Cook butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it foams up and then browns. This should take about 6–8 minutes. Don’t take your eyes off it because no one wants burnt butter bits in their cookies. Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer or wooden spoon (yes, you can mix this dough by hand) combine the sugars, salt and cooled brown butter. Mix until smooth.
Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Stir together the flour and baking soda and gradually add it to the butter mixture. Mix until it just comes together, but don’t overmix. Fold in the caramel chips and pretzel pieces. If making the dough by hand, the chips may not seem to mix into batter very well due to the melted butter, so I like to place the dough into a gallon zip-top bag and kind of roll the dough into a log to push the chips into the dough while it chills.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I typically shoot for overnight, but you can go as long as 24 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
Let the dough sit out at room temperature while the oven preheats. It will be quite hard until it sits out for a bit. Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1.5 tablespoons) to portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. If desired, press some additional pretzel pieces or a small pretzel twist into the top of the dough balls.
Bake cookies in preheated oven for 12-13 minutes, or until the edges barely start to brown. The centers will appear undercooked, this is what you’re looking for. At this point, give them each a light sprinkling of flaky sea salt. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Helpful Resources:
If this is your first time browning butter, don’t stress. I have a whole post that walks you through how to brown butter to help you feel confident in this step!
Make sure you know how to measure flour correctly so your cookies turn out perfect every time.
Did your brown sugar harden in the pantry? Check out my tips for how to soften brown sugar and save yourself a trip to the store.
If your cookies don’t come out as perfect circles, it’s ok! I have a trick for making perfectly round cookies that you can use if you want yours to be picture perfect. (But they’ll taste incredible either way!)