Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

 

Looking for an easy but interesting dessert to wow friends or family members? Try this salty and sweet combination! Now that summer is upon us, I'm sure some of you need a dessert idea to bring to a pot-luck party or a BBQ, right? Well, this is it. I found this recipe on www.foodandwine.com, one of my favorite websites. The creator of this recipe is Grace Parisi, a writer for the website. She was born and raised on Long Island, just like yours truly, but that is not the only reason why I think she is awesome. I look up to her because she did NOT go to culinary school but has a kick-ass job as Senior Recipe Developer at Food and Wine. Grace, can't you hook me up? That's my dream too!

Honestly, I would not change anything from this recipe as printed below, except to add one ingredient. I think it needed more salt. Not just any salt though - fleur de sel (french sea salt). It would be great sprinkled on top right after it comes out of the oven and is still warm - yum! That is my only "complaint" if you will. That means - try this recipe!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups pretzels, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp chocolate sprinkles

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch metal baking pan with parchment paper, allowing overhang on the 2 long ends.
2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer, 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.

3. Spread the batter in the pan and top with the sprinkles. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden; the center will still be a little gooey. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

4. Run the tip of a knife around the side of the pan and lift the bar out using the parchment paper. Cut into 24 squares and serve.

For anyone interested in seeing 1,150 more recipes and 95 articles by Grace Parisi, check them out here: http://www.foodandwine.com/chefs/grace-parisi. I'm not kidding. She even has a cookbook, which I just realized while writing this blog post, called Get Saucy. Clearly she is amazing.

Tutti Mangia!