Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Cupcakes
After my recipe, the Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Bars, pretty much became the most popular dessert on Pinterest this week, I started getting the same question over and over. Would this recipe work as a cupcake? Well, I was thinking the same thing! Let’s make these brownies portable! And that’s just what I did.
I didn’t change a single ingredient because when it’s perfect (and these brownies are PERFECT!), you don’t mess with what’s in it. I just modified how it was made to make it fit into a cupcake pan. And you know what? I think the cupcake version is even better! Why? First of all, you know exactly what portion size you are getting every time. Second, with the cupcake version, it’s a little crunchy on the entire outer rim yet soft and moist and all kinds of yummy on the inside. It’s perfection!! Here’s how I did it:
Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Cupcakes
- 2 ½ cups crushed butter pretzels
- 1 cup melted butter
- 5 tbsp sugar
- Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix and all the ingredients the mix calls for
- Brownie Mix (13×9 family size box + all the ingredients the mix calls for)
- Snack Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (2 – 10.5oz bags)
1. Crush the pretzels in a food processor or however you like to crush pretzels. Any kind of pretzels will do but I recommend using crushed butter pretzels (you find them next to the regular pretzels and they are literally called “Synder Butter Pretzels”) for the recipe. I also recommend not crushing the pretzels to dust but keep some small pieces to keep the crust crunchy. Mix the melted butter (melt in microwave), sugar and pretzel crumbs. Press 1 heaping tsp of pretzel mix into each lightly greased cupcake cup with a total of 24 cupcakes.
I didn’t use cupcake liners because I thought they would look more fabulous without a liner covering up the beautiful yummy-ness. (I was right, by the way!) Set aside pretzel crust and make the cookie dough.
2. Make the cookie dough according to the package. The easiest way I found to fit the cookie dough in the cupcake cups was to roll out the dough and cut out circles with a 2 1/2″ biscuit cutter. It cuts the dough into perfect circles for the pan. Lightly set the dough circles onto the pretzel crust.
3. Unwrap 24 snack-size Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and place one into each cup.
4. Whip up your brownie mix and pour 2 tablespoons of brownie over each peanut butter cup.
You can sprinkle chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on top of the brownie batter if you want. It just depends on how many calories you want to pack in these bad boys! 🙂
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes.
6. Cool for about 15 minutes and then slightly loosen the edges from the pan with a sharp knife. When you get the knife under the cupcake, they should pop right out of the pan easily.
Best. Cupcakes. Ever.
OMG those look like the best cupcakes EVER!
I think I will make this! It looks amazingly good.
Do you think they would taste good with frosting, if so what kind? I am a beginner, thanks!!!!
Sure, if you want added sweetness – add some chocolate frosting on top. Or if you are a peanut butter lover – try some peanut butter frosting to complete the cupcakes! They will be very rich and yummy!!
I may have just fell off my chair… I want one of those so badly right now. Is it wrong that I kind of want to frost it too… Haha.
I just made these and I’m really excited about this new recipe. I will definitely make these often! I used the pre-made peanut butter cookie dough roll rather than making the dough myself, and this was easy and maybe saved me some time. Thanks for the delicious idea!
You are welcome, Taylor! THe pre-made peanut butter cookie dough works just as well if not better! 🙂
I made these today…the pretzel layer stuck to the pan and unstuck from the cupcake 🙁 What did I do??? I’m thinking if I use a liner (I know you recommended against it), that would solve the problem, but you had said they should come out easily…Help!
Andrea, you might need to grease the cupcake pan a little more. You could always use cupcake liners and that should definitely help. The only reason I didn’t use liners was so that they displayed better. You can see that yummy pretzel layer if you use a liner but if it is sticking to you pan anyway, I would use a liner. 🙂
Made these yesterday — Soooo good, but the first dozen had the same problem Andrea mentioned, where the pretzel layer crumbled off of the cupcake. I decided it was because the pretzels were not crushed finely enough, so the mixture wasn’t really able to stick together as a crust. Before I made the 2nd dozen, I put the pretzel/butter/sugar mixture into the blender for a few pulses. I also used cupcake liners for the 2nd dozen and was sure to pack the crust mixture tightly to try to keep it together. It worked beautifully! The crusts stayed attached and still had a nice, crunchy texture. I was even able to peel off the cupcake liner afterward to show off that crust layer.
One other note: I made the mistake of buying generic miniature peanut butter cups and not tasting them until I had my first dozen cupcakes completed. Mistake! They were not NEARLY as good as the real Reese’s kind, so I bought Reese’s before I made the 2nd dozen and was so glad I did.
I tried to make these yesterday and found the measurements did not work out for me…. There was too much butter for the pretzels and it was a big soggy mess 🙁 They also overfilled my cupcake pans and did not allow me to put 2 tablespoons of brownie mix on top and they cooked over and were difficult to get out of the pan :/ Please help as I thought they were going to be delicious, but I don’t know where I went wrong??
That’s very disappointing, Tiffany. I’m not sure why the pretzels would be a soggy mess? Maybe next time cut the butter back to 3/4 cup and put it in a little at a time to get the right “crust” consistency. Also, did you put in only 1 TSP of crust and not a tablespoon? I’m so sad that they didn’t work out for you because they are delicious. I make them all the time and freeze them so that we can eat them one at a time.
I was sad that they didn’t come out right too and will try to cut back on the butter next time! They are good, they just didn’t come out good and I did make the mistake of using a TBS instead of a tsp 🙁 I also noticed that I used a different butter pretzel but you had said that any would work, I might not have crushed them enough fearing that I would make them crumbs 🙁 I will give this a try again, thanks for the feedback 🙂
I just made these cupcakes and most of mine did fall apart. I think I did not make the pretzels small enough. I should have not made them so chunky. Also I used a cheap thin muffin pan on some and my good insulated pan on others. The insulated pan cupcakes came out perfectly. I did coat pans with lots of oil on both and the cheap pan was a total failure. I think it is important to have the right tools for the job. The clean up is a total mess. I have sticky pretzels all over my kitchen and I am not looking forward to cleaning that. I think if I ever bake this recipe again I will just use the pan style or otherwise only use my insulated muffin tins. I am not a chocolate lover so the jury is still out on whether this was worth the time and money to make these. I will let you know when my family eats them.
Awesome recipe!!!! I did not have Reese’s Cups on hand so I did a layer of dark choc chips (I don’t like milk choc anyway) and a layer of peanut butter/powdered sugar (mixed until it was the consistency of a Reece’s Cup center.) I just read someone had a problem with the crust…I did the same thing, I read the recipe wrong…2 1/2 cups of pulverized pretzels…but I measured 2 1/2 cups of pretzels first and them crushed them. Once I figured it out, back into the mixer it went- problem solved. I was so bummed that my pretzel crust bottoms fell off as others did…I had a good pan and greased the hoo haa out of it…a very time involved recipe but with the flavor combination how could it NOT be worth a second try???! Next time I’ll use paper liners.
I am not a baker, but with a lot of effort, made these and they came out perfectly! The prep time was longer than I had anticipated, only because I’m not used to baking, but I just followed ur directions and now have a great party snack! Thank u so much for sharing!