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.