These Sesame Cookies with Pretzels are a unique and tasty dessert that will melt in your mouth! Sweet, salty, and crumbly, you'll want to add these sesame cookies to your holiday rotation and then keep making them for the rest of the year! Perfect to make in large batches and freeze for later.
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👩🏻🍳 Why You'll Love This Recipe
We're coming up on cookie season! Today I have a very simple cookie recipe for you!
I love this recipe because it's so fast and easy to make, yet the result is elegant and unique and tastes amazing. These cookies also freeze well and travel well.
And for more great sweet and salty recipes that features pretzels, check out this Chocolate Pretzel Monkey Bread, or these Cinnamon Pretzels and Peanuts!
Looking for an even EASIER cookie recipe? Try these Easter sugar cookies that can be customized with colors for any occasion and are super simple to make. (They are great for an afternoon kitchen activity with the kids!)
Or, these Matcha Cookies with White Chocolate offer the benefits of green tea along baked right into delicious cookies with white chocolate chips!
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- butter - I use unsalted so the cookies aren't overly salty.
- sesame paste - gives these cookies a distinctive sesame flavor.
- sugar - helps balance out the saltiness from the pretzels.
- flour
- pretzels - add a nice crunch and provide the salt to the sweet and salty!
- sesame seeds - you'll use these in the cookies and also to sprinkle over top if you like!
🔪 Instructions
- Mix together butter, sesame paste, and sugar.
- Add flour.
- Stir until a dough forms.
- Add pretzels and sesame seeds.
- Mix until combined.
- Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls, sprinkle with additional sesame seeds, and bake at 275 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
👪 FAQs
Mini pretzels or pretzel sticks work best, as they're the easiest to crush into pieces small enough to work into the dough.
Absolutely! Place them in an airtight plastic container or bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. These sesame cookies freeze really well so they're great to make in large batches!
When you're storing them, make sure to let them cool all the way before putting them away. A good way to keep cookies from drying out is also to put a small piece of bread in the container with them.
🎁 Kristin’s Handpicked Gift Ideas!
Looking for the perfect gift ideas for family or friends? I've got you covered with carefully curated gift guides! From kitchen essentials to unique picks for kids or grandkids, these will help you find just the thing to make them feel special!
💭 Other Helpful Tips
- To quickly soften butter, fill a microwave-safe glass bowl with water, microwave until hot, then pour out the water and place it upside-down over top of the butter.
- If you don't have a cookie scoop, you can use a tablespoon to portion out the dough.
- These cookies will be delicious even without the sesame seeds!
- To really highlight the sweetness, sprinkle your finished cookies with some confectioner's sugar.
Cookies with pretzels give you the best of both sweet and salty, and the combination of pretzels and sesame in a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth cookie is unique and so tasty! Your family and friends will love these sesame cookies!
📖 Variations
- Chocolate lover? Replace half of the crushed pretzels with mini chocolate chips! Dark chocolate or semi sweet work great.
- Caramel or butterscotch chips would also be a delicious addition to these cookies with pretzels.
🧁 Other Suggested Desserts
While these cookies with pretzels are a fantastic dessert, why stop there?
For Christmas, you could make these easy Christmas Pretzels, which are so cute and festive!
Brownie Cakesicles make the perfect treat for any birthday celebration, and Cookies and Cream No Churn Ice Cream is a creamy and cold dessert perfect for summer or any time of year!
🍪 More Cookie Recipes
- Witch Hat Cookies - These spooky and simple cookies are great for Halloween!
- Easy Peanut Butter S'mores Cookies - Bring the camping trip right into your kitchen with these s'mores cookies.
- 3 Ingredient No Bake Cookies - Great for Valentine's Day but customizable to any season or occasion!
Sesame Cookies Recipe
Love this recipe? Awesome! Please give it a 5 star ⭐ rating below! And if you make this, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram. You can find me at DizzyBusyandHungry or #dizzybusyandhungry!
📋 Recipe Card
Sesame Cookies with Pretzels
Equipment
- Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer
- Cookie scoop
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
- ⅓ cup Simply Sesame Pure Roasted Sesame (or tahini)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup crushed pretzels
- ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
- Additional sesame seeds for sprinkling (if desired)
- Confectioner's sugar for sprinkling (if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
- Combine butter, sesame paste, and sugar until smooth. (This is easier if you use a hand mixer or stand mixer.)½ cup unsalted butter, ⅓ cup Simply Sesame Pure Roasted Sesame, 2 tablespoons sugar
- Add flour and mix into a dough.1 cup flour
- Add pretzels and sesame seeds and mix gently.1 cup crushed pretzels, ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
- Scoop dough with a small cookie scoop, the roll into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet.
- (optional) Sprinkle with sesame seeds and gently press them into each ball.Additional sesame seeds for sprinkling
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until balls are slightly browned on the bottom. Cool completely.
- (optional) Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar just prior to serving.Confectioner's sugar for sprinkling
Notes
- Need a quick way to soften the butter? Cut the stick into several pieces and place on a plate. Find a microwave safe glass bowl that will fit nicely upside down over the plate. Fill it with water and microwave until very hot. Then (carefully!) pour out the water and place the bowl over the butter for 5-10 minutes. If needed, repeat.
- Don't have a cookie scoop? Use about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie.
- No sesame seeds? You can skip them and your cookies will still be delicious.
- If you love chocolate, try adding ½ cup of mini-morsels and reducing the crushed pretzel to ½ cup.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
Update Notes: This post was originally published in December 2016, but was republished with tips, step by step photos, and a recipe change in September 2021.
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Happy cooking!
Alina says
These look so cool, oriental-style cookies. I'm looking forward to making these!
Cate says
Yum! I love sesame cookies and these look so delicious and easy to make, thanks for sharing!
Tania says
Such a great recipe to add to the holiday rotation indeed! Love all the textures there.
Teodora Grujic says
Perfect for upcoming holidays! Kids will enjoy making these! Thank you!
Vicky says
I have been looking for some new cookies to add to my holiday cookie baking list and these are just perfect. They are different from cookies I have baked in the past so I am excited to try them!
Robin says
This recipe was easy and delicious! I added about tablespoon of light brown sugar with the sugar in the recipe.
I will definitely make these again! 😁
Kristin says
Wonderful to hear! We love them too. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Robin!
Sherry says
Yum! Thanks for sharing this at Home Sweet Home and have a Merry Christmas!
Grandma's House DIY says
Delicious! Thanks for sharing with us at the To Grandma's house we go link party, see you next week!