Cobblestone Brownies

Do you ever do something and realize even while you are doing it that you really shouldn't but you just can't stop? I had one of those moments the other day and it has proven that there really is something fundamentally wrong with the way my brain works.

A very dear friend of mine came by the other day with her kids for a play date. Now, I don't know who the play date is really for, but I believe it was more of a mother play date. So desperate was I to catch up in peace with my friend that I even let the kids get all of their dump trucks and piled up uncooked rice and beans on their play mat and scoop. Note - household vacuum cleaners were apparently not designed to suck up bags of rice and beans. Must look into more industrial type cleaning supplies.

As we visited, she pulled out a bag of those peanut butter filled pretzels, you know, for the kids. Which was fine. They ate some, crushed some in the carpet, ate a few more. Then my friend left and she left these little beauties behind!

Now a quick look in my medicine cabinet will tell you that I am trying to diet. Okay, sure, buying every diet potion off the internet and miracle fat burner at Target may not actually qualify as a diet, but it's a start.

I knew I had to get these little peanut butter filled pockets of salty love out of my house. I picked them up off of the counter, intending to throw them away. But wait... there was a brownie mix in the cabinet. The kids were sleeping. What if I just stirred some of those into the brownie mix? Not for me, of course. I'm on a diet. This is just kind of a science experiment for the greater good. So that looked pretty good but once spread in the pan, it seemed lonely. I channeled my inner Paula Deen and got out a stick of butter but I only used half. I made some caramel and threw in some dry roast peanuts and poured that over the brownie mix. Now the only question is why are there no pictures of this? Well because it was never meant to be a recipe. And now I'll have to make it again just to get the pictures. But here is the finished result and believe me, they were delicious, if I do say so myself!


Cobblestone Brownies
Recipe by Michelle's Dinner Bell

1 pkg brownie mix - I like Ghiradelli Double Chocolate
Ingredients called for on box
1-1/2 cups peanut butter filled pretzels
4 tbs butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dry roast peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

Prepare brownies as directed on box. Once batter is mixed, gently fold in pretzels. You want to do this careful to keep them whole. Spread mixture in prepared pan.

In small sauce pan, melt butter and add sugar. Stir constantly until sugar is melted and you have caramel. Stir in peanuts. Spread over brownie mix.

Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. You will not be sorry, my friends. These have got to be completely cooled before cutting. If you are dying to taste, put them in the freezer for about fifteen minutes and then cut and serve.