Pretzel Brownie Bites

So before getting into the dessert recipe I'll be sharing with you all today, I just have to brag about the amazing brunch spread at my "picnic" this morning. They were calling for an unseasonably mild weekend in DC so I had coordinated to meet up with a friend from graduate school for a picnic to take advantage of the rare opportunity to be outdoors in January. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to a foggy, drizzly, downright gross day. But not to be deterred, we decided to take our picnic inside. 

While looking out his large picture windows to simulate being outside, we feasted on fresh multigrain toast topped with avocado, tomatoes, piquillo peppers, sundried tomatoes, and amazing Dutch herbed cheese straight from Holland; greek yogurt with honey and fig spread; my apple pumpkin raisin oatmeal cookies (I'll have to share that recipe with you some other time!) topped with homemade chocolate hazelnut spread (a gift from another good friend from graduate school); mango, blueberries, grapefruit, clementines, and cherries; and dark chocolate covered pretzels, all washed down with some OJ and gingerbread chai tea. Mmmm! Outdoors or in -- we put together a great meal to start off our day! 

Anyway, on the recipe! This coming May, I have the honor of being a bridesmaid in the wedding of a good friend and former roommate. So last night a few of us got together to help with the wedding crafting. Here you can see the first stage of our efforts. 

But of course the night wouldn't have been complete without delicious food and a glass or two of her pink lemonade champagne punch. For my contribution, I wanted to bring a dessert but didn't have time to run to the store. Using just a few ingredients I already had on hand, I whipped up these pretzel brownie bites.

I'm big into the whole salty/sweet thing right now and just got a mini muffin tin for Christmas that I wanted to put to use; and so, a recipe was born. These pretzel brownie bites were tasty, especially because we topped them with a little Nutella and peanut butter. I will warn, the pretzel crust got a little soft the second day, so why not just eat them all the first day? ;) 

First, make a basic pretzel crust out of pretzels crumbs (crushed in the food processor), melted butter, and a little brown sugar. Press into each cavity of a sprayed mini cupcake pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes while you mix together boxed brownie mix and yogurt. Did you know: if you mix together 2 tbsp of brownie mix and 1 tbsp of vanilla yogurt and pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds (or longer if you don't like your brownies gooey like I do), you get what must be the world's fastest dessert? Try it out sometime! 

Anyway, I didn't have vanilla yogurt; just plain greek yogurt in a gigantic tub -- always a staple in my refrigerator. So you'll see in the recipe below, I added a splash of vanilla and also a splash of almond milk to thin it out. However, you can certainly just use vanilla yogurt or if you prefer, make the batter the traditional way using eggs and oil.

Top each pretzel crust with a spoon of brownie mix and put them back in the oven. Take the pan out as soon as the center of each brownie bite has solidified, but keep a close eye on them so as to not end up with dry brownies since they continue to cook a little in the pan. I sprinkled mine with just a teeny bit of sea salt to intensify the salty/sweet dynamic. 

These bite size treats are perfect for popping in your mouth while busy crafting, but if you don't have a mini cupcake pan, you can just scale up the ingredients and make this in a regular-sized cupcake or cake pan. 

Pretzel Brownie Bites

Makes 24 mini brownies

30 pretzels (approx.; I had the square grid-looking kind); crushed

3.5 - 4 tbsp butter or butter spread, melted

1 tsp brown sugar

1 c. brownie mix

1/2 c. plain greek yogurt

Vanilla extract

Almond milk (or other milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind the pretzels into coarse crumbs using a food processor. Mix in melted butter and brown sugar. Scoop equal amount into each cavity and press down to create a crust (if it's not forming a crust, add more butter). Bake approximately 3-5 minutes until crust is solid (keep an eye on it to make sure they don't start to burn). 

Mix together brownie mix, yogurt, a splash of vanilla, and, if needed, enough milk to make the batter "spoonable." Top each pretzel crust with an equal amount of batter. Bake for approximately 8 minutes until center of brownie is no longer liquid. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from pan.