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By Christie Vanover | Published July 8, 2013 | Last Updated November 29, 2023

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Toffee Bars from Zestuous

This blog post is a dessert recipe that uses mustard. WAIT! Don’t stop reading. I promise you this recipe is fantastic! It’s ooey gooey with chocolate, toffee, pretzels, stout…and yes mustard.

I’ve been participating in a recipe contest using Saucy Mama Mustard for a few weeks now. I’ve known if I made it to the end, I was going to have to create a dessert using mustard.

Well, the time has come. I wanted to take this all the way and show that mustard and sweets can play well together.

Intrigued? Are you still with me? Are you passing by slowly like a car wreck that you can’t look away from? Good! You’re still here.

When I think of mustard, I think of pretzels. They go great together. When I think of pretzels, I think of beer. [Oh how I miss beer fests in Europe.] As part of this recipe, I had to use booze, so we’re on the right track.

Mustard, pretzels and beer. Check! Pretzels go great with caramel and chocolate…and stout (dark beer) goes awesome with chocolate…do you see where I’m going here? Don’t be afraid. Love the mustard. Be the mustard.

My first step was creating homemade pretzel toffee using Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard. The mustard has honey and sugar in it with a little Zestuous kick of Hatch chiles. Damn was it good! I ate a half a pan of toffee before I even got to the rest of the dessert.

The rest of the dessert? What else could I possibly do to top this toffee? Pie, cake, candy, cookies, ice cream? I thought of it all.

And I tested all sorts of flavor combinations. I even made dill mustard marshmallows at one point.

I was sitting in my bar sipping on a stout eating some Pretzel Toffee [I have a bar in my house complete with an old beer barrel from Brussels] when it came to me. I’m throwing in everything you’d find in a bar, so why not go with bars? Chocolate Stout Pretzel Toffee Bars.

I started with the traditional Magic Bars concept. A graham cracker butter crust PLUS PRETZELS. Then, for the sweetened condensed milk layer, I added STOUT and MUSTARD. You wouldn’t believe how much better this combination tasted when I added the mustard. It actually accentuated the stout. Next, a layer of dark chocolate chips and the incredible Pretzel Toffee.

DJ, change the record. We’re not doing just magic bars here. Kick on some country music. This dessert needs an ooey gooey Southern chess square topping?

In the oven it finally went. I waited patiently hoping that complete it was going to taste as great as it did in parts. I couldn’t believe that it actually tasted better. I brought a square to my husband and he loved it. When I told him it had mustard and stout in it, he couldn’t believe it.

This has been such a fun challenge. I hope the judges love it as much as I do. And I hope that you’re now a mustard dessert believer.

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Toffee Bars

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Ingredients

5 whole graham crackers
40 mini pretzels
½ cup butter melted
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup stout beer
1 tablespoon Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard
4 cups powdered sugar
3 eggs
8 ozs. cream cheese
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 batch Pretzel Toffee

Instructions

Lay foil in an 8 x 8 pan to cover the bottom and sides. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the graham crackers and pretzels in a food processor and pulse to create 1 ½ cups crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place in a plastic bag and make crumbs with a rolling pin. In a medium bowl, combine the crumbs and melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of the 8 x 8 pan.
In a small bowl, stir together the condensed milk, beer and Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard. Set aside.
Place the powdered sugar and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix slowly with the paddle attachment until smooth. (Or use a large bowl and hand mixer). Once blended, add in the eggs one at a time until combined.
Pour the beer condensed milk mixture evenly in the pan on top of the crumb mixture.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the beer sauce.
Sprinkle the small pieces of Pretzel Toffee evenly over the chocolate chips. (save the large pieces to serve alongside the bars)
Pour the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate chips and toffee. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour, or until the center stops to wiggle when you grab the pan.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.
Place two spatulas under the foil on each side and lift the whole dessert out of the pan. Place on a cutting board.
Using a large knife or dough cutter, cut the square into 9 large bars. If you eat the dessert warm from the oven, the squares will be ooey and gooey like pecan pie. If you refrigerate them overnight, they will become more firm, so you can eat them with your fingers.
Serve with a glass of stout beer and a side of Pretzel Toffee.

The nutrition information is an estimate created using an online nutrition calculator

Pretzel Toffee

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Ingredients

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tsp. Saucy Mama Hatch Chili mustard
1 cup pretzels chopped
pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Place butter, sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat (about 5 minutes). Continue cooking without stirring for about 8 minutes or until it starts to turn golden and reaches 300 degrees.
Remove from heat. Stir in mustard and pretzels.
Pour onto a silicone-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
Once cool, break half into small pieces and half into larger pieces.