Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease cookie sheets with baking spray or line with baking mats.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and the sugars until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, and then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture into the butter/sugar mixture slowly, stirring well. Then, fold in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces, reserving some of each to place on top of the cookies once they come out of the oven.

Optional but recommended step: place the cookie dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill the dough. This is helpful if your cookies tend to come out flat; they will not spread as much if the dough is chilled.

Scoop dough into rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets for about smaller cookies. I like to make larger cookies by putting about 3-4 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. If you decide to make them large, only put about 6 on each cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes (until the edges look slightly crispy). Top the warm cookies with the extra chocolate chips and additional pretzels, and wait about 10-15 minutes for cookies to cool before eating. Enjoy!