We don't always have time to try and pretend to be top chef. You know? (Or maybe it's only me who does that. Umm, nevermind.) Sometimes we just finished a particularly busy day at work and realize guests are coming over that night, like in an hour. Sometimes we just feel too brain dead to make something up or making something from scratch. It happens. Sometimes we realize when it's too late we are missing that one important ingredient we absolutley cannot substitue our way around. And sometimes we just want to bake something delicious and unfussy. Becuase it's just fun. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and every now and again I just want to—dare I say it—make box mix brownies!Whoever invented brownies really deserved a life time acheivement award if you ask me. I LOVE brownies. I love to make them from scratch when I can, but I also love a good ol' enhanced box mix recipe. Enhanced box mix recipes are exactly what they sound like: You add stuff to a box mix and bake. There are so many different varitions out there. Some of my favorites involve adding cans of soda (cherry cola chocolate cake will be happening at my house one day!). These brownies got enhanced with peanut butter chips and salty pretzels.Use any brownie box mix you like plus the ingredients it calls for. I usually reduce the amount of water called for by 1/2 to 1 tablespoon. Less water tends to make brownies more dense and less cake-like. I love a dense, gooey brownie. Then add a bag of peanut butter chips and a few handfuls of pretzels.Since I was using pretzel sticks I tried adding them in a kind of chevron pattern just for fun. Next time I think I will fill in the pattern so the entire top has pretzels. MORE PRETZELS. 🙂 Another tip is I usually line the bottom of my pan with parchment paper before spraying in a little non-stick cooking spray along the bottom (over the parchment paper) and along the edges and inner corners of the pan. This makes getting the brownies out of the pan after baking much easier. Bake according to the box directions.What about you? Do you ever enhance brownie or cake mixes? We'd love to hear about your creations. xo. Emma
114 Comments
I love the chevron pattern! Have to give that a try next time. I do love a good box mix for brownies….my secret is to use heavy cream instead of water. Well, not such a secret anymore! But the results is a super-fudgy brownie that leaves everyone asking, how did you make these?!?
For my standard Christmas brownies I crush up Mint Oreo’s and add them to the brownie batter with dark chocolate chips and add crushed mint Oreo’s on top of the frosting.
This “recipe” looks delicious!I love the chevron pattern.
I love to add 3-4 tablespoons of ground espresso and a tablespoon or two of brewed coffee to my brownie mix. It makes for THE BEST brownies, and it goes awesome with a cappuccino or latte!
Haha, nothing wrong with a little convenience! I recently veganised an amazing brownie recipe (they’re culled slutty brownies!) and added a special type of Belgian biscuit to create a really unique flavour. The entire recipe takes about half an hour to make. Because some days, that’s just about the most you can accomplish, but it doesn’t mean it should taste bland.
I’ve used that same box mix for years and people always think the brownies were made from scratch. Love that! : ) Definitely trying your add ins next time!
I tried a very similar recipe with pretzels on brownies but the pretzels didn’t come out very crunchy after they were baked. This made the texture kind of weird. I wonder how you avoided this…
Yum! I love baking almost everything from scratch. But when it comes to brownies, the fudge-y box mix is my all-time favorite! I always have trouble with my homemade brownies being too dry and cake-like. This recipe looks absolutely delicious!
//Shae
Love the cute design. I also love the combination of salty and sweet. I usually do not like to use mixes but I have never thought about enhancing them. Might save me some time and help me back more often!
I have to agree with you! I keep a box of Betty Crocker brownies in the cupboard for just those emergencies/non genius moments. Of course when u add in extras it’s almost homemade! 😉
these look deadly good! i love the chevron pattern for the pretzels.
my favourite brownie to make is raspberry cream cheese brownies!
xx http://petalandplume.blogspot.ca/
Oh these look beauts! I can see myself making these in batches and eating them ALL! I guess the diet will have to start another day! Oopsey! helloiammariam.com
I love the pretzel idea, and the mint oreo idea too! I recently tried brownies with chunks of almond paste and it was delicious. One of the best things is that with brownies you can just throw something different on each corner of the pan and go crazy!
okay this is just perfect. a friend just posted a photo of very similar looking brownies on instagram that she bought from sam’s club. well, i don’t have sam’s here so i was pretty disappointed but now i can make it myself! thank you!
these look tasty. i love the salty-sweet combination! definitely tucking this away for sometime soon. i’ve just posted about my quest for the perfect brownie at shedrinkscoffee.com. i’d love tips from any fellow brownie bakers!
