A week ago I went to visit my brother. I am lucky enough to have been stationed in Germany with him. So instead of an ocean, all that stands between us is an hour and a half drive. LOVE it. Unfortunately the visit was a “goodbye” visit, since he was to be deployed within the next week. Three days before I went to visit him he called me up. He had a special request- bring FOOD. Now what he really meant by that was bring any type of chocolate chip cookie and/or a brownie. And boy, did I deliver. Not only did I bring him some of these cookies baked fresh from frozen cookie dough that morning, but I also made him some Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies. And well, these brownies…. they’re a show-stopping, crowd-pleasing, argument-winning kind of treat. Their actual name is “Better than Crack Brownies“. There were too many controversial comments left on the blog that shared them under that name though, so I decided to change it to avoid the immaturity.
Needless to say, my brother was very pleased with the two plateful’s of deliciousness that I brought him. It was pretty hard to restrain myself from sneaking some off the plates myself… these things just call to you. Beckoning. And once you cave, you have to pull out all the guns to stop yourself from eating half the plate. They are just too addictive. I think it’s the contrast in texture- crunchy, sweet, salty, fudgy. It’s just perfect. Every component balances the other. The person that came up with these brownies knew what they were doing.
The bottom layer is a simple brownie. It could be your favorite homemade classic brownie recipe or just a box mix (for a quicker solution). Chopped mini Reese’s cups and peanuts are scattered along the top of the baked brownies. THEN a milk chocolate-peanut butter-krispy mixture is spread on top. PERFECTION. Sooooo good! Man, what a great idea. I don’t know if I can emphasize enough how awesome these are.
Here are my notes though: If you like things crunchy and chunky, double the peanuts and Reese’s cups. They kind of get lost with everything going on in this brownie. Also make sure that your ratio of milk chocolate-peanut butter mixture to krispy’s is pretty equal. I didn’t have enough rice krispies in mine, but that is simply because I used mounded measuring cups to measure out the milk chocolate chips. I added more than I should have… I get overexcited and tend to do that sometimes. Anyways, I had to add an extra handful of rice krispy’s to compensate and even then I thought that it could have used more. It’s a personal preference though. If you don’t like things crunchy and chunky, leave the recipe as is. Personally, I like my brownies and cookies like Ben & Jerry’s- chocked full o’ goodness! : D
Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies
Ingredients:
- 1 batch brownies (boxed mix or homemade brownies)
- ½ cup salted peanuts (if don’t have salted, add sea salt)
- 1 cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups
- 1½ cup milk chocolate chips
- 1½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 1½ cups Rice Krispies Cereal
Directions:
Mix brownies according to directions, and bake for 20-25 minutes (or 5 minutes before the homemade recipe is supposed to be fully baked) in a 9 x 13- inch baking dish. Remove and top with peanuts and peanut butter cups, and bake for 5 minutes more.
While they are finishing baking, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter (can be done in double boiler or 30-sec intervals in the microwave, stirring between each). Stir in cereal. Remove brownies from oven and evenly pour chocolate mixture over top.
Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
Notes
For an even chunkier, crunchier bar use additional amounts of peanuts, peanut butter cups, and/or rice krispies.
