Brownies and Blondies for Chocoholics

Sweet Treats

Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, is comin' in hot on the East Coast...

Taking NYC by storm.

Being cooped up in a pint-size apartment for two days calls for one thing: BAKING! So, here are two recipes for all you chocoholics out there waiting out the storm.

Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Brownies

The Original Recipe

Brownie-gredients:

• 2 1/2 cups crushed butter pretzels
• 1 cup melted butter
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• One box Peanut Butter Cookie mix + ingredients it calls for
• One box Brownie Mix + ingredients it calls for
• 12 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Recipe:

-Crush the pretzels in a bag or food processor (don't crush them to dust because the crust will be better if crunchy).

-Mix the melted butter and sugar to the pretzel crumbs. Press gently into a greased pan 13x9 or 7x11 inch pain.

-Make the peanut butter cookie dough according to the package and press the dough evenly on top of the pretzel crust.

-Press all the Reese's cups into the peanut butter cookie dough.

-Make the brownie mix and pour over the Reese's evenly.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Beware of the blast of sweetness in your mouth when you bite into one of these bars.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Blondies

The Original Recipe

This recipe is from scratch AND is so incredibly easy! The finished product is much richer and tastier than bake-n-bake cookies.

Blondie-gredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup cherries (I used whole frozen Dark Sweet Cherries)

Recipe:

-Melt the butter then transfer to a larger mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine.

-Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.

-Add the flour and salt and stir until just combined (do not over mix of the blondies will be too hard).

-Fold in chocolate chips and cherries.

-Pour batter into a greased pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes (or until the edges of the blondies start to pull away from the pan).

Even fully baked, these blondies taste like chocolate chip cookie dough - they are scrumptious.