1/27/11

chocolate-peanut butter bars w/ bbq pretzels

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Girl have you lost your mind?
No I haven't lost my mind...yet.
Yes, I have cabin fever; a bad case of it actually. And yes, these taste friggin amazing.
Does it sound gross? Of course it does! If it didn't then why on earth would I make it?
I used those Snyder-that-can-crack-your-teeth-pretzels. Hubby asked me to buy them for him, I did, they sat there for a couple days. Afraid I would eat them in one sitting during one of our many thousand snowstorms we've had already, I went ahead and used them so I wouldn't eat them, but then ate them anyways because they are in another form now. Makes sense right?
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This recipe sounds gross and all, but in all honesty its not. You don't taste the bbq.
What you taste is the twang of the pretzels that pairs very well with the pb and chocolate. I think you could use any pretzel you like, but I doubt ranch flavored would work well.
I did NOT write this recipe down, but I think I remembered everything as I happily went along.
With that said, PLEASE taste-test as you go along just in case I did forget something.
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pb bars w pretzels 3
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chocolate-pb bars w/ bbq pretzels
print recipe

¼ cup light brown sugar {packed}
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 and ¾ cups creamy peanut butter
A pinch of salt
A handful of salted cocktail peanuts to add into batter, optional
10 ounces high quality milk chocolate chips PLUS ¼ cup, divided
8 ounces high quality bittersweet chocolate chips
About 2 – 3 TB of butter for melting chocolates

For pretzels:
About 2 - 3 cups crushed Snyders BBQ pretzels, loosely crushed we want semi-big chunks (I cannot remember if it was 2 or 3 cups, sorry)
About ½ stick or ¼ cup of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease up an 8 by 8 inch brownie pan (I used non stick spray). Melt the other half stick of butter for the pretzels in a pan. In a bowl mix the melted butter and pretzels. Press them evenly into the prepared brownie pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until set. Do NOT let this brown!
Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle on the ¼ cup of milk chocolates; let them melt on their own then take a spatula and spread as evenly as you can without moving the pretzels. Let cool and harden.
Combine the brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, 1/2 room temp butter, peanut butter, and pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Blend until smooth. If you want to add in cocktail peanuts, this would be the time.
Dump the mixture out into the cooled pan & press it down, making it an even as possible.
Melt the chocolates & 2 TB of butter in a double boiler, or in a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water. Stir occasionally to combine and get nice and glossy.
Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter base & smooth out the surface. I like to let my pan sit at room temp for about an hour, then put in fridge to finish hardening. Once chocolate is set. Simply run a slim/skinny knife around edges to loosen. Invert the pan onto large plate/platter. You can either serve this pretzel side up or down.
You will need a very sharp knife to cut through the hard chocolate. Be careful.

60 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh- Josh is the same way!I'm like how can you have one tiny tiny piece of something so delicious? Amazing self control I guess! These definitely sound unique. I think its the bbq part that makes me go hmmmm. I would have to give them a taste test ;)

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  2. Oh my, this sounds incredible! salty and smokey with sweet and creamy... yum!!!

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  3. Oh, I love it! I don't think I'd be able to keep my hands off this stuff.

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  4. Waaaahhhh? you HAVE lost your mind. This would surely cure my PMS! Thanks for your help today! love you!

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  5. Oh my... this looks like HEAVEN to me! I am a huge snack eater. I am definitly not the type to eat just one chip! Ugh... I really wish I had that kind of discipline though. I truly believe in moderation~ it's the key! Thank you for sharing this!

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  6. Your picture looks amazing. They sound very unique...I may just have to try them.

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  7. I am drooling over how delicious this sounds.. wow. I am curious how they would taste with the "buffalo style" Snyders. Those were always my favorite!

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  8. Wow these look and sound so strangely good. Just to comfort you, my husband is the same way. Darn their self-control!

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  9. sounds interesting. I love the cheddar version of those pretzels, but I think I'd have to go with plain pretzels if I made these

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  10. I'm literally drooling. I'm a huge fan of salty and sweet. Over at Cookie Madness she has this thing called Frito Candy with pretzels and Fritos... yeah amazing. This kind of reminds me of that. Must try soon.

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  11. This is just insane. I love it. I wonder if you'll be baking as much when you move back here though. I just don't understand those one-chip people. I'm like that with desserts, but with chips I want the whole bag!

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  12. I am intrigued, I love weird combinations like these.

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  13. Gross?? No way, these sounds and looks amazing!

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  14. Haha, I'm the one who can eat a whole bag of the Honey Mustard and Onion Snyder pretzel bits!! They too have a salty-sweet thing going on, but with peanut butter and chocolate? Hm, not sure...heh

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  15. I dub you queen of the crazy taste combinations!

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  16. WOW.. confectioners sugar comes in a box....it looks tres vintage..haven't been in the US in a longgg time... This has to be one of the most toothsome bars I've ever seen...

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  17. Sounds like a fascinating recipe...and I'll probably try to make it. But I had to tell you that you should cherish the husband who can eat one chip and make the rest last till 2087 because you could of had one like mine who would eat the entire bag in front of me when I was trying to "diet" and smack his lips and say how good they were and generally behaved like an a$$ :)

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  18. Salty sweet love is another problem I have. Your photos are splendid. These look amazing.