The combination of peanut butter, pretzels and chocolate would have never came to my mind! Would love to give it a go though, always in for something new.
I actually just made a totally homemade version of these and they were amazingg! The only difference is no peanut butter chips- instead I made a homemade peanut butter filling that gets swirled through the brownies. Then I put the pretzels on top like you did and also put sea salt! They were such a huge hit! These look really great for times I don’t have all the time to do it all homemade again!
Yum those look good… and the pretzels make it look too cute.
My favorite thing to add to brownie mix would have to be oreos. If you lay out whole oreos on the bottom of your pan before you pour on the mix, it tastes SO GOOD. A girl on my team used to make them for us all the time.
Life’s way too short to be hung up on whether things are made from scratch or not. Go with what works l reckon, and these look great.
Can’t say l’ve made many/any brownies (l’m from Australia) but l make a killer fried rice, which everyone asks about. Only problem is my secret is that l use a packet mix and enhance it 😉
What about putting pretzels along the underside of the brownies! Maybe they would just get soft. If not, that would be so awesome. Can I win something for having this good idea? A pop up giveaway would also be way cool. (Good idea number two!)
I love enhancing the box mixes! I love adding all kinds of things to that particular brownie mix – white chocolate chips and raspberry jam swirl, peanut butter, or my most recent attempt to frost it with cream cheese icing (my husband requested it, and it was devilishly good). I swear that with brownies, the possibilites are endless!
Oh my!! Although I usually make homemade(One Bowl Brownies-Bakers Chocolate-SO EASY!!)I do love having a box on stand by. I always add some kind of chip…dark chocolate or butterscotch are favorites in our house. These look so good. I will be making these for the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
We love a good box brownie mix at my house too! Our go-to enhancement is powdered sugar. Once the brownies are cooled and cut, we pour a heap of powdered sugar onto a plate and pat all the sides of the brownies in it until there is a nice little powered sugar “crust” (for lack of a better word). We jokingly refer to these as crack brownies haha. I’ll be sure to try a pretzel enhancement soon! Love the idea 🙂
I love using a box of dark chocolate brownie mix and then melting a Godiva or Ghiradelli raspberry chocolate and swirling it in! Very rich with surprise bites of raspberry goodness!
Where do you guys come up with this stuff? This looks amazing! I haven’t done box brownies, but will definitely add pb and pretzels to my next batch of brownies. Can’t wait!
I like to our in half the batter, then a candy bar layer, then the rest of the mix. A meaty, yummy, surprise inside! (I think Symphony toffee bars work the best!)
I love a betty Crocker red velvet cakemix! Turned into cupcakes with an oreo in the bottom before the mixture is spooned in..then top with cream cheese frosting and bashed up oreos. Yum!
I would love for you to check out my blog as I have just put up two new recipes! One is a particularly yummy lemon, almond and poppyseed drizzle cake!
Not only do I love this flavor combo, but I really like how stylish these look. The chevron patter is something fun to see on food. I might add this to my party goodies list.
The sweet-salty chocolatey taste would be a sure hit! A sprinkling of gummy bears near the end adds some chewy gooey goodness. Would love to try more options though.
You had me at peanut butter… Oh my goodness these sound good! I’m more of a from scratch type of gal, but darn it I’m going to have to make these ASAP!
xo Heather http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/
These sound delicious! My mouth is watering and will definitely have to try out your recipe!
I actually love to do mix ins and enhancements with cake batter for cupcakes. A few that I’ve made are Cookies and Cream cupcakes, pumpkin cupcakes and peanut butter cupcakes.
I am so making these this weekend, what a great combo! I really love your ‘halfway homemade’ recipes by the way, not everyone has time to make every single thing from scratch so they are very helpful!
