Tips and tricks for Halloween treats

Whether you're throwing a fall festival, a spooky soiree, or a trick-or-treating after party, these treats will satisfy guests of any age.

Peanut Butter Cup and Snickers crunch brownies

The Pastry Chef's Baking
This brownie is built in three layers. The first is a fudgy brownie base, the second is a layer of candy and peanuts, and the third is a layer of peanut butter, Rice Krispies, butter, and chocolate melted together.

Carol RamosThe Pastry Chef's Baking 
Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Brownie layer

1/2 cup butter

8 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate

1-1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Middle layer

1/2 cup peanuts, toasted

1/2 cup peanut butter cups, chopped

1/2 cup Snickers, chopped 

Top layer

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1-1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9- x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. 

2. Melt butter and chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water on medium heat, stirring constantly until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. 

3. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour and salt. By hand, stir enough to emulsify the batter and bring it together but do not overbeat or your brownies will be cakey rather than fudgy if too much air is whipped into them.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a knife. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

5. Remove brownies from the oven and sprinkle the top with the peanuts, chopped peanut butter cups and chopped Snickers. Return to the oven and bake for 3-5 additional minutes.

6. While the brownies are finishing up in the oven, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the Rice Krispies until evenly coated. Remove the brownies from the oven and pour the chocolate and peanut butter mixture over top. Spread to cover evenly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting into 24 squares. Share.

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Dear Reader,

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If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

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The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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