Mint Chocolate Brownies

Mint Chocolate and Myself have been having a love affair as far back as I can remember, so when I spied lots of Mint Chocolate Brownies with a layer of bright green frosting and topped with more chocolate on Pinterest I knew I had to find a recipe and try making them myself.

The brownies themselves were quite fudgey, personally I think I’d like them to be more chocolatey with maybe some chocolate chips too for extra crunch. Brownies topped with frosting was a new concept for me but now that I’ve tried it I think I’ll be working out some different flavour combinations soon, the extra sweetness satisfied my sweet tooth. They also look quite pretty too.

Mint Chocolate Brownies
makes between 16-32 brownies

adapted from Disney Family Fun

Brownies
115g / 4oz butter
115g / 4oz dark chocolate
270g 9½ oz golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp peppermint essence
110g / 3½ oz plain flour
½ tsp salt

Frosting
60g / 2 oz softened butter
330g / 10oz icing sugar
2 – 5 tbsp milk
1 tsp peppermint essence
tiny blob of mint green colour paste

Chocolate topping
70g / 2¼ oz dark chocolate
70g / 2¼ oz milk chocolate
100g / 3¼ oz butter

Preheat the oven to 180°c / 350°f / gas mark 4 and line a 9 inch squared tin (or like me an 8 inch square tin & two ramekins)

In a glass bowl over a saucepan of water (or a microwave) melt the chocolate & butter together.

In a separate bowl beat together the sugar & eggs until they are light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla paste (if using extract use slightly more) and the peppermint essence.

Stir in the melted chocolate & butter and finally the flour and salt. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Then cool in the tin for at least an hour.

To make the minted green frosting beat together the butter and icing sugar. Slowing add a tablespoon of milk at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Then add the peppermint and colouring till it reaches the colour you wish. I find the tiniest of blobs gets the right colour with Sugarflair colourpaste but it you are using water based colouring you may need more but this will make the frosting more runny, so maybe use a little extra icing sugar to counterbalance that.

Spread evenly over the fully cooled brownies. I chilled mine overnight but that isn’t essential, an hour or two will do.

Melt together the butter and chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of water on a gentle heat. Pour this over the top of the frosting – try to not touch it, as this will dull the final finish of the chocolate. Chill for another hour or so.

Remove from the tin and cut into your desired number of squares. When storing them it would probably help to place grease proof paper between them to stop them from sticking. Also I recommend you keep them in the fridge, as the topping will get quite soft at room temperature.

My personal advice would be to eat these with a cocktail and maybe while wearing a ball gown. But this isn’t essential.