We don’t always have time to try and pretend to be top chef. You know? (Or maybe it’s only me who does that. Umm, nevermind.) Sometimes we just finished a particularly busy day at work and realize guests are coming over that night, like in an hour. Sometimes we just feel too brain dead to make something up or making something from scratch. It happens. Sometimes we realize when it’s too late we are missing that one important ingredient we absolutley cannot substitue our way around. And sometimes we just want to bake something delicious and unfussy. Becuase it’s just fun. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and every now and again I just want to—dare I say it—make box mix brownies!
Whoever invented brownies really deserved a life time acheivement award if you ask me. I LOVE brownies. I love to make them from scratch when I can, but I also love a good ol’ enhanced box mix recipe. Enhanced box mix recipes are exactly what they sound like: You add stuff to a box mix and bake. There are so many different varitions out there. Some of my favorites involve adding cans of soda (cherry cola chocolate cake will be happening at my house one day!). These brownies got enhanced with peanut butter chips and salty pretzels.
Use any brownie box mix you like plus the ingredients it calls for. I usually reduce the amount of water called for by 1/2 to 1 tablespoon. Less water tends to make brownies more dense and less cake-like. I love a dense, gooey brownie. Then add a bag of peanut butter chips and a few handfuls of pretzels.
Since I was using pretzel sticks I tried adding them in a kind of chevron pattern just for fun. Next time I think I will fill in the pattern so the entire top has pretzels. MORE PRETZELS. 🙂 Another tip is I usually line the bottom of my pan with parchment paper before spraying in a little non-stick cooking spray along the bottom (over the parchment paper) and along the edges and inner corners of the pan. This makes getting the brownies out of the pan after baking much easier. Bake according to the box directions.
What about you? Do you ever enhance brownie or cake mixes? We’d love to hear about your creations. xo. Emma
Halfway Homemade: PB & Pretzel Brownies
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I made these brownies last night and they were gone within five minutes. So good!
This looks so delectable! I love your idea! I tried fudge brownies with planters PB toppings and some sliced almonds on top! Instead of putting it in a pan, I used cupcake molds. I’d watch out for the time though. Cupcakes cooks a lot faster than in a pan. Thank you! http://xobakingco.com/
These look delicious! I cannot wait to make these brownies 🙂
I made these over the weekend and they came out great! I used pretzel twists instead though still were great. I gave some to my family and they love them.
I used to love putting some Nutella into box mix chocolate muffins before baking them. It’s so good. I haven’t done it in ages.
This is an absolutely brilliant combination!!! I want some right nowwww!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
Not sure about the pretzels, since I’ve never liked them, but this would be awesome with almonds or hazelnuts, too 🙂
The layout of the pretzels is awesome though!
I use mixes from time to time, and think it’s strange that we feel like we have to apologize for it. I’m busy, and sometimes I want brownies RIGHT NOW! They taste good. It’ll be fine. I love the chevron pretzels!
I second the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate (when not making from scratch), and my favorite is York Peppermint Patties in the middle. SO good! 🙂
ALWAYS! I love an easy twist on bog mixes. We did this for our wedding – rather than have one large cake we made a cake for each table in different flavours. White box cake – became coconut cake with the addition of coconut milk and a little extract, devils food – mint chocolate with pep extract etc. All of the guests loved them! It also encouraged them to mingle throughout dessert and wander from table to table to find their favourite flavour or to try them all!
I’m absolutely drooling over these. must try ASAP.
Heather :: www.justanotherbetsy.blogspot.com
These look great! I love enhancing my brownie mixes and have actually started sharing my creations on the blog –
my favorite were these ones: http://www.bellatheblog.com/2012/10/cookies-and-cream-brownies.html
but I just shared the almond joy version: http://www.bellatheblog.com/2013/06/coconut-cream-brownies.html
Love,
Elisasbeth
I LOVE this idea. What an obvious flavor combination, simply too good to pass up. Now I know what I’m doing tonight. AMAZING. And of course, you make it beautiful too. Well done!
love it! 🙂
http://lovesimplegreen.blogspot.com/
Made these tonight for my friends that came over for dinner and they were a hit! Thanks for the simple yet delicious recipe! It made our night 🙂
That looks amazing!!! That would be such a hit in my house. I usually stick to adding nuts and caramel to my brownies but I may change it up for this.
Oh yeah! We use the same mix but sprinkle Ghirardelli chips on top. And I use a pan that makes individual 3×3 brownies, because we love edges.
My favorite is a brownie dough with mint chocolate and crunchy mint candies (not the sour ones, the toffee-like:) blend it in with a hint of orange!
These look so good! I love the design you did with the pretzels too! Im definitely going to have to try this pretty soon.
-Ashley
http://callmehare.blogspot.com
I am so making these this weekend, what a great combo! I really love your ‘halfway homemade’ recipes by the way, not everyone has time to make every single thing from scratch so they are very helpful!