Over a month ago, I shared a photo of these brownies on Instagram, but I never shared the recipe with you. I know you probably think I was trying to me mean by teasing you with a recipe I would never share. That is not what happenned, I promise!! I was planning on sharing the brownies the very next week...... but the photos got corrupted when I tried to upload them to lightroom. I was only able to get these two pictures from the card.
I. Was. Devastated.
I wanted to just start all over again because these photos are nearly identical as it were and with this shoot, I was practicing with dark and moody and was really happy with what I did. Things happened and I never got around to remaking the brownies. Instead of holding it off for forever since a few people have reached out and asked when I would post the recipe, I am sharing it with you now. Identical photos and all.
These brownies are EPIC. They have a salty pretzel crust and are studded with mini peanut butter cups. They are then topped with a lusciously creamy peanut butter frosting which is coated in crushed pretzels and salted caramel drizzles. Oh and the brownie itself? Rich, fudgy, but not overly dense. It's basically all our favorite things in one.
My recipe is intended to make a very large batch in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, but this recipe works well when halved or doubled, so you can make as many as you need. These brownies are rich, so you will want to cut them up small. Oh and eat them warm with a side of ice cream. Trust me on this one!
Fudgy Peanut Butter Cup Brownies with Caramel and Pretzel Crust
Ingredients
Pretzel Crust
- ½ cup pretzel flour*
- 1 cup finely crushed pretzels
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Brownies
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 10 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate I prefer dark chocolate here to keep things from being too sweet
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract optional, but recommended
- 24 mini peanut butter cups
- crushed pretzels
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Salted Caramel Drizzle
- 13 soft caramel candies
- ½ teaspoon fleur de sel plus extra for sprinkling
Instructions
Pretzel Crust
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until the mixture is completely coated in the butter. Pour into a parchment lined 9 x 13 inch baking pan and press down firmly.
For the Brownies
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a double boiler, melt together the butter and chocolate and mix until well blended. Add in the sugar and mix well. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 - 10 minutes before adding in the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating the egg before adding another. Mix in the extracts.
- Slowly mix in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Lined the pretzel base of the brownies with the mini peanut butter cups. Pour the batter over the peanut butter cups and smooth over the top. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it.
For the Frosting
- Beat the butter until is is soft and creamy. Add in the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and continue to mix until completely smooth and creamy.
For the Caramel
- Slowly heat the caramel and fleur de sel in a small saucepan until the caramel is melted. Pour in a piping bag fitted with a small, plain tip, or in a ziplock bag with the corner cut out.
Assembly
- Smooth over a layer of the peanut butter frosting on the brownies. Crumble pretzels over the frosting and lightly pat down so it sticks. Drizzle the caramel over the frosting and pretzels. Top with a light sprinkling of fleur de sel.
Christina @ Bake with Christina says
Yum those brownies look SO delicious! Especially with the peanut butter cups in the middle, my favorite candy! And that caramel/pretzel topping looks so flavorful and yummy!! 🙂
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Amanda you've got one of my favourite combinations of all time going on here - the sweet & the salty! I love these bars and bet they taste divine.
Susan | LunaCafe says
Holy cow, these are brilliant! Absolutely gorgeous too. Can't wait to try these.
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance says
Ugh that is the worst feeling when photos are lost, corrupted, or let's say your 1 year old husky pounces on your flash drive and you lose months of photos (that happened to me recently). LOVE the pretzel flour is one of the ingredients! Salty and sweet is my favorite kind of dessert.
Amanda says
Oh no!! I'm so sorry that happened to you. At least you can feel my pain! Let's just have a few of these brownies and very large glasses of milk to drown our sorrows.
[email protected] says
Oh wow, these look awesome! Pictures are beautiful and I want to eat one right now!
Alice @ Hip Foodie Mom says
Amanda, I am so sorry that happened to you . . but at least you got to save these TWO photos!!!! and they look great!!!! love these brownies! great photos, yo!