Chocolate Pretzel Tarts with Caramel

Here's the full title for this recipe: Chocolate Brownie Tarts with Peanut Butter Pretzel Crust and Peanut Butter Caramel On Top.

A bit of a mouthful, huh?  But tell me it doesn't sound delicious.

This recipe was born when my mom accidentally bought too many pretzels.  I'm not quite sure what she was thinking, but she came home from the grocery store with two huge bags.  I don't want or need that many pretzels, so recipe ideas immediately began flying through my head.

What goes well with pretzels?  Peanut butter, chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate, yogurt, more chocolate... the list goes on and on.  In the end, I decided to combine a whole bunch of delicious pretzel combinations into one amazing recipe.  And hence, these tarts were born.

Please don't be intimidated by this recipe.  Please, please, please.  I promise you, it's really not that hard.  In fact, despite the three different parts to it, there are only ten different ingredients.  That's really not too much.  Aaannd, none of the ingredients are really outlandish or anything.  The weirdest it's gonna get is  special dark cocoa power, and even that can be subbed in for another high quality cocoa of your choice.

So really, no chickening out and convincing yourself this recipe is too much work.  It's not!  It'll all be worth it once you take the first bite....

Chocolate Pretzel Tarts with Caramel
Crust:

• 60 g (about three cups, un-crushed) pretzels
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (or another but butter of your choice)

Brownie Filling:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup special dark cocoa powder (or another good quality cocoa powder)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla

Caramel:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/3 cup milk

To make crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin tin or line with 12 silicone cupcake liners.
2. Place pretzels in the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the pretzels have turned into fine crumbs.  
3. Add milk and nut butter and blend again until completely mixed.
4. Take crust mixture and press into prepared pan.  You should have enough to make 12 "cupcakes"
5. Set aside.

To make filling:

1. Quickly rinse and dry bowl of food processor.
2. Add all ingredients of filling to the bowl of food processor.  Process until completely combined, with the oats completely broken down and the batter smooth.
3. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into each prepared crust so that the crust is full.
4. Place pan in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until filling is firm and crust has browned.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.

To make caramel:

1. While tarts cook, make caramel.  In a small saucepan, whisk together honey and peanut butter.  Cook in high until mixture has reduced by about half.
2. Once reduced, remove from heat and add milk.  
3. Turn heat to low and continue to mix until mixture has thickened into a caramel.  Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Once cool, spread onto cooked starts.
5. Store in fridge until serving time.  Recipe makes 1 dozen tarts.

Make.  These.  Now!!

Brownie Batter Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust

Fact:  Ghirardelli has the best brownie mix in the universe.

I don't even want to hear you disagree.  Your argument is invalid.

But, as good as that brownie mix is, I can't justify how bad it is for you.  Especially if you're like me and can't stop at one brownie.  I don't buy it anymore.

Recently, however, I discovered a giant Costco-sized package of Ghirardelli brownie mix hiding in my pantry.  Tempting, don't you think?  In an effort to use it up, I've been using the brownie mix in a variety of healthier and unconventional ways.  The pie right here is a definite winner.

I love pies; both the fruit and the chocolate varieties.  In my experiments I've found that chocolate types are much easier to 'healthify' than their fruity counterparts.  I have so many chocolate pie recipes on this blog.

This Brownie Batter Pie is an excellent addition to the collection.  It has a chewy crust that comes in the form of an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie and a rich and fudgy filling that tastes just like brownie batter!

What could be better?

Brownie Batter Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust
Crust:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Pie Filling:

• 1 12.3 ounce package shelf-stable tofu (I get mine from Trader Joes)
• 2 1/2 cups of your favorite brownie mix (use a high quality mix for the best taste)
• 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grase a 9in circle pan.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine all crust ingredients except chocolate chips.  Process until completely mixed.  Add chocolate chips and process briefly to incorporate.  Mixture will be runny.  Pour oatmeal cookie batter into prepared pan and spread into a thin layer so that it covers the whole area of the pan.  Set aside.  Quickly rinse and dry the bowl of your food processor.  It doesn't have to be completely clean.  Add tofu, dry brownie mix, and milk to food processor.  Mix until completely combined.  Make sure there are no tofu chunks or dry spots of brownie mix.  Pour pie filling on top of unbaked crust and spread into a smooth and even layer.  Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until filling is firm.  Let chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving.  Recipe makes 8 servings.  Store pie in fridge.

Chocolate Banana Cups

I really wanted to call these s'mores cups.  I mean, everyone loves s'mores and these have all the components of them... they're just a bit different.

Graham crackers turn into a crust made from cereal, chocolate turns into, well, a chocolate cake filling, and the marshmallow is replaced with a banana and yogurt mixture that I swear has the exact same texture as the filling of an oreo cookie.

So, you see, these are sort of like s'mores, but then again, sort of not.  I figured it was better not to give people any false beliefs, so I stuck with the name Chocolate Banana Cups.  It's a bit boring, I'll admit, but no one's going to deny that this recipe is, indeed, for Chocolate Banana Cups.

Ok, so that was sorta boring.  Sorry.

Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?  Like the banana frosting stuff on these cups.  I mentioned it earlier, but I'll say it again.  Same texture as an Oreo cookie filling.  It's incredible, really.  And very delicious.

So is the crust on these things.  It's made with my new favorite cereal, Kashi Crunch!, and has no added fat. Pretty cool, huh?  I'd say these little guys as a whole are pretty awesome.

They may not be s'mores, but they've definitely got a lot going for them.

Chocolate Banana Cups
Crust:

• 1 1/3 cup Kashi Crunch! cereal
• 2 tbsp plain yogurt

Cake:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp maples syrup
• 1 tbsp turbinado sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup milk

Frosting:

• 1 large, ripe banana, mashed
• scant 1/2 cup plain or vanilla greek yogurt (just note that using vanilla will make frosting sweeter)

For Crust:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place cereal in bowl of food processor and process until broken into small crumbs (this could get loud).  Add yogurt and process until fully incorporated.  Press a little bit of mixture into the bottom of the cups of greased muffin tins.  Set aside.

For Cake:

Place oats in food processor (you don't have to wash it from when you made crust), and process until ground into a flour (it's ok if some pieces are bigger than others).  Add remaining dry ingredients and process quickly to combine.  Add all remaining ingredients and process until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop a bit spoonful of batter on top of each prepared layer of crust.  Bake in preheated oven (it should be a t 350F) for  15 minutes.  Let cakes and crust cool at least 5 minutes before attempting to remove from pan.

For Frosting:

Rinse out the bowl of your food processor until no chocolate remains.  Place banana and yogurt (all ingredients for frosting) inside and process until a thick frosting like mixture forms.  It should look like an Oreo cookie's filling.  When cups have cooled, and have been removed from pan, spread frosting on top of each one.  Store in fridge.  Recipe yields 12 cups.

Now, time to healthify an Oreo cookie.  Don't you be thinking this is the last you'll see of that banana frosting!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Banana Frosting