Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownies.
Dear Monday.
Why must you ruin lives?
You do things like fling entire pots of coffee on the floor while leaving ugly droplets on that pretty white dress and don’t even apologize. Then you take a certain someone’s keys and lock them inside while that person is outside… and the oven is on with a big fat chicken roasting in pan way too small. Not cool.
I also hear that you silence alarm clocks and blow out flat irons and hide the toothpaste. And this morning you made my bed feel eight million times warmer and more comfortable than it already is and you made me hit snooze and you made me eat that piece of coffee cake while standing over the sink in my workout clothes. Then you made me lay on the couch with a second piece of coffee cake while I searched for Nick and Vanessa’s Dream Wedding and you even threw that cashmere blanket from Restoration Hardware on top of me and made me take a nap… even with my shoes still on.
And really… was it you that made Ari Gold run to Dana Gordon?? Probably. You’re a life ruiner. You and Regina George.
So now here I sit covered in cake crumbs with my eyes half shut and no sweat or remnant of a workout to speak of. Which you know… doesn’t really matter because I ate SO MUCH HEALTHY STUFF WHILE ON VACATION. Lots of salads and grilled chicken and steamed fish and tons of broccoli. That sort of stuff I eat everyday.
Or not.
But seriously Monday… what really ruffles my feathers is that you just couldn’t make that stupid wedding appear on TV one more time for me. Whatever. I even scrolled through the guide until August 12th and that took a whopping 13 minutes and guess what? No sign of it. Not that I want to see that mess but really… I do.
Even with the coffee cake and skipped exercise, this other thing you made me do is far worse. I wanted to talk about a healthy dinner recipe today but you made me post these pretzel brownie thingies that I made last week. Yeah. Those ones. The ones that are the perfect mix of sweet and salty. The ones that are easily reversible. The ones I planned to take on our trip but then… ate. All of them.
You probably made me do that too. You’re such a bad influence.
Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2/3 cups chocolate chips, optional
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 powdered sugar
- 1 3/4 cups crushed pretzel pieces
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8×8 baking dish and set aside.
- Combine melted butter and pretzel crumbs in a bowl until moistened. With the back of a spoon, press pretzels into the 8×8 pan making a crust. If pretzels seem loose, drizzle some additional melted butter over top of hit with a quick shot of non-stick spray.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa, flour and salt, mixing until combined – about 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips. Using a spatula sprayed with non-stick spray, evenly spread brownies on top of pretzel crust. Set pan on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until brownies are baked through.
- When brownies have about 3 minutes left baking, melt peanut butter (I melted mine in the microwave in 30 second increments then stirring) in a bowl. Once melted, stir in 1/3 cup powdered sugar and mix until no lumps remain. Pour over warm brownies and spread evenly. Refrigerate brownies for 1-2 hours, then cut into bars and serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to follow @howsweeteats on instagram and tag #howsweeteats. You can also post a photo of your recipe to our facebook page.
I appreciate you so much!
Bye Monday. Go back from where ever you came from. [/donotprint]
279 Comments on “Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownies.”
Those look like they should be illegal.
The one thing I will miss moving back to Pittsburgh is a carmel salted brownie from Amelies French Bakery, but I think making these ever few months and make up for it. (If you are ever in charlotte you have to go to -you will be blissed-out-different-universe state of happiness: http://www.ameliesfrenchbakery.com/)
Yup, did a double-take; they should be illegal. Glad they aren’t.
Love these delightful fudges..pretzel and a brownie with peanut butter..what a lovely combo!
Socks. Officially. Rocked. You need to wear aluminum foil on your head to protect your thoughts… there is a gold mine in there! :)
(um, this comment is weird. sorry, I think I have had to much coffee already)
Stop it right now! You are ruining my life with these tempting photos!
Love your adventures in cooking and creating but you are wreaking havoc on any attempts I make at eating steamed veggies.
Oh man, these look freaking amazing! I love the sweet/salty combo, and i adore pb/choc. I think this will be next up on my list of desserts to make :)
Your desserts never cease to amaze me. I’m drooling all over my mac right now and my husband is going to kill me. But, as soon as I show him the reason I was drooling, he will forgive me. Off to the kitchen to bake an ‘I’m sorry for drooling on my computer’-Peanut Butter Fudge Pretzel Brownie! ;-D
Dastardly Mondays!!
They look delicious!!!! Love the salty and sweet combo.
These brownies look delish, love the salty sweet combo :)
These look so good I think I might wet my pants. At work. But that’s okay, people think I’m weird anyways.
THIS I have to make!
Funniest post ever. The Regina George comment–hilarious. I dvr’d Nick and Vanessa’s wedding but haven’t watched it yet. I wish I could send it to you. I still watch Nick & Jessica while doing cardio. Don’t tell Vanessa.
I am totally going to make these using Trader Joe’s peanut butter stuffed pretzel bites instead of regular pretzels. Yes. YES.
I just finished off a bag of Snyder’s Pretzel Dips…was wanting more until I saw these–MUST make! (think I’ve died and gone to heaven…:0
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These sound awesome, can’t wait to make and devour them….
These would cheer up my Mondays for sure. :-)
I made these last night – they seemed a little dry at first, but are BOMBTASTIC today! -Direct quote from my husband’s fire department. : )
I recommend letting them have a little time to “meld together” before serving them.
No words. This looks scrumptious! Great shots.
Wow… These look uh-mazing!!!
Wow. These look amazing. I’m definitely going to have to make these for some reason or another. Yum!
I’m still dealing with my Monday and today is Tuesday! Once my Monday is over, I will be making Choc Chip Oreo Brownies!!!!
