Crisp at the edges and soft in the center, this chocolate cookie is lumpy with hooks of broken pretzels and melty chocolate chips. Built on a foundation of beating an egg with sugar until pale and full of tiny bubbles, it combines all the satisfying richness of a brownie with an almost airy lightness. Baking soda also helps lift the dense, dark dough in the oven. Once out, the craggy rounds deliver the irresistible pair of salty crunch and creamy sweetness in the tender, chocolaty cookie. You can switch-up the mix-ins with whatever you like: chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, nuts or a combination. Just use a cup total for this amount of dough. And do consider keeping the pretzels no matter what else you throw in. Those little hits of salt turn perfectly good cookies into great ones.

Chunky Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup/98 grams all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup/150 grams sugar
• 1/2 cup/114 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup/45 grams natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup/100 grams chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup/24 grams coarsely broken mini pretzels

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

Whisk the egg and sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow and thick, about 1 minute. Add the butter and cocoa, and whisk until smooth.

Switch to a flexible spatula and gently stir in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzels.

Using a dinner spoon, scoop 18 equal mounds of dough onto the pan, using another spoon or your finger to push the dough off the spoon. Space the mounds a few inches apart.

Bake until the tops of the cookies crack and just lose their shine, 8 to 10 minutes. Don’t overbake. Cool on the pan. You can eat them hot, but they’re better if they’ve cooled to at least warm. Once at room temperature, they’ll keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Total time: 25 minutes, plus cooling, makes 18 cookies.

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