Nutella Brownies with a Pretzel Crust

These Nutella Brownies are not your ordinary brownies. They have a salty pretzel crust which balances so well with the sweetness of the brownies! These little guys will satisfy any sweet tooth!

I am happy today. After a long break (about 2 months) I made a dessert. A sweet, mouth-watering, loaded-with-calories dessert. This break wasn’t only for the blog, I haven’t made a single sweet thing in the last few months. No cookies, no candies, no cakes, no cupcakes, no pies, nothing. I can’t even explain why. My sweet tooth was on vacation, I guess. Now he is back though, and he is going to strike with full force. I know myself. Unfortunately.

So, I woke up yesterday and immediately, even before getting out of the bed, the crave for something sweet came upon me. I started thinking about treats I can make, asking my hubby to throw in some ideas, and he did. He reminded me about the jar of Nutella sitting in our fridge for a long time. I know, it sounds crazy: “NUTELLA, SITTING FOR A LONG TIME”. How is that even possible? Our little baby boy took all our attention and made us forget about anything else in the world!

With Nutella in my hands, I needed only few seconds to decide that it will be brownies. My sweet tooth loved that idea right away, because he knew that nothing can go wrong with Nutella Brownies.

Of course plain Nutella Brownies would be too simple, so I also made the frosting with even more Nutella and the crust with salty pretzels. The balance between sweet and salty is amazing! It’s one of my favorite combinations in desserts ever. Three recipes with salted caramel on this blog only prove that. The one I love the most is these Salted Caramel Apple Pie Cookies. They were (are) crazily popular!

Sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy – these Nutella brownies with a pretzel crust have it all. They are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. These are so good, I don’t even care how many calories they have. I really don’t. It’s not life if we can’t indulge ourselves with such delicious little treats at least sometimes. Am I right? Try these brownies and you will fall in love!

Nutella Brownies with a Pretzel Crust

5 from 6 votes

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Servings: 30 brownies

Author: Yummy Addiction

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 2 cups crushed into small pieces pretzels + 1/2 cup for sprinkling
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 75g, melted

For the brownies:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter 225g
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup Nutella
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purposeflour

For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/3 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
• Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil, allowing excess to hang over edges. Spray with cooking spray.
• In a bowl, combine the pretzels with the melted butter. Press into the prepared pan. Set aside.
• Place the butter and the chocolate chips in a bowl and heat in a microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each one, until smooth.
• Stir in the Nutella and cocoa powder until combined. Add the sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir to combine. Stir in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour until just combined. The batter should be thick.
• Spread the batter over the crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.
• In a bowl, beat together the butter and Nutella until smooth. Add the cocoa, sugar, and heavy cream, and beat once again until smooth and fluffy. If it is too thick, add more heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Spread the frosting over the top, sprinkle with pretzels and enjoy!

Notes

Adapted from Brownies, Blondies, and Bars by Stephanie Brubaker