Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween Candy Bars Revisited!

So every Halloween my husband and I buy WAY too much candy! We are left with mountains of mini everything; usually a variety that includes M&Ms,  Reese's peanut butter cups, Hershey bars, Snickers and Twix. We usually end up taking the leftovers to work or, somewhat unfortunately, eating them all ourselves. Every year, I turn them into what we call in our house a "yum-yum". A "yum-yum" is any kind of dessert cookie, bar or brownie that can be eaten in a brown bag lunch (or better yet, anytime you walk past the kitchen counter!). I make a different "yum-yum" every week. I know, I know...probably not the most healthy thing to do, but it makes my husband and toddler, and anyone who happens to visit, smile. Not only that, it makes the house smell really, really good! Below is the recipe~ it's nice and easy and tastes like a fancy schmancy chocolate chip cookie bar. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 jumbo eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup pretzels
8-12 mini candy bars
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Assembly:
Cream butter and sugars. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix on medium-low speed until combined. Chop between 8-12 small candy bars (leave M&Ms whole) along with 1/2 cup pretzels and stir them into the batter. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 for approximately 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into bars.

2 comments:

Finding Normal said...

Yum! I would never have thought to put in pretzels...do they stay a bit hard, or do they get chewy? Either way would be good!

The Happiest Belly on the Block! said...

Thanks for your comment! The saltiness from the pretzels is SO good with the sweetness of the chocolate...Surprisingly, they stay pretty hard. I was worried they would turn to mush, but they worked really well. I recommend Rold Gold pretzel sticks. I just break them up and dump them right into the batter at the end.