When it comes to desserts, our good friend Rita is known for her famous candy bar-filled “pillar brownies”. She is often asked to bring these simple, yet sinfully decadent, brownies to our group potlucks. The technique can be adapted to any box of brownies you have on hand and the candy bar of your choice. We asked her to share her recipe with you, and she was happy to oblige. Take it away, Rita!
I am proud to say I’m a chocoholic. In my opinion, the only thing better than chocolate is more chocolate. This mindset has led me to the best brownies in the world — pillar brownies. Pillar brownies are brownies with a layer of chocolate candy bar in the middle. They are easy to make and delicious to eat.
To start, you need your favorite family-size brownie mix
Now mix up a second batch of your favorite brownie mix, also sized to fix a 9 x 13 pan, and pour it on top of the candy bar/brownies. Make sure to cover the candy bars completely.
Your oven temperature should be set according to the directions on the brownie box but baking will take approximately twice as long — usually about 60 – 90 minutes depending on your oven. I baked this batch for 60 minutes and they turned out perfectly.
The most important step, as well as the hardest one, is letting the finished brownies rest until only slightly warm so the candy bar can mostly re-solidify. Cutting too soon results in brownie ooze, not pillar brownie magic.
The recipe can be adapted to any chocolate bar that has a thick layer of chocolate on the outside. Thinly-coated candy, like Reese’s cups, don’t work.
You can even use more than one kind of candy bar in the same pan. In the picture below, you can brownies made with a peanut butter-filled candy bar (on the left) and a dark chocolate candy bar (on the right). These were both made in the same batch.
Have fun trying these out and becoming a choc-o-holic hero!
P.S. Wouldn’t these go great with a scoop of Chica’s vanilla bean ice cream?
33 comments so far:
chica i am trying to make this for my class and i was wondering if u could make this with snikers or twix thax please write back
Hi Princess. I’ve never tried either of those, but my first guess would be that Snickers would be too thick and Twix wouldn’t taste quite right. I’ll see if I can scrounge up Rita (who gave us the idea) to see if she has any insight.
Princess – I’ve not personally tried Twix or Snickers bars. I believe that the Twix bars won’t give you a pillar brownie though because the chocolate layer around the candy bar is too thin.
On thinly coated candy bars, like Twix, the chocolate doesn’t melt into the top layer of brownie and then the layers do not glue together. It’s more like 2 brownie layers and a (now) semi-naked candy bar. If you’re looking for a caramel and chocolate combination I have used Caramellos and Hershey’s caramel filled candy bars very successfully.
I am not sure if the Snickers bar will work. It has a thin layer of chocolate but the nougat might help hold the brownie together. Let me know how it goes!
hi i wrote you and do you think i can use rolos p.s. u guys make the best gifts 4 food and gifts thanks
Hello again princess. I think the point of this brownie recipe is to use lots of chocolate, not lots of caramel or cookie. Rolos have very little chocolate on them and aren’t very thin. However, you never know what will work until you try, so perhaps you can give it a shot and let us know how it comes out
Hi there! I love the website! I have to bring goodies to a holiday party this Saturday. I’m going to dust off my 1/2 sheet pan (12×17, I think). If i use that pan, how long should I bake? Please keep up the great work, you guys are awesome!
Hi Debbie, thanks for the kind words. We’re so glad you enjoy our site
I have not tried these brownies in a pan that large, and you might end up needing to use an extra batch of brownie batter to have enough to cover it. Either that or the brownies will be quite thin. I am not sure how long it would take to cook, so just watch it closely as it goes and hope for the best!
hi member me? so i took the brownies to my classroom and they were a big hit and the friend i am party planning 4 she wants them at her party and the snickers worked out good didnt try the rolos but thanx love this recipe!
Hi princess, thanks for writing back. I’m glad to hear the Snickers worked and that your brownies were a big hit!
GREATEST BROWNIE RECIPE EVER!!!! I’ve made this at least 10 times and every time I get RAVES!! THANK YOU!!!
So glad to hear it, Mike. Thanks for letting us know!
AHHHHHH! Pillar brownies! I didn’t know this recipe was out here – I guess I missed when you had Rita post it! Man, I haven’t tried making pillar brownies in years. Mmm. Maybe I’ll make them for the Derby party I’m going to this weekend. Awesome! Thanks for the great reminder!
Mmmm. Pillar brownies. Excited just thinking about it!
Mmmmmmmm!! Sounds delicious!! What type of peanut butter-filled candy bar did you use?
Ambrose, Hershey’s makes the peanut butter filled candy bars I’ve used before.
Ok. Thx! I just made some and they were SOOOOOOO GOOD! Althow I am now stuck with a stomach ace. It was definatly worth it though. Next time I will have only a little and a lot more ice cream! Mmmmmmm!!!! Chocolate goodness galore!!! Thank you so much! This website has been very helpful:)
i would like to know some brownies recipe that don’t use some brownie mix…. i am just starting to warm up my cooking skills, and would gladly accept any tips from you!
the recipe above looks lovely! i wanna try it!
liezl, I actually put my favorite from-scratch brownie recipe in another post, titled Chipotle Brownies Recipe. If you aren’t gutsy enough to try the chipotle in that recipe, you can leave it out and the brownies will taste great
Are the brownies good if you make them the day before you want to serve them or is it better to make them the same day?
Cindy, they will be very good the next day. It is best if you let them thoroughly cool so the chocolate bars can harden again.
I’m making these for my uncles birthday do you think I can use almond joys
Hi Stitch. I’m not sure if Almond Joy would work well or not… I worry that the nougat/coconut part might melt down too much, but who knows? If you give it a try, let us know how it comes out!
Can I use Milky Ways or is the chocolate to thin
Nick, I’ve not tried to use Milky Ways before but I would think the coating would be too thin. However, the nougat and caramel might melt to even it out. If you’re ever in doubt, you can always do a test batch to see how it goes.
So, I will need two brownie boxes?
Yes, Stephanie. This recipe requires two family-size box mixes.
iwas wondering what else could iuse instead of chocolate bar? could i use chocolate cake frosting? this is a last minute thing idont have time to go to the store
Kelly, I would not use chocolate frosting inside the batter, because it would break down when you cook the brownies. You could use chocolate chips, though, if you have those on hand.
Best. Brownies. Ever! Huge hit with my family, and managed to please everyone…even the picky eaters! Definitely becoming a regular recipe. Thanks so much!
This is such interesting reading (recipe, comments and all). Thank you so much for sharing. My son ate some “wonderful” brownies someone had made, and she told him it was “easy, just Brownie mix and Kit Kat in the middle. She did it in mini muffin tins. He tried it and it came out hard, and very badly. He was so disappointed, so I thought I’d try to see if I could try to find the recipe and bake it for him, then share the recipe with him. Did you try this with Kit Kat or should I keep searching???
Hi Barbara. We’ve never tried this with Kit Kats, but we’ve used many types of candy bars, always with overwhelming success. Sounds like maybe your brownies overcooked, perhaps because of the smaller muffin tins?
I’m making these now but its no new thing to me. I’ve seen them done before, but never made them myself till now. I am making them for a group of nurses at my girlfriends work for nurses week. I am glad I found this site, because I wasn’t sure how long to bake them. Nor did I know to let them cool. Only thing I worry about is the bottom burning. Baking on center rack at 325 degrees for an hour or more I would think would burn. No?
Jason, we’ve never had issues with them burning.
I have use cookies and cream bars by Hershey’s came out great!