1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. To brown the butter: In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisking as it melts, foams, bubbles, and eventually little brown bits form and it turns amber. Immediately pour into your mixing bowl, be sure to use a spatula to scrape all the little brown bits into the bowl (they are full of wonderful flavor).
3. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together for a couple minutes, then add the vanilla.
4. Next add the eggs and beat until the are well incorporated.
5. Add the baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, and about a third of the flour. Mix slowly, add another third of flour, mix, and add the last of the flour until just combined. Do not overmix the dough.
6. Stir in the pretzels, caramel bits, and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

If you want large cookies like Panera Bread :

1. Scoop out very large balls of dough (at least 1/4 cup, but could be bigger, up to 1/2 cup size) and place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of space in between (plan on doing multiple batches.) Add more broken pretzel pieces, caramel bits, and chocolate chips to the tops of the dough balls to preference. Sprinkle with sea salt.
2. Bake 13-15 minutes (this will vary, according to the size of your cookies), until golden around the edges. Do not over cook! Remove and allow to set up and cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes. Then, transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

For smaller cookies:

1. Use a cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 TB of dough) and space to fit around 10-12 on a baking sheet. Cook for 9-10 minutes or until golden around the edges. Do not overcook!! Remove and allow to set up and cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.