Sweet, Salty, Chewy, and Crunchy Brownies

I seriously have no idea what to call these things. If I listed all the ingredients in them, they’d become something along the lines of “Pretzel, Peanut, Salted Caramel Brownies”. But I kind of like describing them by the contrasting aspects of those ingredients. Hence “Sweet, Salty, Chewy, Crunchy Brownies”. My friend M preferred to just call them “Super Brownies”. Whatever you decide to call them, they’re awesome.

I whipped these up for a little gathering of friends and we could barely put a dent in them! They’re very rich and indulgent, so even though I had cut the 8×8 pan of brownies into 16 pieces, a bunch of us still prefered to share one brownie. Definitely plan to have a cup of cold milk nearby when you enjoy these.

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Sweet, Salty, Chewy, and Crunchy Brownies

Yield: 16

Ingredients:

1 batch brownies (made from mix or scratch)
1 (11 ounce) bag Kraft Caramel Bits, or about 3/4 of a bag of Kraft Caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup half & half
1/2 tsp sea salt
12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening
1 cup mini pretzels, slightly broken
1 cup lightly salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil all the way to the top and brush with oil. Make the brownies and cool completely.

Melt the caramels with the half and half in a large bowl in the microwave on high heat. Stir every thirty seconds until melted. Pour over cooled brownies. Sprinkle sea salt on top of caramel. Let cool until set.

Melt the chocolate and shortening in a large bowl in the microwave on high heat. Stir every thirty seconds until melted. Mix in the pretzels and peanuts. Spread over brownies. Cool and serve.

Recipe adapted from The Cooking Photographer

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19 Responses to “Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting”

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    1
    Megan — January 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂

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    ann — January 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!

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    Blog is the New Black — January 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    I’m intrigued!

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    KV — January 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it

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    Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — January 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.

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    Jennifer — January 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!

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    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!

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    Cupcake Activist — January 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!

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    Laura and Alex — January 13, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂

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    Carrie — January 13, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Wow, those look and sound amazing!

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    Shannon — January 13, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂

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    Corrine — January 13, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.

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    Corrine — January 14, 2011 at 2:11 am

    Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!

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    Evan Thomas — January 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!

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    Medifast Coupons — January 14, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!

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    darcyeats — January 14, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
    I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
    Great pics, def wanna try these out!

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    kitchenmisfit — January 16, 2011 at 1:01 am

    Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!

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