Tag: pretzels

Categories
Dessert

From-scratch salted caramel pretzel brownies ‘knot’ an easy task

Salted caramel pretzel brownies are extremely decadent, with each layer made from scratch and supplemented with just a bit of salt to offset the sweetness of chocolate and caramel.
Salted caramel pretzel brownies are extremely decadent, with each layer made from scratch and supplemented with just a bit of salt to offset the sweetness of chocolate and caramel.

Sometimes, I ironically bite off more than I can chew when it comes to trying new recipes.

This week was one of those times.

I was invited to donate something to a dessert auction, and I decided it was the perfect time to try a recipe for some decadent brownies I’ve been eyeballing for quite a long time.

I naively thought that making brownies would take up far less of my afternoon than if I made a pie or cake. I was so, so wrong—but only about the timeframe. The flavor was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend making these, as long as you have a few hours to burn.

This comes from the blog “Butter Baking.” You can find the original post at https://www.butterbaking.com/2015/04/21/salted-caramel-pretzel-brownies/. I doubled the vanilla in my version and made sure to convert everything to U.S. standard measurements.

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Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies

Salted caramel pretzel brownies are extremely decadent, with each layer made from scratch and supplemented with just a bit of salt to offset the sweetness of chocolate and caramel.
Course Dessert
Keyword brownies, dark chocolate, decadent dessert, pretzels, salted caramel

Ingredients

Base Layer Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup butter melted
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups pretzels roughly chopped

Brownie Layer Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 16 ounces dark chocolate roughly chopped
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

Salted Caramel Layer Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 heavy cream
  • coarse or flaked salt for topping

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Start by greasing and lining a nine-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, and set it aside.
  • In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and maple syrup. Stir until it’s well combined, and then stir in the pretzels, making sure to coat them evenly.
  • Spread the pretzel mixture in an even, single layer in your prepared pan. (It won’t completely cover the bottom. Just spread it as evenly as you can.) Bake the pretzel mixture for six to eight minutes or until the layer is set. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside while you prepare the next layer.
  • Decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  • Place water in the bottom of a double boiler or in a medium-sized saucepan with a glass bowl that will fit on top (be careful not to let the bowl touch the water); heat the water over medium heat to bring it to a low simmer. Add the butter and dark chocolate to the top, stirring constantly until everything is melted and well combined. Remove it from heat and set it aside to cool slightly.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla on high speed until it is thick and a pale yellow—about three minutes. Fold in the chocolate until well combined, and then fold in the flour.
  • Pour the batter into the pan over top of the pretzel layer, smoothing it out evenly.
  • Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the top begins to crack slightly and the brownie layer is mostly firm. (Try wiggling the pan a little. If it’s really wobbly still, bake it a bit longer. These won’t feel completely set when they’re done. Just pay attention to the edges and the top.) Set the brownies aside to cool.
  • For the caramel, add the water and sugar into a medium-sized saucepan, place a candy thermometer in the mixture, and heat over high heat, stirring occasionally. In a second medium-sized saucepan, heat the butter and cream over low, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted.
  • When the caramel turns a deep brown color and the thermometer reads 350 degrees, immediately remove it from the heat. Whisk the butter mixture into the caramel (be careful; it will fizz up a bit).
  • Return the pan to high heat and cook for another five minutes, stirring continuously, until it thickens a little.
  • Pour the caramel over top of the brownie layer and spread it out evenly.
  • Refrigerate the brownies for about five hours or until the caramel layer is set. Sprinkle the entire top with your desired amount of coarse salt, and then cut into squares.
  • Keep the brownies refrigerated in an air-tight container until you’re ready to serve them.

Holy moly, guys. These were awesome. They were very rich, but the salt from the tops and the pretzels balanced everything out really well.

In the end, all my effort to make these was worth it, and they fetched a good amount on the auction. Plus, I got to try the ugly end pieces while I was cutting them up, so it was a win-win. Next time, I’ll need to remember that just because a dessert is smaller doesn’t mean it’s easier. Lesson learned.

This piece first appeared in print on May 12, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

It’s time to get salty about your sweets

Salted caramel pretzel chocolate chip cookies combine the sweetness and gooey-ness of chocolate and caramel with the saltiness of pretzels and are a perfect pairing for a glass of milk.
Salted caramel pretzel chocolate chip cookies combine the sweetness and gooey-ness of chocolate and caramel with the saltiness of pretzels and are a perfect pairing for a glass of milk.

Years ago, when Jimmy Fallon was on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream came out with a flavor called “Late Night Snack,” which was inspired by the show.

The combination was “vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl and fudge-covered potato chip clusters.”

Being slightly ice cream obsessed, I tried it out, despite the seemingly weird combination, but it was amazing.

I thought about that ice cream recently when I ran across this week’s recipe, and it got me to thinking about that flavor combination. Why is it that sweet and salty go together so well?

So, of course, I looked it up and found a great article from Debra Ronca at “How Stuff Works.”

“Salt isn’t just a nutrient, either,” she writes. “It’s a flavor enhancer. So, it stands to reason that if you mix sugar and salt, the salt enhances the sugar flavor. Chefs call this flavor layering, and the right mix—not too sweet and not too salty—gives your brain a positive biological response.”

If you’re like me and love the combination of sweet and salty, you’re not weird—it’s science. And, if you’re in my camp, then you definitely want to try the cookies I made this week.

This recipe comes from the blog “Two Peas and Their Pod.” You can find the original at https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/salted-caramel-pretzel-chocolate-chip-cookies. I added a little extra vanilla in my version.

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Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salted caramel pretzel chocolate chip cookies combine the sweetness and gooey-ness of chocolate and caramel with the saltiness of pretzels and are a perfect pairing for a glass of milk.
Course Dessert
Keyword chocolate chips, cookies, pretzels, salted caramel

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1-1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt or sea salt
  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup pretzels chopped
  • about 11 ounces chewy caramels
  • about 36 pretzel twists whole
  • coarse salt for sprinkling

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth, and then beat in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
  • Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped pretzels.
  • Scoop the dough in about two tablespoon scoops and place a caramel piece in the center of each scoop, forming the dough completely around the caramel. (Cut your caramels into about half-inch pieces if they’re the long kind.)
  • Place the dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them about two inches apart and press a whole pretzel into the top of each cookie and sprinkle each lightly with salt.
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let the cookies cool until they are set up enough to remove from the baking sheet and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. (Some of mine were oozing caramel, so I cooled them upside down.)
  • Store cookies in an airtight container.

Holy moly were these good. They did take quite awhile to set up, and even though I thought I had the caramel very well covered by the dough, it still leaked out of the bottom of almost all of the cookies a bit, so be prepared when you start removing them from the baking sheet.

I had to take these to the office, because Joey and I were going to demolish the whole batch by ourselves if I didn’t. We still ate an embarrassingly large number of them.

As much as people looked at me strangely when I talked about potato chips in ice cream, I still had quite a few takers for these cookies, so maybe times have changed, or maybe there are a lot more secret lovers of salt and sugar than I thought.

This piece first appeared in print on July 16, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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