Chocolate mint brownies

I wanted to bring Neil something baked and delicious as a thank you for all the work he put into setting team trials, mostly single handedly, but it is supposed to be five gazillion degrees this weekend, and humid. That is not good weather for wanting to eat baked goods. But I wanted something rich and chocolatey (hey, a cook's gotta taste stuff...), so I settled on mint chocolate chip brownies. Because mint always tastes cool, and brownies go down well any time. There are a lot of recipes out there for chocolate mint brownies, but I ended up mostly using this one. With lots of modifications, mostly due to what I did or didn't have in my kitchen. The end result was delicious, but I've only eaten them frozen so far. They're so good that way, I don't think I'll bother thawing them, although they'll probably thaw by the time I get them to Neil.

Chocolate Mint Brownies
Made one 9x13" pan... cut into however many pieces you want.

Brownie base:
3/4C flour
2 tbs dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder
1/2tsp salt
~1C chocolate (in this case, a mix of 100% dark ghiradelli, some chocolate chips, and the last of my KAF burgundy bites)
1 stick butter, cut into chunks
1C brown sugar (I don't have any white sugar right now)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mint layer:
1/2 stick butter
1C confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 tsp water

Chocolate topping:
~1C chocolate (chocolate chips would do... I was scrounging for anything chocolate, and found something labeled "ooey gooey chocolate sauce (2009)" in my fridge, and it was hard, like chocolate should be, so I mostly used that. I am now out of chocolate. This is a situation that really should be remedied).
1 tbs butter

For the brownies, melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Remove from heat and add the sugar, whisk to combine. Add the vanilla, and then the eggs. For the eggs, first beat them together (not a lot of beating, just enough so that they're not separate whites and yolks) in a separate bowl, then temper them with the hot chocolate, or let the chocolate cool to room temp before you add the eggs. Then sift all the dry stuff on top, and fold to combine. Don't beat or whisk, as that'll cause the eggs to work magic and turn your brownies into chocolate cake.


Preheat the oven to 325, and bake for 12-15 min, in a greased 9x13" pan. I had to cook mine for the full 15 min. Cool the brownies. I put mine on a piece of parchment paper (greased both sides), and that let me pull them out of the pan and onto another pan, for faster cooling.


For the filling, beat the sugar and butter and flavor together, until it makes frosting. Spread on the cooled brownies, and then put in the freezer so it can set up before you put on the chocolate layer. Green food coloring is optional at this point.




In the microwave, melt the chocolate and butter for the topping. Be very careful not to burn the chocolate. Use a flexible spatula to spread the chocolate on top of the green frosting. Put the brownies back in the freezer to set up before you cut them.


Cut them into squares, and eat immediately, or keep them in the freezer and eat them one at a time. They're pretty yummy.