This made-from-scratch brookie recipe (a layered brownie and cookie bar) has potato chips, pretzels and two types of chocolate chips that my friends loved. (Jump directly to the recipe.)
“Well, if you can bring a bar or cookie or something, that would be great. You know, anything you might have around the house or in the freezer.” said my friend Peter when I asked if there was anything I could bring to his Super Bowl party. It’s not unusual for me to have random baked goods floating around in the freezer but actually this time I didn’t really have anything worth bringing over. And being as it WAS a Super Bowl party, I decided to play to my audience. Usually I go for the super sophisticated dessert flavor combination, but this isn’t the sort of party theme that a pear and blue cheese tart would work. Nope. I went with a crowd pleaser: a brookie recipe with salty sweet snack treats mixed in.
Now the idea of a brookie (a layered brownie and cookie) isn’t anything new. There are hundreds of recipes that you can find around the web. But this one, with a mix of thick cut potato chips, a mix of dark and milk chocolate chips, and mini pretzels is perfect for a big party, especially one that is all about sports.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of football or sports. Pretty much anytime I watch football, I have to turn to my partner AJ and ask him what is going on. Why are they stopping? What’s that orange line on the ground? Why is he waving that yellow flag? And how many points do they get if they kick versus just running the ball? It’s all very confusing to me. But thankfully I wasn’t alone. The party, consisting of about 20 gay guys, were much more interested in the Beyoncé halftime show than the actual game itself. I grabbed another drink, eyed the TV with half interest and watched as my friend gravitated toward my brookie bars. That’s basically all I cared about. Well that and Beyoncé is going on tour! Woo hoo!
Brookie Recipe with Salty Sweet Snack Treats
By Irvin Lin
A brookie is a layered bar of cookie dough and brownie. I kicked it up a notch by throwing in some potato chips, pretzels and both milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips. It sounds like a lot but it’s basically the ultimate snack food dessert treat all rolled into one tasty bar treat. Don’t be scared of the long list of ingredients. These bars are surprisingly easy to make and you don’t even need to wash out the bowl between batters!
Ingredients
Cookie dough
9 tablespoons (130 g or 1 1/8 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups (330 g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups (315 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspooon kosher salt
1/2 cup (90 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (90 g) milk chocolate chips
2 cup (80 g) lightly crushed potato chips
Brownie batter
7 tablespoon (100 g or 7/8 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (40 g) cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups (80 g) lightly broken mini pretzels, divided
1/2 cup (20 g) lightly crushed potato chips
2 tablespoon semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons milk chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF and spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with cooking oil. Line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, leaving 1 inch hanging over the edge of the pan.
2. Make the cookie dough by placing the butter, brown sugar and vanilla in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn on and mix together until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until the first one incorporates before adding the second one. Beat until well blended and add the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl. Beat until incorporated.
3. Add the chocolate chips and potato chips and mix until just incorporated. Scrape the dough (it will be thick) into the prepared pan. Wet your hands with water, shake them dry (but don’t dry the on a towel) and use them to spread the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan. If the dough starts to stick to your hands, rewet and shake dry your hands.
4. Once the cookie dough is completely spread out, make the brownie batter by placing the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract in the same bowl that you made the cookie dough (no need to clean it or the paddle attachment). Turn on and mix together until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until the first one incorporates before adding the second one. Beat until well blended and add the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt to the bowl. Beat until incorporated.
5. Add the 1 1/2 cups (60 g) of the pretzels to the batter and mix until the pretzels are incorporated. Scrape the batter over the cookie dough and spread with a butter knife over the cookie dough evenly. Sprinkle the reserve broken pretzel pieces, broken potato chips and chocolate chips over the top of the brownie batter and press down lightly on them to make sure they are set in the brownie batter.
6. Place in the oven and bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean. I recommend using a toothpick in a few different places to check, as you may hit a melted chocolate chip giving a false reading. You don’t want to overbake.
7. Once the brookies are done, cool in the pan completely before you remove them by grabbing the parchment paper sides and lifting straight up form the pan. Move to a cutting board and cut into rectangle bars.
Makes 24 bars.
If you like this brookie recipe, check out some other recipes from around the web that use pretzels or potato chips in desserts:
Something’s Swanky’s Caramel Potato Chip Fudge
Love and Olive Oil’s Chocolate Covered Potato Chip Macarons
Spoon Fork Bacon’s Peanut Butter Jelly Potato Chip Bars
Jen’s Favorite Cookie’s Pretzel Toffee
Recipe Girl’s M&M’s Pretzel Blondies
claudia harris says
Genius! I love the way your mind works! Thinking my mom will love these with her fave sweet n salty nut mix on top! Thanks!
Nikki @ Nik Snacks says
Yes. Yes, to this. I made fudge with JALAPENO potato chips and I thought that was wild. Love these bars!
caroline says
All of my favorite things! Cannot wait to try this!!!
Kendra Loud says
They are great. Looks fantastic . Thanks for sharing.
June @ How to Philosophize with Cake says
Oh my those look very dangerous! Especially with that salty sweet snack topping…sounds like junk food heaven 😀
The Suzzzz says
You.Are.The.Devil.
rkd says
Made these for snack day at the office a couple weeks ago. Sent them to my son’s office, my daughter-in-law’s office, and took them to mine. Only a few made the trip back (I need to figure out who wouldn’t eat them!!). And then my husband ate the remaining 5 bars, over the next week or so. In my office, they were demolished by about 2 pm. That, my dear Irvin, is a hit.
Tiny Planes says
so beautiful, thank you for sharing
Felicia says
Hi! I’m super excited to finally make these this weekend. Based on other comments it looks like they’d keep ok if I made them a day early. You think that’s safe? I’m making tons of stuff and need to pace it out.
Thanks!
Irvin says
Hi! You can totally make them a day early. One thing to keep in mind though is that the pretzels and chips can get stale fairly fast (just think of leaving a bag of chips or pretzels open overnight). So you might want to store the brookies in an airtight container overnight. But otherwise I’ve made the a day or two ahead and they were fine!
Felicia says
Thanks for your advice on this, Irvin! I ended up making these the day I needed them because of baking pacing, but really appreciated your tip. I did save some leftovers for the next day!
My friends really loved this, and I actually just threw it up on my own blog- thanks for a great recipe!
https://sugarsmith.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/brookies-with-pretzels-and-potato-chips/
Google Maps Directions says
The website is very simple and unique and the quality of content is very excellent. I have also bookmarked this website.
Diane Young Decker says
I haven’t visited your blog in years, as I was diagnosed with celiac disease. So I was excited to see that you do have some GF yummies, which I will be trying ASAP. However, it was the Brookie bars that really caught my eye. I will be loading up on GF pretzels and making my GF blondies and brownies. What a creative idea! I will be back to explore some more!
sonic games says
The cakes look so beautiful and attractive, I want to enjoy it !!
E.D says
This cake is really moist! It’s just a little too sweet for my taste.
Retro bowl says
I just don’t like how sweet it is.
Helen says
I like the leek and white bean soup recipe. Will be making it to share with a couple of friends for lunch. Looks tasty. Thank you. Glad I stumbled onto your website.
list compare says
This brookie recipe sounds amazing! Salty and sweet with all those snacks – perfect for a Super Bowl party. I’m always trying to figure out what to bring or how many people are coming. Sometimes I wish I had a quick way to, like, list compare different snack ideas or even guest lists to make sure I don’t miss anyone!