Amazing!! I will be making these once all my strawberry shortcake is gone! The tomatoes from today though I think I might have to try tonight!
i hate you. how am i supposed to not make this recipe? i literally saw the photo and said the f word, out loud. when i am trying to lose 10 pounds again, i’m blaming you. (all said with love)
Sometimes you can’t fight Mondays….just have a brownie and go back to bed…..I’ll take care of the rest of the brownies for you!
I’ll bookmark this recipe and definitely will make it soon:) Thank you!!! cheers, Dwiana
This dessert combines all my favorites- chocolate, peanut butter, and salty pretzels. Also, so upset by Ari and Dana Gordon. I am worried his wife will come back to him saying she never slept with B-Flay, and he’ll be the jerk again. I want everything to end happily. He loves his wife and they need to be together.
LOL forget steps 2 on, I wanna eat that batter as is. Super yummy Jess as always gal.
BTW I changed my email subscription to my Butter Dish email so I can keep your tummies filed.
This recipe has me dreaming sweet dreams. The only thing I can think to make it better would be to add a ribbon of caramel through the brownies, a la Take 5 candy bar, my personal favorite.
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Oh my god. These look positively sinful. I must make them the next time I’m craving chocolate!
I can’t think of a single ingredient that’s better with chocolate & pb than pretzels. Except maybe marshmallows. But still, these are a must make!
Bahaha… “You and Regina George…” I love it! Too funny! If you love Mean Girls, you should also watch Easy A if you haven’t seen it. Laugh aloud funny.
So I made these last night and failed miserably :-( The pretzel crust and brownies were perfect, but the peanut butter layer is where something went wrong. How do you keep the PB mixture ‘pourable’? Mine turned into a thick dough (almost like peanut butter balls) once I added the powdered sugar. Next time I could just leave out the powdered sugar all together? Needless to say, these were amazing even without the PB!
I encountered the same problem with the peanut butter layer! It was nice and smooth and pourable after I microwaved it, but then after mixing in the sugar it became too thick and unmanageable to pour nicely like yours! Obviously it was still delicious, but if you have any tips to keep it smooth for next time I’d really appreciate it!
But just so you know, I’ve made tons of your amazing recipes before without any problems!! Thanks!
So sorry about that Annie! Not sure if it was a brand of peanut butter or too much sugar in the recipe, but I just decreased it and it should be okay now if you try again. :)
Thank you for the tips… I’m eager to try again, because even though mine looked really bad (i ended up trying to ‘spread’ the dough-y mixture over the hot brownies and butchered it) it still tasted REALLY good. So i’m sure it will taste even better when I make them the right way! :-)
Holy……
I HATE YOU!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!
I want to make those so bad but I know I would eat the whole thing. Mixed emotions.
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Seriously??? Jessica, I have no time this week to bake anything totally awesome, so instead you inspired me to dip my super healthy circle pretzels in Nutella and Jif until half the jar, of both, were gone…pretty sure it wasn’t near as good as these brownies, but you did inspire me…and that’s all that matters, of course…you also inspired me to eat this and lay on the couch. Great combo…
Recipe WILL be tried soon…
I think I may be addicted to these….I made them for a company picnic and they were a HUGE success!! Thanks for Sharing!
These are amazing… with one small BUT… my pretzels keep going a bit soft – any ideas where i’m going wrong?? They stay crunchy for maybe a couple of hours after baking… am I just not eating them quick enough!?
Hey!
So ultimate fail.
I was so so excited to make these. I got all the ingredients. Baked it for 30min. And the dough still seemed uncooked. I wasn’t really sure if I should put them back in the oven with risk of burning the pretzel crust. So I took it out and put the PB mixture on top and it kind of all smooooshed together. After leaving it in the fridge for 3hrs. I cut it into squares. The end/side pieces were in pretty good shape, but the middle pieces completely oozed out into a puddle of gooey-must-eat-it-off-the-counter-goodness! Any suggestions?
Thanks! Love your blog by the way :)
Did you make any changes to the recipe or use a different sized pan?? The only thing I can think of is that maybe your oven isn’t heating as hot as it should (check it with a thermometer) because it definitely shouldn’t be uncooked! I can see it still being a little soft because all oven temps differ and it would be normal to have to throw it back in for 5 minutes, but oozing and gooey – definitely shouldn’t happen!
the same thing happened to mine, and i followed the directions precisely. i ended up leaving them in for around 40-45 minutes and the center is still like custard. i can’t for the life of me figure out what went wrong. i also find them to be way too sweet, and thought maybe i added too much sugar, but it was the same as the recipe. i’m puzzled and bummed, yours look soooo good!
Hello, I read your blog , I liked the way you expressed your feelings and views about the topic. I have read many such blogs but never found such clearity of thoughts. Thanks bro.
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I just threw the whole batch away, ugh. First, I think 8×8 pan is too small since the batter rose to the top without putting on the peanut butter. The tooth pick came out clean but when I went to spread the peanut butter on the whole thing collapsed into a giant mess. What a waste.
These look INSANE!!!! Can’t wait to try them!
Wow! These brownies look amazing! Is the brownie part really as thick & moist as it looks?
The Dinner Belle for Kimberlybelle.com
Thanks for getting back to me Jessica! They ended up still being a HIT. After cooling in the fridge for a few more hours, they were more firm. Delish in any form :)
Keep up the yuummy recipes!
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Hey Jessica,
I tried to make these last night but for one reason or another, the pretzel crust failed and ended up more like pretzels in the brownie, although I never mixed the two…the pretzels just kinda floated into the brownie mix while baking… any ideas on why that is?
I made these this weekend – AH-MAZING!
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The recipe states 1/3 cup powdered sugar, but the instructions say 2/3…..These are in the oven right now! What do I do???? EEk!
I’m in the same boat and wondering what to do!!!
The look amazing! I am allllllllllllllllllllll over that crust