Candy Bar Brownies

Sunday at lunch I told my husband (who has the sweetest tooth of any person I know) that he could choose any dessert he'd like me to make for dinner that night.  Would it be a pie or cobbler? Cake or cupcakes? Cookies or some sort of bars? He couldn't decide! So what'd we do? Pull up my Pinterest boards, of course, to help make the big decision. You should've seen him. "Scroll up, no scroll down, slower, down, back up, the other window, go back, go up, slow down, go back up".....hahahahaha. He was like a kid in a candy store. And what caught his eye? A brownie filled with candy, naturally.  
This is a popular Pinterest recipe, it's shown up in my feed a number of times. Store bought brownie mix (two packages, baked according to package directions) with candy bars in it. As much as my husband and almost-two-year-old would love to have that much brownie to have to eat; it's more than we need, so I halved the recipe and used just one package of Betty Crocker basic fudge brownie mix (which called for an egg and some water and oil) and about 20 miniature sized chocolate bars. 

We used Twix, Butterfinger, Reese's, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Krackle, Hershey's (original) and Snickers, but you can use whatever you like. Pour half the batter in a well-greased baking dish (I used an 8x8 one). Layer your candy bars (avoid putting any too close to the edges of your dish) and pour the other half of the batter on top. I had to do a little bit of spreading to get the batter even over the candy bars. Bake according to directions. Ours took somewhere around 25 minutes at 350 until a knife poked through the brownie came out clean(ish)....remember it has candy in it, so I you may have test it in a few spots where there is brownie instead of candy.

 How did it turn out? An oooey, gooey, hot mess. Well, not a mess. My husband said it was beautiful, but this is not the kind of brownie recipe you can take somewhere to show off your master culinary skills. It's perfectly acceptable for enjoying at home,  but don't plan on taking this to any church potlucks or for the breakroom at work. It falls apart because of all the candy. The flavor? Great. It's brownie and candy bars, come on!  It also is kind of exciting to know what you're going to get in your brownie slice - maybe caramel, peanut butter or butterfinger? It's just not the kind of brownie recipe that "looks" as good as it tastes, since it breaks apart so easily....so you and your family will have to eat them all by yourselves! :) Now, go make these, turn off the lights, sit on the couch, turn on the TV and ENJOY!  :)