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  19. I hate men who are like that. My brother is like that. And I love/hate him. sigh.

    These are amazing! bbq and pb and chocolate...only you.

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  20. Now honestly, I have no problem with chocolate and bbq. I used to eat BBQ peanuts, with dark chocolate. My wife thought I was nuts, but hey, there`s no helping some tastes, huh?

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  21. o m g ... they sound amazingly delicious!!! love the combo. great photos, too!

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  22. Intersting combo but I love it!! Sweet and savory. This would be perfect for a superbowl party, I bet people would go nuts for these bars, can't wait to give them a try :)

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  23. So glad I found your blog looking forward to reading it all.

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  24. I thought Frito Candy too. Yum. My husband is the same way. I don't think it's self-control or discipline, I think it's totally genetics.

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  25. I'm SO going to make this!

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  26. Dear Dawn, I think I love you. IN a purely platonic way of course. THis combination is BRILLIANT.

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  27. be still my heart…i am in love…confession, when i am in the supermarket i buy a bag of synders honey mustard & onion & binge going down the aisles!

    this recipe looks f a b u l o u s
    & i am on my way to supermarket to buy the bbq (hope the pretzels make it home…better buy 2 bags)!

    thanks for this fabulous taste explosion!

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  28. Seriosuly these look incredible! I am wishing I could grab a bar through the comp screen!! YUM!

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  29. If you think what I do with potatoe chips is irritating, you should see what I do with a chocolate bar.

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  30. crazy, but I totally trust you! Going to be on the hunt for pretzels!

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  31. I totally trust you! I bet this tastes amazeballs.

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  32. Holy. These sound SO deliciously wrong. I love it!

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  33. Love salty and sweet.. Made me think of Frito candy on Cookie Madness site also...and reeses! Who can say no to salty sweet, creamy crunchy, chocolate peanut butter?????

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  34. it's interesting--in some ways, i have the self control of gandhi, but in others (usually when food is involved), i have zero control. weird and excellent creation!

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  35. What a treat! Just looking at this makes me feel indulgent.

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  36. Woman! You have not lost your mind, you're a genius! These treats looks amazing.

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  37. Total food porn!! Love love love these PB & choc bars! You are a genius.

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  38. you are unbelievable. you have created something out of my most favorite things...I absolutely love those bbq pretzels and won't let myself buy them unless I just plan on eating whole bag in one sitting. And pairing up with PB/Choc? AHmazing.

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  39. Seriously??? You can't taste the barbecue? I don't know, Dawn.... Everything else about it sounds good, though.

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  40. Umm yes anna seriously you can't. Try and see. I havent used any other bbq pretzels just Synders.

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  41. This looks addictive. No barbecue taste? I'll have to try them and see. I can just imagine the sweet/salty/smoky delicious combo going on with these.

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  42. You went for it here & I love that! Not only the salty/sweet thing but the BBQ thing as well. Wish I had of stash of these in my pocket when I skied last week!

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  43. How do you think this would work with natural peanut butter?

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  44. Oh my gosh, no way, I can't believe a recipe like this exists. It sounds so out of this world and yet so delicious at the same time. You've come up with a masterpiece. I have a huge linky party going on at my blog right now specifically for sweet treats and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link this incredible creation up.

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  45. Dawn! OMG. I cant even imagine how good these taste. I am going to make these for a winter picnic I am going to this month. So good!

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  46. serena: i think natural would be ok. it might be a little more runny and not set up as thick and hard as regualr pb, so watch that aspect.

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  47. okay you just hit all kinds of soft spots with this. i love every inch of it. so fabulous, chica! well, well done! faint, gasp, swoon, faint again!

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  48. Wow, how gorgeous! This sound does sound delicious. I'm not grossed out at all. I think the combination of flavors is interesting and enticing.

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  49. You definitely get the star for uniqueness today..but I am all about sweet and savory pairings, so who knows, I may whip up a batch soon!

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  50. That looks amazing! I have a funny feeling mine would not look nearly as "pretty" as yours do in these pictures :)

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  51. You never cease to amaze me! I'm going to have dreams tonight about how good these taste.

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  52. yeah that "can have just one" gene totally bypassed me... no self control lately! and holy moly, you may have outdone yourself :) although, crazy in a delicious kind of way!!

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  53. Holy moly. Need to put these on my ever-growing list!

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  54. wow, i'd totally eat this - in private and in massive quantities! totally dangerous.

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  55. Do you have to use giradellis chips? In this day and age we peoples needs to save alots of monies so we can pay bills. Are nessles chips good ta use az wells?

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  56. I think I will have to up my workouts at the gym twice-fold in order to justify making this over-the-top treat. But you know what? It will be totally worth it. ;)

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  57. ommmnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom X a million. I' was perusing your blog for a treat to make for my lovely coworker who covered for me when sick. Since hes a dude......and he likes pb and choco...and prolly bbq anything....I think I have HIT THE JACKPOT. I'm totally making these. Thanks for all the crazy combos you make. You have become one of my most favoritest food bloggers out there!

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  58. Doesn't sound gross at all if you ask me...says the girl who just ate BBQ Fritos for lunch followed by some chocolate PB cookies. In fact, I think it sounds like a brilliant combo!

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