Chocolate Pretzel Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

I love this recipe because it is very straight forward. In a few short steps, you'll have created an incredible treat. They may seem complicated with how over-the-top they are, but they are easier than they seem to make.

Begin by mixing together your butter and sugars in a large bowl using a hand mixer. Blend together until you have a smooth creamy consistency. Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

Continue mixing until all ingredients are well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda and salt.

Now add your flour mixture to your butter mixture and use a whisk or rubber spatula to stir everything together into one cohesive dough. When everything is well blended add in the chopped chocolate covered pretzels. Use a rubber spatula to mix them in so that they are well distributed throughout the dough.

Use an icecream scoop or a large spoon to scoop rounds of dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Keep about two scoops of dough aside so that you can use it to close up your cookies a later step.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

While your oven is heating up, prepare the cream cheese filling.

In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Use your hand mixer to make sure it is all blended together into a smooth creamy texture.

With your index finger, make an indentation in the center of each prepared cookie (this is where the filling will go). You want to make it deep enough to hold some filling, but still leave enough dough at the bottom to keep a stable base.

With the help of a teaspoon or piping bag, fill the center dip with some of the cream cheese filling. Now comes the trickiest part of these cookies. Take each filled cookie in your hands and add a little bit of the dough you kept aside to cover the filling. Without pressing the cookie too hard, roll the cookie in your palms to create a closed ball. You want to keep the filling intact, but just seal it in. Repeat this step with all of the cookies.

Place the prepared cookies into the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes before baking them. When the oven has heated, place your chilled cookies on the center rack and bake for 15-18 minutes (or until cookies are golden brown and cooked through).

When the cookies are freshly out of the oven, use the remaining chocolate pretzels to decorate the tops of each cookie. I broke pretzels in half and stuck one half onto the top of each cookie but you can do as you like.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack until they are cooled completely.

Cookies will stay fresh if stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Enjoy!