Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownie Crunch Bars

I love over-the-top, insane, delicious decadence. Butter? Yes.

Sugar? Oh, yeah.

Chocolate? Of course!

Peanut Butter? You know it!

Calorie Free? See above...

I saw these bars a while back and I was drawn to them immediately. They looked both soft (from the brownie) but crunchy (from the rice krispies), sweet and salty, heart stopping and mind blowing. Basically this was the dessert of my life.

They start with a glorious brownie. Truly decadent and fudgy.

I chose to go the homemade route for the brownie, but if you're short on time, you could go with a pre-made mix. 

Here's the secret to what takes these brownies over the edge: chopped Oreos. They add the slightest crunch to the brownie. I can't even think of a good enough adjective to explain the deliciousness of this brownie. 

Bake it in a pan until it's juuuussssttt about done.

But not too done.

This kind of "just about done" is super gooey, totally melty, oozy and perfect to eat with a spoon from the pan (not like I would know or anything).

If it's too done, you may just have to eat that whole pan of brownies and make another.

That would be a travesty.

We're about to get crazy with our brownies. Bring in the chopped Reese's cups.

And the salty peanuts.

Throw them all over your brownie. Then toss it back in the oven to finish baking and to let the candy melt.

And now for the peanut butter chocolate crunch layer (because we obviously didn't have enough peanut butter and chocolate to begin with).Peanut Butter, chocolate, and butter and melted together; Rice Krispies Cereal is thrown in; the entire thing is mixed (and taste tested); and then it all goes onto the brownie-peanut butter cup-salty peanut mess that you made earlier.

I don't know why you're still looking at the screen and not making this already.

Heaven on a plate... Or in your belly.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownie Crunch Bars recipe from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients

For the Brownies

• 2-3 squares baking chocolate
• 1/2 lb butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 Oreo cookies, crumbled

For the rest of the bars

• 1 batch of brownies
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts (if don’t have salted, add sea salt)
• 1 cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups
• 1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Method

For the Brownies

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt butter and baking sqaures in a microwave safe bowl. In the mixing bowl, cream melted butter and chocolate mixture. Add in sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, beating one at a time. Add flour and stir just until combined. Fold in cookie crumbles.

3. Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until almost all the way cooked through. Remove from the oven.

For the rest of the Bars

1. Top the brownies with peanuts and peanut butter cups, and bake for 4-6 minutes more.

2. While they are finishing baking, melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Stir in cereal. Remove brownies from oven and evenly pour chocolate mixture over top.

3. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.