I LOVE this idea. What an obvious flavor combination, simply too good to pass up. Now I know what I’m doing tonight. AMAZING. And of course, you make it beautiful too. Well done!
ALWAYS! I love an easy twist on bog mixes. We did this for our wedding – rather than have one large cake we made a cake for each table in different flavours. White box cake – became coconut cake with the addition of coconut milk and a little extract, devils food – mint chocolate with pep extract etc. All of the guests loved them! It also encouraged them to mingle throughout dessert and wander from table to table to find their favourite flavour or to try them all!
I use mixes from time to time, and think it’s strange that we feel like we have to apologize for it. I’m busy, and sometimes I want brownies RIGHT NOW! They taste good. It’ll be fine. I love the chevron pretzels!
Not sure about the pretzels, since I’ve never liked them, but this would be awesome with almonds or hazelnuts, too 🙂
The layout of the pretzels is awesome though!
I made these over the weekend and they came out great! I used pretzel twists instead though still were great. I gave some to my family and they love them.
This looks so delectable! I love your idea! I tried fudge brownies with planters PB toppings and some sliced almonds on top! Instead of putting it in a pan, I used cupcake molds. I’d watch out for the time though. Cupcakes cooks a lot faster than in a pan. Thank you! http://xobakingco.com/
114 Comments
I love the chevron pattern! Have to give that a try next time. I do love a good box mix for brownies….my secret is to use heavy cream instead of water. Well, not such a secret anymore! But the results is a super-fudgy brownie that leaves everyone asking, how did you make these?!?
Looks Great but I personally never use cake mixes. My boyfriend and I love the taste of homemad food and that we know what we put in it. 🙂
wow these look amazing!!
Hannah xx
I love Your Chevron Brownies..!!! xoxo Andrea
For my standard Christmas brownies I crush up Mint Oreo’s and add them to the brownie batter with dark chocolate chips and add crushed mint Oreo’s on top of the frosting.
This “recipe” looks delicious!I love the chevron pattern.
Oh boooy these look good!
http://talisatalksbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/body-shop-honey-oat-3-in-1-scrub-mask.html
International Giveaway
This looks amazing. I may make these in lieu of cake for my birthday on Saturday!
I love to add 3-4 tablespoons of ground espresso and a tablespoon or two of brewed coffee to my brownie mix. It makes for THE BEST brownies, and it goes awesome with a cappuccino or latte!
MORE PRETZELS! I’m with you, girl. How cute would mini pretzels look all butted next to each other?
Haha, nothing wrong with a little convenience! I recently veganised an amazing brownie recipe (they’re culled slutty brownies!) and added a special type of Belgian biscuit to create a really unique flavour. The entire recipe takes about half an hour to make. Because some days, that’s just about the most you can accomplish, but it doesn’t mean it should taste bland.
Take a look at the recipe here if you like: http://www.thevegancookiefairy.com/2013/04/vegan-slutty-brownies-with-belgian-twist.html
Look amazing and so trying. Thanks again ladies!! 🙂
These look absolutely evil!!!!
xoxo PARIS BEE kids blog
Looks amazing AND delicious !
http://hidinginheaven.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-one-with-id-like-to-wear-v.html
Holy moly! YUM!!
xo Lisa
http://www.makinglifeslemons.com/
I’ve used that same box mix for years and people always think the brownies were made from scratch. Love that! : ) Definitely trying your add ins next time!
This looks so delicious!
Seaside Beauty
xxx
I make chocolate + peanut butter chip pretzel cookies topped with sea salt and its something about the sweet + savory combo that is so good!
–Jen http://www.lifeisaredcarpetblog.com
Hmm such a great idea! And the pattern it’s adorable!
Kisses
Sofia G
Love the design with the pretzels!
I tried a very similar recipe with pretzels on brownies but the pretzels didn’t come out very crunchy after they were baked. This made the texture kind of weird. I wonder how you avoided this…
Yum! I love baking almost everything from scratch. But when it comes to brownies, the fudge-y box mix is my all-time favorite! I always have trouble with my homemade brownies being too dry and cake-like. This recipe looks absolutely delicious!
