Rolo Pretzel Cookies

Name: Rolo Pretzel Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 140 min
Ingredients: 3 sticks unsalted butter (softened); 1 cup of granulated sugar; 1 cup packed brown sugar; 2 large eggs (room temperature); 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract; 4 cups of all purpose flour; 2 Tablespoon cornstarch; 2 Teaspoon baking soda; 1 ts salt; 3 cups crushed pretzels; 48 Rolo Chocolates

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These Rolo pretzel cookies are made with both brown and granulated sugars, crushed pretzels, and wrapped around a Rolo. The prep time is under 10 minutes. What else could you want in a cookie? Each ball of dough completely seals a Rolo inside, so the caramel melts into the middle while the crushed pretzels keep the whole thing salty.

Rolo pretzel cookies stacked on a white cake stand with unwrapped Rolo candies alongside.

This weekend, I made these amazing pretzel cookies with Rolos, after I was asked to bake for our new families at my children’s school. We are having back to school night tomorrow, and we welcome all the new families with a basket filled with cookies and treats. I think it is a really nice touch.

Rolos are one of my favorite chocolate candies because you get just a little chocolate, but when you bite into it, you get the creamy caramel drizzling out. Then combine it with the salty flavor of the pretzels, and it is a match made in heaven. Try it, I know you will feel the same way. See all of our delicious cookie recipes for more.

Quick Look

🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus at least 2 hours of chilling
🌡️ Cook Time: 8 to 11 minutes
⏳ Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes, almost all of it hands off
🍽️ Serving: 48 cookies, or halve it for 24
⚡ Calories: 175kcal per cookie
🌶️ Flavor Profile: Salty crushed pretzel in a brown sugar cookie around a molten caramel center
✋ Difficulty: Easy, the only skill is sealing the candy in properly

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Quick Answer

How do you make Rolo pretzel cookies?

Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and add it to the butter mixture. Stir until combined, then stir in the crushed pretzels. Use about a tablespoon of dough and roll each ball around a Rolo, completely sealing the candy inside. Chill for at least 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, bake for 8 to 11 minutes until the edges are lightly brown, cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Jump to:

Quick Look
Quick Answer
Why This Recipe Works
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Key Ingredients
Variations & Substitutions
How to Make Rolo Pretzel Cookies
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Serving Ideas & Suggestions
Rolo Pretzel Cookie FAQs
Other Recommended Cookie Recipes
Rolo Pretzel Cookies

Why This Recipe Works

Click to see the technique science

The chill is not optional. Chilling the dough keeps the shape that covers the Rolo. Warm dough spreads before it sets, the seal opens, and the caramel runs out onto the sheet instead of staying in the middle.
Cornstarch gives the cookie structure and is used to give the flour more strength. It is typically used with heavier cookies to keep the shape, but it also gives a nice texture. Cookies that use cornstarch are generally thicker and chewier.
Two sugars do two jobs. Brown sugar brings moisture and chew, granulated sugar brings spread and crisp edges. Using only one gives you a cookie that is either cakey or flat.
Seal the candy completely. Any gap in the dough becomes an escape route once the caramel liquefies at oven temperature.
Crushed, not whole, pretzels. Small pieces distribute salt through every bite and keep the dough from breaking apart when you wrap it around the candy.
Room temperature butter and eggs cream together and hold air. Cold eggs seize the butter and leave you with a grainy dough.
Pull them at lightly brown edges. The center keeps cooking on a hot sheet for the 5 minutes they rest there, so a fully baked look in the oven means a dry cookie on the rack.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The prep is under 10 minutes. The most time consuming aspect is the chill time, and that is hands off.
You can split the work over days. You form the cookies, place them in the fridge, and a few hours or days later you can bake them in 10 minutes.
It makes four dozen. A generous amount to give away and keep some for yourself.
Salty and sweet together. The creamy caramel drizzling out against the salt of the pretzels is a match made in heaven.
They are a gift. These went into a welcome basket for new families at my children’s school, and they work the same way for neighbors and teachers at the holidays. Put them out with the rest of my cookie recipes.
They belong with tea. These scrumptious cookies will taste great with a cup of Earl Grey tea or serve them at your next tea party.

Key Ingredients

Labeled Rolo pretzel cookie ingredients: egg, pretzels, corn starch, Rolos candy, butter, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, all purpose flour and salt.

Eleven ingredients, and four of them are worth a note. Quantities are in the recipe card below.

