Gluten Free Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies Food

SALTED PRETZEL BROWNIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter an 8-inch square metal baking pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches of excess on each side to help you lift the cooked brownies out of the pan.
• Make the crust: In a food processor, combine butter, graham cracker crumbs, crushed pretzels and egg white. Process until mixture is well blended. Transfer to prepared pan and press crumb mixture into an even layer on the bottom. Bake until deeply browned at the edges, about 14 to 17 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.
• Make the brownies: Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees. Put butter and chocolate into a medium pot and place it over low heat. Melt the mixture, taking care not to let the chocolate burn and stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until smooth. Scrape chocolate mixture into a large bowl and mix in the sugar. Let mixture cool until it's just warm to the touch, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk eggs into cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk in flour, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Mix in chocolate chips, if using.
• Scrape batter into an even layer on top of the crust. Top with pretzels and bake until the top is set and firm to touch, especially in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.

SALTED PRETZEL CARAMEL BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper (my preference) or grease with cooking spray.
• Prepare brownie batter according to package instructions. Ingredients include the eggs, water and vegetable oil. Amounts may differ from the ingredients listed above.
• Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Spreading until the bottom of the pan is evenly coated. Then add two even layers of pretzels, cover the entire surface. Carefully spoon the remaining brownie batter on top to cover the pretzels.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove and set on a cooling rack to cool.
• Spoon the caramel sauce onto the top of the brownies in an even layer. (If it is too thick, microwave for 30 seconds, make sure to remove the cap.
• Sprinkle the caramel with a few pinches of sea salt.