//Shae
http://hellohomebody.wordpress.com
They look so tasty! I love the chevron design with the pretzels. So cute 🙂
Alex from http://www.polkadottedpixels.com
Oh those look so yummy and so so cute! And no you are sooo not the only one who pretends to be top chef, I do too!
xoxo
Juliette Laura
juliettelaura.blogspot.com
Love the cute design. I also love the combination of salty and sweet. I usually do not like to use mixes but I have never thought about enhancing them. Might save me some time and help me back more often!
These look amazing! I love box brownies, too!
yum, these sound delicious!
Molly {Dreams in HD}
http://dreamsinhd.blogspot.com/
I have to agree with you! I keep a box of Betty Crocker brownies in the cupboard for just those emergencies/non genius moments. Of course when u add in extras it’s almost homemade! 😉
These look amazing! Sadly I’m on a Health kick but I’m sure my other half would eat it all no problem! Haha.
Lovely read 🙂
Much love,
Suz x
Bloosieslife.blogspot.co.uk
these look deadly good! i love the chevron pattern for the pretzels.
my favourite brownie to make is raspberry cream cheese brownies!
xx
http://petalandplume.blogspot.ca/
Oh these look beauts! I can see myself making these in batches and eating them ALL! I guess the diet will have to start another day! Oopsey! helloiammariam.com
I love sprucing up boxed mixes. This is a fabulous version! Love how you made it chevron.
What a funny combination, I;m curious about the taste! xx
ENTER MY GIVEAWAY
http://www.creativityandchocolate.com
I love the pretzel idea, and the mint oreo idea too! I recently tried brownies with chunks of almond paste and it was delicious. One of the best things is that with brownies you can just throw something different on each corner of the pan and go crazy!
okay this is just perfect. a friend just posted a photo of very similar looking brownies on instagram that she bought from sam’s club. well, i don’t have sam’s here so i was pretty disappointed but now i can make it myself! thank you!
This looks so good! I really wanna try this with my boyfriend when he comes visit. I love semi-homemade things. :^ )
these look tasty. i love the salty-sweet combination! definitely tucking this away for sometime soon. i’ve just posted about my quest for the perfect brownie at shedrinkscoffee.com. i’d love tips from any fellow brownie bakers!
My husband loves all things chocolate and peanut butter – can’t wait to try this for him!
Yummy!
xo Jennifer
http://seekingstyleblog.wordpress.com
The combination of peanut butter, pretzels and chocolate would have never came to my mind! Would love to give it a go though, always in for something new.
http://sincerelylara.com
Oh my! These look right up my NYC street 😉
Ain’t nothing wrong with box mix. These look great!
Holy crap, these look amazing! And I’m not even a huge brownie fan (don’t hate me!)
These look absolutely delicious! i might have to make these this weekend 🙂 thanks for sharing!
much love, rachel | http://rbanek.blogspot.ca
Wow, these brownies look great! I’ll try them :).
xx
http://www.serendipitystyle7.blogspot.com
Agreed, it can’t be scratch all the time! What a great combo of salty and sweet this is.
http://www.fullbellywornsoles.com
I actually just made a totally homemade version of these and they were amazingg! The only difference is no peanut butter chips- instead I made a homemade peanut butter filling that gets swirled through the brownies. Then I put the pretzels on top like you did and also put sea salt! They were such a huge hit! These look really great for times I don’t have all the time to do it all homemade again!
Holy cow, those are some seriously gorgeous brownies! I love this twist.
Yum those look good… and the pretzels make it look too cute.
My favorite thing to add to brownie mix would have to be oreos. If you lay out whole oreos on the bottom of your pan before you pour on the mix, it tastes SO GOOD. A girl on my team used to make them for us all the time.
Chevron Borwnies-you two are splendid!
Jana@333 Days of Hand Lettering
Life’s way too short to be hung up on whether things are made from scratch or not. Go with what works l reckon, and these look great.
Can’t say l’ve made many/any brownies (l’m from Australia) but l make a killer fried rice, which everyone asks about. Only problem is my secret is that l use a packet mix and enhance it 😉
Brownies are my weakness as is. This combo just makes me so happy!
Yum yum! Those look sooo good!