Butter. Use unsalted butter and use it at room temperature for easy mixing. This will be chilled before baking.
Cornstarch. This gives the cookie structure and is used to give the flour more strength. It is typically used with heavier cookies to keep the shape, but also gives a nice texture. Cookies that use cornstarch are generally thicker and chewier. Always check the expiration date.
Vanilla Extract. Use a good quality extract and not imitation. Mine is homemade in the instant pot.
All Purpose Flour. For best results, sift your flour before measuring and use a scale to get the most accurate result.
Crushed Pretzels. Three cups. Place them in a large baggie and use a rolling pin to crush until small pieces remain.
Rolo Chocolates. Forty eight of them, one per cookie, unwrapped and ready before you start rolling.
Granulated and Brown Sugar. One cup of each, packed for the brown.
Eggs. Two large, at room temperature.

See the recipe card below for exact quantities and full instructions.

Variations & Substitutions

The dough takes almost any filling, and the batch size is yours to set.

Cut the recipe in half to make 24 cookies. You don’t have to make the full batch of 48.
Skip the cornstarch if you must. If you don’t have cornstarch, you can skip the ingredient, but the texture may change slightly.
Change the candy. A chocolate kiss, a caramel square or a peanut butter cup all wrap the same way, the way they do in my peanut butter kiss cookies and cinnamon pumpkin spice kiss cookies.
Add flaky salt on top before baking if you want the salty side pushed further.
Use gluten free flour and gluten free pretzels to make the whole thing gluten free, the same swap as my gluten free monster cookies.
Freeze the raw balls. They chill anyway, so freeze half the batch shaped and bake them straight from frozen with an extra minute or two.

How to Make Rolo Pretzel Cookies

Butter and sugars creamed together in a glass bowl, with Rolos and pretzel sticks alongside.

Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl until the sugars are dissolved. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.

The dry ingredients whisked in a separate bowl before joining the butter mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Add it to the butter mixture.

Crushed pretzels stirred into the cookie dough.

Stir until combined, then stir in the crushed pretzels.

Dough balls rolled around Rolos, lined up on a parchment lined tray.

Use about 1 tablespoon of dough and roll each ball around a Rolo, completely sealing the candy inside the dough.

Chill for at least 2 hours, or up to a couple of days if you don’t want to eat them right away.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease or use parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown.
Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Rolo pretzel cookies on a white plate, one broken open to show the melted caramel center.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

Crush the pretzels in a baggie. Place 3 cups of pretzels in a large baggie and use a rolling pin to crush until small pieces remain.
Cut the recipe in half to make 24 cookies.
Use room temperature butter and eggs.
Chill for two hours to keep the shape of the cookie. If you don’t chill it will spread too thin.
Always check the expiration dates on the ingredients for freshness.
Unwrap all 48 Rolos first. Stopping to unwrap candy with dough on your hands is how the dough warms up.

Serving Ideas & Suggestions

These scrumptious cookies will taste great with a cup of Earl Grey tea, or serve them at your next tea party alongside my tea party desserts. My tea party checklist and my afternoon tea post cover the rest of the table.

For a holiday cookie tray, put them next to my Christmas snowball cookies, cranberry orange shortbread, Earl Grey shortbread cookies, matcha chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake mix cookies, funfetti cake mix cookies and Valentine’s Day sugar cookies. Everything else is in my cookie recipes collection.

A tall stack of Rolo pretzel cookies on a cake stand with caramels scattered around.

What if I don’t have cornstarch?

If you don’t have cornstarch, you can skip the ingredient, but the texture may change slightly. Cookies made with cornstarch are generally thicker and chewier.

What if I don’t chill the dough?

Chilling the recipe helps give the cookie stability. You are trying to keep the shape to cover the Rolo, so the chilling time, combined with the butter, helps keep it from spreading once it hits the heat of the oven.

Do I have to make 48 cookies?

No, you don’t have to make the full batch of 48 cookies. You can halve this batch nicely for 24 cookies.

What is the best way to store these cookies?

Keep them in a large zip lock baggie or in a plastic container for 1 week. You can also freeze leftovers for up to two months and let them thaw before consuming them.

Why did the caramel leak out of my cookies?

The dough was not sealed all the way around the Rolo, or it was not chilled long enough. Pinch the seams closed completely and give the shaped balls a full two hours in the refrigerator.

Can I freeze the dough before baking?

Yes. Shape the balls around the Rolos, freeze them on a tray until firm, then bag them. Bake straight from frozen and add a minute or two to the time.

I hope you enjoy this Rolo Pretzel Cookies recipe! If you make it, please leave a ⭐ star rating in the recipe card below, and come say hello on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. I love seeing your tea time treats.