Caffeinated Triple Bypass Brownies

Are you tired of those skinny thighs? Are your arteries so perfectly clean you feel fantastic? Have you missed caffeine? Is your diabetes so well controlled you feel like you’re on top of the world?

Well if so, do I ever have a recipe to fix that! This triple layer heart attack diabetic coma brownie is everything you need to reach a sugar buzz so high you’ll shoot off the earth like a rocket. Spacecraft? Who needs ‘em!

Caffeinated Triple Bypass Brownies

1 box Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix or Chocolate Supreme Brownie Mix

1 ½ teaspoons very finely ground caramel flavored coffee

1 (11 ounce) bag Kraft Caramel Bits, or about ¾ of a bag of Kraft Caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup half & half

12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon shortening

1 cup mini pretzels, slightly broken

1 cup salted peanuts (lightly salted if you have them), roughly chopped

1. Line an 8”x 8” or 9”x 9” pan with foil all the way to the top and brush with oil. Make the brownies according to package directions adding the ground coffee to the batter. Cool completely.

2. Melt the caramels with the half and half in a large bowl in the microwave on high heat. Stir every thirty seconds until melted. Pour over cooled brownies. Let cool until set.

3. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a large bowl in the microwave on high heat. Stir every thirty seconds until melted. Mix in the pretzels and peanuts. Spread over brownies. Cool and serve.

Notes: Brownies can be sliced and stored in the freezer.

Recipe created by Laura Flowers with inspiration from a lost Associated Press story. Picture by Laura Flowers.