Symphony Brownies

Last month I got into a conversation with a guest at a party about all the things she baked over the recent holiday … toffee, shortbread, brownies and countless other items, each one sounding better than the next. “And then I made Symphony Brownies.  I made them so many times I’m sick of them now, but they’re so good,” she said. “Symphony Brownies?”  This was a new one on me. “You’ve never heard of them?  They’re all over the net and very simple to make.”  She rattled off the ingredients and I was already making a mental grocery list of items to buy on the way home. It starts with a box mix.  Actually two box mixes.  And three big candy bars.  And nuts.  There’s nothing wrong with making a box mix once in awhile.  Or all the time.  It depends on your comfort level, your motivation and available hours in the day, you know?  Truth be told, as much made-from-scratch baking as I do, I always have a few boxes on hand for those spur of the moment times. The week we went away on vacation, and a few days after our baking conversation, we had our monthly supper club gathering.  Although the theme was tapas, which I love, I brought the brownies as an extra dish.  They were everything she said they were and more … fudgy, dense, decadent and sinfully delicious.  So now when I have box mixes on hand, it will be to make these. When I google’d “symphony brownies,” who should pop up but Paula Deen?  Unless she got it from someone else, it looks like the recipe is hers, and there’s even a video of her making them on Food Network with one of her sons.  She gilds the lily a bit by topping the brownies with powdered sugar and candied whipped cream, but I think we can safely skip that.  No matter how you serve them, they’re sure to satisfy your sweet tooth just fine. Symphony Brownies 2 brownie mixes (you want to look for ones that have a 9×13 pan as a baking option; not all do; I used Duncan Hines’ fudgy brownie mixes) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 3 Hershey’s Symphony bars Preheat oven per brownie mix directions.  Spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray.  Mix up one brownie mix, following the directions on the back of the box.  Add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to batter.  Pour it into the baking dish.  Unwrap the three Symphony bars and place them on top of the batter, side by side.  Mix up the second box of brownies, adding the remaining 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter, and pour the batter into the baking dish, over the Symphony bars.  Bake 40 minutes.  Allow brownies to cool.  Cut and devour. Notes:  These cut a lot neater if you wait for them to completely cool.  I was running late for Supper Club, so didn’t.   You can obviously make both boxes of brownie mix at the same time and just put half in the dish, add the candy bars, and then the other half.  I mixed it by hand, so found it easier to mix up each box separately.

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