Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

I set out the ingredients to bake my signature chocolate marshmallow brownies, and realized that I was out of unsweetened baking chocolate. I hit the pause button and raced down the street to my local supermarket where I scanned the shelves of the baking aisle fruitlessly. Scouring the Hershey’s website and Amazon turned up …nada. Finally I phoned the Hershey’s helpline and was coolly informed that this product was no longer available.  Regrettably, the manufacturer had not consulted with me before discontinuing it.

Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

This recipe for chocolate marshmallow brownies is one of the many recipes shared by Lois Lilienstein, of Sharon, Lois & Bram fame, a Canadian children’s music group founded in Toronto, Ontario, 1978. Lois loved to cook and was famous for her brownies. Lois passed away in 2015 and her life was honored at a sold-out memorial concert at the St Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto that same year. It was very fitting that as the attendees left the memorial concert, they were each given one of Lois’ brownies, because that is how Lois showed her love for others.

I have been making Lois’ brownie recipe, published in Bonnie Stern’s classic cookbook, Desserts, for too many years to count and was not prepared to abandon it because of a missing ingredient. Finding an easily sourced replacement for the AWOL unsweetened baking chocolate was imperative. Happily, the culinary mavens at Cook’s Illustrated magazine suggested this simple substitution:
To replace 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, use 1 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and remove 1 tablespoon sugar from recipe.
Easy. Before long, there was a pan of deep, dark chocolate brownies, dotted with melted, chewy marshmallows cooling on my counter. Share the love and bake a pan of chocolate marshmallow brownies today.

(Click this link for a short video of Sharon, Lois and Bram singing about Lois’ brownies.)

Assemble your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9X13-inch pan with baking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spread out 1 cup of whole pecans on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes on the middle rack of the oven until the pecans are brown and aromatic.  Remove from the oven and let cool. Quickly toasting your pecans will both provide additional crunch and enhance their exceptional flavor. For the best result, toast the pecans as whole pieces, then chop as the recipe suggests.

Chop the chocolate with a knife. Combine the chocolate with butter or margarine in a microwavable bowl and microwave on medium power for 90 seconds. Check the chocolate to see if it has started to melt. Give it a stir. Continue to microwave on medium power for 20-30 second intervals until it starts to melt. Stir until it is completely melted. (Please see the photographs above.) The chocolate and butter or margarine can also be melted in the top of a double boiler if desired. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl beat the eggs with the sugar until light. I used a whisk. Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the salt and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the batter just until combined.

Stir in the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the toasted, chopped pecans. Bake for 35-40 minutes. The brownies will be very soft when removed from the oven but will firm up after cooling. Allow the brownies to cool completely and chill. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

By Lois Lilienstein, Bonnie Stern, Desserts – Serves: 16

Prep Time: 15 minutes – Cooking Time: 50-60 minutes – Total Time: 40 minutes

Deep, dark chocolate brownies, studded with melted, chewy marshmallows

Ingredients

• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate OR substitute 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (not a typo, in addition to the chocolate above)
• 1 cup butter or 2 sticks margarine
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar (use 1 3/4 cups if substituting bittersweet or semisweet chocolate for unsweetened chocolate)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups miniature white marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped coarsely, for topping

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9X13-inch pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper.

2

Spread out 1 cup of whole pecans on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes on the middle rack of the oven until the pecans are brown and aromatic.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

3

Chop the chocolate with a knife. Combine the chocolate with butter or margarine in a microwavable bowl and microwave on medium power for 90 seconds. Check the chocolate to see if it has started to melt. Give it a stir. Continue to microwave on medium power for 20-30 second intervals until it starts to melt. Stir until it is completely melted. The chocolate and butter or margarine can also be melted in the top of a double boiler if desired. Cool slightly.

4

In a large bowl beat the eggs with the sugar until light. (I used a whisk.) Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the salt and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the batter until just combined.

5

Stir in the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the toasted, chopped pecans. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow the brownies to cool completely. Refrigerate or freeze the brownies until ready to serve.

Notes

Use the best quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate that you can for this recipe. You will be amply rewarded!