These salted butterscotch pretzel brownies are salty sweet decadence. Generously studded with butterscotch chips, these rich chocolate brownies are amazing!
I’ve always said the best recipes are total accidents. Sometimes, we find what we are looking for when we least expect it. Take these salted butterscotch pretzel brownies, for example. A half-measured dump stuff into a bowl and send it to work with the Godfather turned into multiple requests for this recipe! And once you try them, you’ll see why.
Do you ever have those days when you just *have* to bake something? That happens to me if I haven’t made anything for a few weeks, so about once a month.
Fun fact: I bake for the blog in spurts. Usually I’ll bake and shoot a few things, and then I put myself on a baking ban until I sit and edit photos and video, write posts, etc. An average recipe takes about 2-6 hours in baking (tests), and an additional 4-6 in editing and the admin stuff.
Anyway, I had one of those “I have to bake RIGHT NOW” moments, and a bag of butterscotch chips turned into a batch of brownies. The pretzels were on the counter, so those got added, and a bit of sea salt because why not? The next morning, I sliced them up, saved 2 for the family, and shipped the rest to work with the Godfather. I didn’t expect to make them again for a while. Until I got requests for the recipe… more than one. So we cleared all the things and bumped this recipe to the top of the queue.
Only I had to measure! Darlings. There are measurements for the chocolate chips in the recipe. I’m going to tell you right now that if you feel you need to add a little more, you go for it. A bag of butterscotch chips has just over 2 cups. 2 cups is plenty… but if you’re me, the whole bag feels right. And you can eyeball the semisweet chips. If you’re a little over, the brownies will just take a bit longer to set for slicing.
So what’s the texture of this brownie?
That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? It’s rich, but I don’t know if I’d label it as either cake or fudge. It’s a cake brownie base because it uses butter instead of oil. BUT, the reason for that is because cake brownies will hold an insane amount of chocolate chips. And the butterscotch chips and chocolate chips make the batter incredibly rich. So these are somewhere in between.
When you make them, plan enough cooling time. Brownies with a lot of chips of any sort need at least 2 hours to cool and set. To get nice clean cuts, you can use a pizza wheel like I did in the video. My personal favorite tool to cut brownies though is my bench scraper. A bench scraper is a wonderful little kitchen tool, darlings. Just wipe between each cut to keep the lines clean.
Happy baking, darlings!
If you’d like even more brownie inspiration, don’t forget to check out these other recipes: triple chocolate peanut butter brownies, hot chocolate brownies, coconut dulce de leche brownies, and toffee espresso brownies.
Salted Butterscotch Pretzel Brownies
These salted butterscotch pretzel brownies are salty sweet decadence. Generously studded with butterscotch chips, these rich chocolate brownies are amazing!
Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into quarters
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 16 mini pretzels
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 inch pan and line with parchment paper.
- In the microwave or in a double boiler, melt together the unsweetened chocolate and butter until smooth. Set aside. To do this in the microwave, use a microwave safe bowl. Start with 1 minute at 50% power, allow the chocolate and butter to sit about 30 seconds. Stir. Add additional 30 second intervals (50% power) as needed until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla, and the 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Pour in the cooled chocolate and butter mixture, stirring constantly while you pour.
- Stir in the flour until just incorporated.
- Add the butterscotch and semisweet chips and stir.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan. Arrange the pretzels in rows of 4. Sprinkle the top of the brownies with the coarse salt.
- Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes until the edges look just done and a tester inserted into the center of the pan comes out with a few crumbs clinging on. The center of the brownies may look slightly under-cooked.
- Remove the brownies from the oven and allow to cool at least 2 hours before slicing.
- Once completely cool, brownies may be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 days, in the refrigerator up to one week, or frozen up to 3 months.
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