Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

I’ve had this recipe in my to-do pile for quite awhile and finally decided to give it a whirl.  Dennis said he wanted something with chocolate (doesn’t he always?) and I love the salty-sweet combo.  Hmm, sweet and salty has me thinking of Chubby Hubby ice cream….

But back to the bars!  They gave me yet another chance to use the mallet when I broke up the pretzels.  If you don’t have a mallet you can just put them in a Ziploc and crush them by hand.  But you really should get a mallet – it makes baking much more fun.

The consensus on the bars – home run!  Dennis said he’d move them into the regular rotation and my co-workers gobbled them up.  They’re really pretty easy to put together and anyone you give them to will be so thankful. 

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars (from Food & Wine)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

One 12-ounce bag bittersweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups thin pretzels, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper, allowing overhang on the 2 long ends.  (I always have a problem getting the parchment paper to stay put so I came up with the idea of greasing the pan with the butter wrappers then putting the parchment paper on.  It worked great – I’ll definitely do that in the future).

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl beat the butter with both sugars at medium speed until light, 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients. Stir in the chips and pretzels.

Spread the batter in the pan and top with the sprinkles. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden; the center will still be a little gooey. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

Run the tip of a knife around the side of the pan and lift the bar out using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.