What about putting pretzels along the underside of the brownies! Maybe they would just get soft. If not, that would be so awesome. Can I win something for having this good idea? A pop up giveaway would also be way cool. (Good idea number two!)
I love enhancing the box mixes! I love adding all kinds of things to that particular brownie mix – white chocolate chips and raspberry jam swirl, peanut butter, or my most recent attempt to frost it with cream cheese icing (my husband requested it, and it was devilishly good). I swear that with brownies, the possibilites are endless!
Oh my!! Although I usually make homemade(One Bowl Brownies-Bakers Chocolate-SO EASY!!)I do love having a box on stand by. I always add some kind of chip…dark chocolate or butterscotch are favorites in our house. These look so good. I will be making these for the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
i could really use on right now!
– Janine
http://theeoptimist.blogspot.com
We love a good box brownie mix at my house too! Our go-to enhancement is powdered sugar. Once the brownies are cooled and cut, we pour a heap of powdered sugar onto a plate and pat all the sides of the brownies in it until there is a nice little powered sugar “crust” (for lack of a better word). We jokingly refer to these as crack brownies haha. I’ll be sure to try a pretzel enhancement soon! Love the idea 🙂
Yum! We love to add fruit and veggie purees:> 1/4 cup of puree can replace 1 egg in a recipe, plus it gets some extra goodness into your family:>
You girls are killing it.
LOVE! I’ll need to try these soon 😉
I love using a box of dark chocolate brownie mix and then melting a Godiva or Ghiradelli raspberry chocolate and swirling it in! Very rich with surprise bites of raspberry goodness!
these look absolutely delicious! I just ate some brownies a while ago, haha x
– Jianine
oh my gosh this sounds like heaven. basically all my favorite things in life…chocolate, pretzels and pb. love!
Holy moly these look good! I might have to try to make a gluten free version for myself!
-Becca
Ladyface Blog
Where do you guys come up with this stuff? This looks amazing! I haven’t done box brownies, but will definitely add pb and pretzels to my next batch of brownies. Can’t wait!
I really want a brownie now 🙂
I like to our in half the batter, then a candy bar layer, then the rest of the mix. A meaty, yummy, surprise inside! (I think Symphony toffee bars work the best!)
this looks terribly delicious!
http://somebodyfromsomewhere.blogspot.com/
They’re look delicious.
Do you have a replacement suggestion for the peanut butter chips? I don’t think we have them here in NZ 🙂 just peanuts or?
Thank you!
ginger pumpkin brownies every time!!
You guys are seriously killing me right now! I want to eat this right now! Perfect xx
fashionvitae.blogspot.com
looks so darn yummy! will have to try these! Thx for sharing!
xoxo, Barbara
I’ve never tried enhancing one. Well apart from adding nuts and chocolate chips but nothing as cute as this. I like the chevron pattern. Adorable!
http://annescribblesanddoodles.blogspot.com/
chevron pretzels! yes!
Would love to try these! Have to make a trip to the US again soon, so I can do some shopping… need those PB chips! 😀
These look yummy!! I did similar ones but using mini reeses PB cups placed along the top!
Lulu xx
http://luluslittlewonderland.blogspot.com
They look sooo good! x
These look amazing! I’m a sucker for pretzels and chocolate, I’ll definitely be giving these a go! 🙂
Jade @ jadebakes.blogspot.com
I love a betty Crocker red velvet cakemix! Turned into cupcakes with an oreo in the bottom before the mixture is spooned in..then top with cream cheese frosting and bashed up oreos. Yum!
I would love for you to check out my blog as I have just put up two new recipes! One is a particularly yummy lemon, almond and poppyseed drizzle cake!
http://www.curiouslylorin.blogspot.co.uk
These look soooooooo yummy!
Thanks for sharing!
Anna
Yummi!
Mai 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/mmaimagic
http://magicmai.blogspot.pt/
Not only do I love this flavor combo, but I really like how stylish these look. The chevron patter is something fun to see on food. I might add this to my party goodies list.
They look so, so good! And I love the sounds of cherry cola chocolate cake, yum 🙂
My favorite brownie box mix: Ghiradelli double chocolate!
