Hershey's Frosted Chocolate Brownies

Hershey's Frosted Chocolate Brownies

Sometimes I open my cupboard for inspiration. I knew we would need something special for a meeting and couldn't decide what to make. Then I looked on the shelf and saw my big tin of Hershey's cocoa and knew what I was going to use.

A quick scroll of the Hershey's website and I found their "Ultimate Chocolate Brownies."

Hershey's covers theirs with a few chocolate chips, but I have these great dark chocolate Belgium sprinkles. So delicious!

Honestly, I'm not a fan of frosting and usually not a fan of the frosted brownie. But I am growing fond of the Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Frosting. It provided a nice balance to the brownie.

The brownie has natural cocoa and 1 cup of chocolate chips (I used Dark Chocolate chips). You can make it in one 9x13 pan, or two 8x8 pans (that's good for those who like brownie edges). When cooled, you top with chocolate frosting...and sprinkles or more chocolate chips. If I were to skip the sprinkles, I would garnish with mini chocolate chips because everything is better in mini form.

Can you see the chocolate chips in the brownie? Always a winner.

Hershey's Frosted Chocolate Brownies
Adapted from the Hershey's website

Brownies
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa (or a natural cocoa)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter, melted (This is such a weird amount of butter. Since it is really 10 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of butter, I just used 11 Tablespoons of butter or between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 sticks of butter)
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2  eggs (at room temperature)
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur All-Purpose)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used Hershey's Dark)

Frosting (see below)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan or two 8-inch square baking pans. (I used a 13 x 9 pan, and I lined the pan with parchment paper.)

2. In a large bowl, stir the cocoa and baking soda together with a whisk, and then stir in 1/3 cup butter (that's half the melted butter). Add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Fold in the flour, then fold in the chocolate chips. Don't overmix. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan, 30 to 35 minutes for square pans or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

4. When cool, frost cupcakes. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles, other fun sprinkles or chocolate chips. Cut and enjoy!

Hershey's One-Bowl Buttercream Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup natural cocoa
1/3 cup milk (I used 1% milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa (Hershey's instructions don't have this, but I find it is very helpful to sift all powdered sugar and cocoa).

Beat butter in medium bowl until soft and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla.

Spread over cooled brownies.