Author Notes
Salty. Sweet. Chocolatey. These are the perfect bit of sweet and salty flavour all crammed into a bite-sized brownie! —thegoudalife
Ingredients
- Brownies
-
10 tablespoons
unsalted butter
-
1 1/4 cups
sugar
-
1 cup
unsweetened cocoa powder
-
1/4 teaspoon
salt
-
1/2 teaspoon
pure vanilla
-
2
whole eggs
-
1/2 cup
All-Purpose flour
- Peanut Pretzel Topping
-
1 cup
pretzels
-
1/2 cup
salt roasted peanuts
-
2 tablespoons
natural peanut butter
Directions
-
Brownie recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/best-cocoa-brownies/)
Brownies:
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan (I used an11 x 7 x 2 inch Rectangular Pan, which worked, but the brownies are a touch thin) with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
In a large heat-proof bowl, add the butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Place the bowl over a barely simmering pot of water on the stove (the bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the boiling water so try to use a smaller pot + bigger bowl combo). Let the butter melt and stir the cocoa and sugar into it slowly. Once everything is melted, remove from the heat and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon. It’ll still be quite gritty at this point. Let it cool until just warm (not hot - don’t want to cook the eggs!)
(make the topping)
Add the vanilla and salt and one egg. Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon. Add the second egg and mix well.
Add the flour to the bowl and stir until no flour-pockets can be seen. Beat with a wooden spoon/spatula for another minute to get everything really smooth and uniform.
Pour batter into prepared pan and top with salty mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean.
Let cool completely before cutting into 2” squares.
-
While you’re waiting for the cocoa mixture to cool, toss the pretzels and peanuts into a plastic bag and smash with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy skillet. Leave some larger pieces of pretzel as they give a nice texture to the finished product. Pour into a medium sized bowl and add the peanut butter. Stir slowly until everything has a light coating of peanut butter.
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