Chocolate Chip & Pretzel Cookie Bars

My husband has a potluck lunch at work tomorrow. I volunteered to bake a dessert for him to bring. I had grand plans to make one recipe, and well, I tried it. But the thing is–DISASTER. Fortunately, I rarely have kitchen mishaps, but when they happen, they’re always horrible. At least I didn’t set anything on fire this time. I won’t go into great detail, as I do plan to try the recipe again someday. Maybe I’ll tell the whole story then!

Anyway, I needed a Plan B, and I needed it quickly. Since I had already wasted an hour in the kitchen and had to throw away my previous “creation,” I wanted something quick and easy (foolproof, really), and I was giving bonus points to a recipe that used only ingredients that I already had in the house. I turned to the What’s Cooking board on The Nest, and as I was going through some of their suggestions, an idea was jogged in my head.

Pretzels! Peanut butter! Chocolate!

Surely there had to be some sort of blondies that combined these three fabulous ingredients? A quick Google search and I found it–at Brown Eyed Baker.

Ever had a Take 5 candy bar? They’re my favorite. And these cookie bars are definitely reminiscent of them. So why don’t you just go ahead and make them already? :) Not convinced? Take a closer look…

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12-ounce bag bittersweet (or semisweet, if you prefer) chocolate chips
1 & 1/2 cups mini pretzel twists, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chocolate chips, for drizzling (optional)
1/4 cup peanut butter, for drizzling (optional)
1/4 cup pretzels, crumbled, for topping (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

3. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

4. In separate sandwich size baggies, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Cut off a small corner on each bag and drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the extra crushed pretzels on top. Let set and then cut into squares.