Caramel pretzel blondies

A sweet and salty treat!

While I am definitely a big fan of chocolate, I love a good blondie recipe as well. This one is elevated thanks the caramel sauce that’s swirled into the batter and the crunchy pretzel topping. If you can’t find salted caramel baking chips, butterscotch ones would work well also, and you can definitely use purchased caramel sauce if you prefer. If you want another terrifically tasty treat that involves pretzels, check out my salted caramel pretzel bark, my pretzel-crusted brownies or my pretzel-crusted cheesecake bars.

Ingredients

For the caramel sauce:

• 1/4 cup (50 g) white sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) water
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 mL) vanilla extract

For the batter:

• 1/2 cup (113 g) butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup (213 g) brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 g) baking soda
• 3/4 cup (120 g) salted caramel baking chips

Topping:

• 1/2 cup (40 g) broken pretzels

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 inch (20×20 cm) baking pan with parchment paper, ensuring the paper is large enough to hang over the sides by at least an inch (2.5 cm). Set aside.
• Make the caramel sauce by placing the white sugar in a small, heavy-duty skillet. Drizzle with the water. Place over medium heat and melt sugar, swirling pan occasionally. When sugar is completely melted and has turned a light amber colour, reduce heat to medium-low then add the cream and stir or whisk until the sauce is smooth and thick (don’t worry if it clumps up when you add the cream; it will smooth out as the cream heats and you keep stirring). Remove from heat and stir in vanilla then Transfer to a heatproof jar or jug and set aside.
• Prepare batter by placing brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour and baking soda and stir until incorporated. Stir in salted caramel chips.
• Transfer batter to prepared baking pan. Drizzle 1/3 cup (80 mL) of the caramel sauce over the batter then swirl sauce into batter with the tip of a sharp knife. Note that remaining caramel sauce can be served over fruit, ice cream or yogurt.
• Sprinkle broken pretzels over top then place pan in the preheated oven. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes then lift out of pan using the edges of the parchment and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 12 – 16 squares, depending upon how large you cut them.