A delicious pretzel crust is topped with a thick and chewy brownie recipe filled with peanut butter cups. These sweet & salty brownies will be your new favorite treat.
These brownies. Let me tell you.
Pretzel crust.
Thick, chewy, crinkly brownies.
Peanut butter cups.
If that doesn’t sell you, then get off of my site now! LOL Just kidding there are plenty of non-chocolatey treats like this French Lemon Tart.
But for me these brownies are everything. I even froze a few, I’ve enjoyed numerous bites, they are delicious ice cold too!!
Let’s get to the recipe.
How to make pretzel brownies?
You’ll start with making a pretzel crust, then a thick and chewy brownie recipe, then if you wish you can fill it with lots of peanut butter cups!
How do you make a pretzel crust?
We are going to start with the pretzel crust. First things first preheat your oven to 350F/180C. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, I use two pieces so that the foil hangs over each side. The foil helps make it easier to lift the brownies out of the pan.
You could just use crushed up pretzels as the crust but I find adding flour helps bind it together a bit better and you get less fallout.
To crush the pretzels I pulse them in my food processor or get out some anger by banging a rolling pin against a plastic bag full of pretzels. Then in a bowl combine the crushed pretzels, brown sugar, baking soda, and all-purpose flour.
Mix in the melted butter, mix evenly so everything is evenly moistened. Pour the pretzel mixture into the prepared pan and use the palm of your hand to pack tightly.
Bake for 5-8 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Prepare the brownie batter while the crust is baking.
How do you make thick and chewy brownies?
For this recipe, I used my tried and true recipe for brownies. If you want to see step-by-step photos of how to make these brownies check out this post here.
One the brownie batter is made pour it on top of the par-baked crust, then place the chunks of peanut butter cups on top and gently press them down a little.
Just be careful to not overbake the brownies. To test if they are done poke a toothpick in the center to come out with moist crumbs, not completely dry.
Once the brownies are made let them cool completely before cutting them. You want everything to be set.
Do expect for some fall out of the pretzel crust, just scoop it up as an extra treat! 🙂
Can you make pretzel brownies ahead of time?
Sure!
Making them the night before serving is actually a great idea since you want the brownies and crust to completely set before cutting.
Can you freeze pretzel brownies?
Like I mentioned earlier I have frozen these brownies with great success. Brownies and cookies are usually great things to freeze. To freeze them I place them in a freezer safe bag on a flat surface in a single layer. After a few hours feel free to shift the brownies so that they are not in a single layer.
Please let me know if you make this Pretzel Brownies recipe by leaving a rating and review below!
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PinIngredients
Pretzel Crust
- 80 Grams (Roughly 1/2 Cup)Pretzels, finely crushed
- 50 Grams (1/4 Cup) BrownSugar
- 1/3 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 31 Grams (1/4 Cup) All-Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour
- 4oz (1/2 Stick) Butter, melted
Brownies
- 2oz (1/4 Cup) Water
- 1oz (2 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter
- 250 Grams(1 1/4 cups) Granulated Sugar/ Caster Sugar
- 90 Grams (3/4 cups) Bensdorp Dutch Cocoa Powder (affiliate link)
- 3oz (scant 1/3 cup) Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg Yolk and 1 Large Egg, at room temp.
- 1/8 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch/ Cornflour
- 60 Grams (scant 1/2 cup) All-Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour
- 2oz (1/4 Cup) Chocolate (chips, chunks, or bars chopped)
- 4–6 Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
Instructions
Pretzel Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C and line an 8-inch square pan with foil so that it hangs over each side.
- In a small bowl combine the crushed pretzels, brown sugar, baking soda, and flour. Mix in melted butter so everything is evenly moistened. Place into prepared pan and use the palm of your hand to pack tightly. Bake for 5-8 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Prepare brownie batter while the crust is baking.
Brownies
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a 9X9 or 8X8 square pan with foil and grease heavily.
- In a large pot add the water, butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes until it is all combined together, the mixture will look weird and not liquidy enough, that is fine. Then add the oil and vanilla extract. Cook on low an additional minute and mix to combine everything.
- Take off of heat, let sit for 5 minutes then add the egg and egg yolk. Whisk to combine.
- Add the baking soda, salt, cornstarch and mix to combine. Gently add the flour by using a spatula to fold in until just combined, just before there are no flour streaks add your chocolate chunks/ chips. Do not over mix, this will affect the end product. Gently press in the chopped piece of peanut butter cups.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-35 minutes. Everyone’s oven is different, for me, the brownies always bake within 29-31 minutes, but I would start checking at 25 minutes for your oven. Don’t overbake the brownies. You want a toothpick in the center to come out with moist crumbs, not completely dry. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely before cutting. Cutting the crust will be messy. Store in an air-tight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
Keywords: sweet and salty, pretzel crust, pretzel brownies
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