Mexican Chocolate Crunch Brownies

Unless you are Jill, Richard, Heather, Hannah, Mark or my mother you probably don't know about my complete and total adoration for Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Cereal is hands down one of my favorite foods. I love all kinds from regular flakes to child pleasing Captain Crunch and more health focused raisin brain or frosted mini-wheats. Cereal. The delightful combination of milk with tasty bite sized morsels. I tend to go through phases with my cereal loves. The longest and most enduring infatuation has been above all, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. My love is what led me to jump on making these brownies from the Pillsbury 43rd Annual Bake Off. Mom was nice enough to get the little recipe booklet with all of the finalists in it for me. And this was one of the first I marked to try.

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Ingredients:
1 box (12.8 oz) Cinnamon Toast Crunch® cereal (about 8 cups)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tbs corn syrup
1 box Fudge Brownie Mix
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbs cinnamon-sugar



Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with baking spray. Crush cereal until finely crushed in food processor. You should have about 4 cups.
In large bowl, stir butter and corn syrup until well blended. Add crushed cereal; mix thoroughly. Press evenly in pan.
In large bowl, make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and eggs as listed and adding cinnamon. Stir in 2/3 cup of the chocolate chips. Pour brownie batter over cereal mixture. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips evenly over batter.
Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar evenly over brownies.
Bake 14 to 18 minutes longer or until brownies are set when lightly touched in center. Cool 10 minutes; loosen edges but do not cut. Cool completely, about 2 hours before cutting.

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I really liked these a lot. The one suggestion I would make is to bake the crust by itself for maybe 5-10 minutes before adding the brownie mix. The cereal crust ended up really chewy and although it tasted alright it's texture was unpleasant.