I am currently sitting by my wood fireplace while rain comes down outside. It was definitely a yucky day outside, but I’m pretty sure if every home had a fireplace, people would mind yucky days a lot less! This is my opinion on cold days and living in the north. Rainy or snowy days (or regular cold days) are just an excuse for me to make a fire. And hearing that crackling fire start to catch takes all the chill away and makes any room cozy. Now that I’ve made you thoroughly jealous that you don’t have a fireplace, I’ll move on to something you CAN control – brownies. Brownies are another fabulous baked good invention. I don’t know how long they’ve been around, but you really can’t get much better than a dark, fudgey, chocolate brownie. And I make them from a box. No shame here! They are just so good and so easy, I can’t really convince myself to do otherwise. There are some exceptions out there, one being my Nutella Brownies. But if you need a good chocolate fix in a hurry, you can’t go wrong with a boxed brownie mix. My favorite way to make them is adding semi-sweet chocolate chips or peanut butter chips. Sooooooo gooooooood. However, today we are talking about the Take 5 Brownie. These are my newest favorite concoction. A friend brought them to a girls’ night and I immediately asked for the recipe. I’m a chocolate peanut butter addict. Definitely. There probably should be a support group for people like me. I just can’t ever get enough of this combination. It’s funny too, because it seems to run in my Dad’s side of the family! All of the Sniders, or most of them, just LOVE chocolate and peanut butter. Possibly a chocolate peanut butter gene? 🙂

These brownies are an imitation of the wonderful candy bar Take 5. I’m pretty sure they will be well received wherever they go. I recently made them for a baby shower that I hosted for my dear friend Anne. The ladies at that shower definitely had good things to say! However, Mr. Chaos wasn’t that impressed with them. I was worried that maybe I had lost my taste buds, but I double checked and no, everyone agreed that these brownies are divine. So now I’m just worried that I’m married to a slightly insane person.

Give these a try, they start with a boxed mix, so they aren’t too complicated. The hardest part is boiling the sugar to make the caramel. But any work that produces caramel is totally worth it, am I right?

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Take 5 Brownies

1 box brownies, to make 9×13 size pan (original recipe called for milk chocolate, I used dark chocolate)

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups waffle style pretzel, like “Snaps”, you may need more or less

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 stick butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

6 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoon heavy cream (I used whole milk)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Bake brownies in a 9×13 pan as directed by the box. Allow to cool completely. Combine crunchy peanut butter with powdered sugar, beat until well combined and then spread over brownies. Arrange pretzels over peanut butter mixture in a single layer and then sprinkle with milk chocolate chips. Set aside.

Prepare caramel topping: in a medium saucepan over medium heat combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and cream. Bring to a boil and stir, making sure all sugar is dissolved. Stir a minute or two more until caramel is thick and bubbling. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, then pour evenly over the milk chocolate chips. Swirl caramel and chocolate chips with a knife. Refrigerate for about an hour until set. They can be stored on the counter after that. They are hard to cut and still look pretty, but that’s ok! I didn’t try cutting them before they set, not sure if that might work or not.