Symphony brownies

Boxed brownies are great. Slap a couple of ingredients together, throw them in the oven, and wham – the perfect midnight snack. But sometimes, adding just a couple of extra steps can take a basic recipe from pretty good to absolutely extraordinary. Enter these incredible brownies, first introduced to me by my piano teacher when I was in high school. These are my go-to recipe when I’m short on time and/or inspiration and need to make a dessert for friends.

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The key ingredient in these are Hershey’s Symphony chocolate bars with almonds and toffee. A relative once tried making these brownies with Health bars and…I don’t recommend it. If you only use toffee, the candy solidifies at the center of the brownies, resulting in a less-than-pleasant experience when you try to cut the bars (or, worse, take a bite).

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and preparing your brownie mix. Combine the bag of dry ingredients with 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons of water, and 7 tablespoons of melted butter (just shy of 1 stick).

Mix this thoroughly, until there are no lumps remaining in the batter. Pour half of your batter into a greased 9″ by 13″ pan.

Cover the brownie batter with a layer of (blue label) Symphony chocolate bars. Depending on the exact dimensions of your pan, you may need to creatively break up the bars in order to completely cover the surface of the brownies. This pan with rounded corners only comfortably fit two Symphony bars, but my traditional, square-cornered 9″ by 13″ pan normally fits closer to 3.

Once you have firmly established your layer of chocolate, cover with the remaining half of your brownie batter. I find it easiest to place the batter in large globs around the pan before spreading, in order to avoid disrupting the layer of chocolate bars.

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Bake the brownies for 25-27 minutes at 350 degrees F. Unlike most brownie recipes, a knife or toothpick will not come out clean when these brownies are done, due to the layer of molten chocolate at the center. Instead, you should watch to make sure the batter at the center of the pan is about the same color as the edges.

If you want nice, beautiful brownie slices, allow to cool for 30-60 minutes before slicing and serving. Slicing earlier will result in deliciously gooey brownies (see above), but may be easier to serve using a spoon.

I hope you enjoy Symphony Brownies as much as we have!