These are like those candy bars with the pretzel whose name escapes me. I may be my SO’s favorite person this week 😉
Wonder if you could use cut up caramels in brownies in stead of peanut butter? Hmmmmm
Oooh how yummy!
Emma x
http://beautyandrags.blogspot.co.uk/
The sweet-salty chocolatey taste would be a sure hit! A sprinkling of gummy bears near the end adds some chewy gooey goodness. Would love to try more options though.
Wow, those look delish!
I might add a drizzle of caramel!
Do you add the pretzels before or after baking the brownies?
Oh my! They look yummy! Is it bad I want them for breakfast??!
These look absolutely amazing!
http://hiddenbaby.com/blogs/baby-blog
You had me at peanut butter… Oh my goodness these sound good! I’m more of a from scratch type of gal, but darn it I’m going to have to make these ASAP!
xo Heather
http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/
These sound delicious! My mouth is watering and will definitely have to try out your recipe!
I actually love to do mix ins and enhancements with cake batter for cupcakes. A few that I’ve made are Cookies and Cream cupcakes, pumpkin cupcakes and peanut butter cupcakes.
I am so making these this weekend, what a great combo! I really love your ‘halfway homemade’ recipes by the way, not everyone has time to make every single thing from scratch so they are very helpful!
These look so good! I love the design you did with the pretzels too! Im definitely going to have to try this pretty soon.
-Ashley
http://callmehare.blogspot.com
My favorite is a brownie dough with mint chocolate and crunchy mint candies (not the sour ones, the toffee-like:) blend it in with a hint of orange!
Oh yeah! We use the same mix but sprinkle Ghirardelli chips on top. And I use a pan that makes individual 3×3 brownies, because we love edges.
That looks amazing!!! That would be such a hit in my house. I usually stick to adding nuts and caramel to my brownies but I may change it up for this.
Made these tonight for my friends that came over for dinner and they were a hit! Thanks for the simple yet delicious recipe! It made our night 🙂
love it! 🙂
http://lovesimplegreen.blogspot.com/
I LOVE this idea. What an obvious flavor combination, simply too good to pass up. Now I know what I’m doing tonight. AMAZING. And of course, you make it beautiful too. Well done!
These look great! I love enhancing my brownie mixes and have actually started sharing my creations on the blog –
my favorite were these ones: http://www.bellatheblog.com/2012/10/cookies-and-cream-brownies.html
but I just shared the almond joy version: http://www.bellatheblog.com/2013/06/coconut-cream-brownies.html
Love,
Elisasbeth
I’m absolutely drooling over these. must try ASAP.
Heather :: http://www.justanotherbetsy.blogspot.com
ALWAYS! I love an easy twist on bog mixes. We did this for our wedding – rather than have one large cake we made a cake for each table in different flavours. White box cake – became coconut cake with the addition of coconut milk and a little extract, devils food – mint chocolate with pep extract etc. All of the guests loved them! It also encouraged them to mingle throughout dessert and wander from table to table to find their favourite flavour or to try them all!
I second the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate (when not making from scratch), and my favorite is York Peppermint Patties in the middle. SO good! 🙂
I use mixes from time to time, and think it’s strange that we feel like we have to apologize for it. I’m busy, and sometimes I want brownies RIGHT NOW! They taste good. It’ll be fine. I love the chevron pretzels!
Not sure about the pretzels, since I’ve never liked them, but this would be awesome with almonds or hazelnuts, too 🙂
The layout of the pretzels is awesome though!
This is an absolutely brilliant combination!!! I want some right nowwww!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
I used to love putting some Nutella into box mix chocolate muffins before baking them. It’s so good. I haven’t done it in ages.
I made these over the weekend and they came out great! I used pretzel twists instead though still were great. I gave some to my family and they love them.
These look delicious! I cannot wait to make these brownies 🙂
This looks so delectable! I love your idea! I tried fudge brownies with planters PB toppings and some sliced almonds on top! Instead of putting it in a pan, I used cupcake molds. I’d watch out for the time though. Cupcakes cooks a lot faster than in a pan. Thank you! http://xobakingco.com/
I made these brownies last night and they were gone within five minutes. So good!