Pretzel and Peanut Chocolate Brownies

This Peanut and Pretzel Brownie was inspired by one of the new limited edition Dairy Milk chocolate blocks that have been released by Cadbury.
The brownie itself is deliciously fudgy, then the pretzels and peanuts add a little bit of crunch along with a hint of salt (which is such a great compliment to the chocolate).  Top that all off with chunks of creamy chocolate and we have a winner.
The recipe is super easy to make too!

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
⅓ cup cocoa
125g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup pretzels (roughly broken into pieces)
½ cup peanuts
120g chocolate, roughly chopped (I used the Pretzel and Peanut Chocolate by Cadbury – I think their plain or Picnic varieties would work well too)

Method:
Heat oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square pan with baking paper.
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugars, and cocoa together in a large bowl.  Add in the wet ingredients and mix well to combine.  Stir through the pretzels, peanuts and chocolate chunks.
Press the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until firm. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares to serve.

Pretzel, Peanut and Chocolate Packed Cookies

These could also be called ‘Blokes Biscuits’, they came about after I wasn’t sure what to bake and started quizzing Shane about what he felt like. The saltiness of the pretzels with the sweetness of the cookie and chocolate is awesome. The broken pretzel bits and peanuts give pops of crunch to the cookie. For the cookie base I used our awesome Chocolate Chip recipe, so if your not feeling as adventurous you should give those a go if you haven’t already!

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1½ cup dark chocolate drops
1 cup mini pretzel twists (I didn’t crush mine as they broke nicely in the mixer)
½ cup unsalted peanuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C.  Grease a couple of oven trays.
Beat butter, vanilla extract, sugars and egg in the bowl of your electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Fold in the sifted flour and baking soda on a low speed. 
Fold in the chocolate, pretzels and peanuts on a low speed.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls, place about 5cm apart on the trays.  Bake for 10-12 minutes depending how crispy you want your cookies. 
Leave to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack, if you want to decorate the top of your cookie with a pretzel press it into the top of your cookie while it is soft and warm.

Soft Pretzels

I made these as a Super Bowl snack last week. I haven’t made much dough before so I was pretty happy with how they turned out although I must say they were at their best still warm on the day they were made.

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup baking soda
2 cups hot water
¼ cup sea salt salt, for topping

In a bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt.  Make a well in the centre add the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix and form into a dough (if the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water).  You can use your hands or a freestanding mixer if you have a dough hook.
Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes by hand and about 3 minutes if using a mixer.
Spray a large bowl with a tin coating of oil, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place like a hot water cupboard until doubled in size, this step can take up to an hour.
While your dough is rising preheat your oven to 220°C.  In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. Line two baking trays with wax/baking paper.
Once your dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a a baking tray lined with wax/baking paper.  Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until browned.

I think I enjoyed the snacks more than the game itself – Shane is a Super Bowl big fan so I wanted to do something nice for him after all his hard work moving us from one city to another. Along with the pretzels we enjoyed Melissa’s chicken meatballs, some mac n cheese bites and American beer.