Mint Chocolate Brownies

For a holiday dinner with our gaming friends, I decided to go a different route than cookies this time! The morning of, I was in a chocolate mood (which is probably my default state though, to be honest) and my train of thought was roughly chocolate –> mint chocolate –> it works because mint chocolate chip ice cream –> let’s go for it. These brownies came out delicious, but very rich – I would cut them in smaller squares by half next time!

Ingredients

Brownies:

• 4 eggs
• 1.25 cups cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2.25 cups sugar
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour

Mint Cream:

• .25 cup butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• .25 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• .5 teaspoon mint extract

Chocolate topping:

• .5 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 – 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips
• .5 cup butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beginning with the brownie ingredients, combine the eggs, cocoa, baking powder, and vanilla with your mixer. Melt the butter in the microwave or in a pan over low heat, and add the sugar to the butter. Whisk together, then add to the eggs and other ingredients, and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter into a 9″ x 13″ pan, prepped with non-stick spray. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow the brownies to cool completely.

To make the mint cream, add the butter and cream cheese to a bowl and blend until smooth with a mixer. Mix in the cream, and then the powdered sugar. Finally, add the mint extract and mix thoroughly. When the brownies are cool, pour the mint cream on top and spread evenly. Allow to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

To make the chocolate topping, combine the cream, chocolate chips, and butter in a medium pan over low heat, stirring frequently as the ingredients melt and combine. Pour over the chilled mint cream layer, and return the pan to the refrigerator again until the chocolate has set.

Your brownies are now ready to serve! I used a bit of the extra cream to make whipped cream (beat cream with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form – add sugar to taste, but I prefer it without!), added a poof on top of each brownie, and topped with mint leaves.