A Mouth Full of Chocolate (and mint!)

I am posting this today for Mrs. Maddle Faddle Newlywed who is going crazy baking and cooking delicious things for her cute new husband. I have been impressed with her endeavors and her dedication to her culinary education. They are living in the basement apartment of an elderly couple in our ward and she has not been blessed with the best cooking equipment… the oven doesn’t hold a constant temperature and can be off by about 50°.  But she’s hanging in there and I predict that by this time next year, she’ll be an expert!

She has been requesting the recipe for the Brownie Bites that we served at Buttercup’s wedding reception. And I promised to post the recipes for the treats we served… so without further ado, here it is!

Mint Brownie Bites

As I mentioned in a previous Brownie recipe, I am a brownie snob. I have only found THIS ONE brownie recipe that I like. It’s the right level of chocolate and it’s not too dense. Ugh! I HATE dense brownies! The recipe comes from a Taste of Home: Quick Cooking magazine that I got in the mail several years ago.

Brownies
2 C sugar
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 C baking cocoa
1 tsp salt
5 eggs
1 C vegetable Oil
1 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients; beat until smooth. (I just use a wooden spoon. I don’t think you need a hand or stand mixer to make this recipe.) 

Liberally grease a mini-muffin pan. (I used Olive Oil Pam spray at first, and the brownies did NOT come out! So I switched to regular Pam spray and had no problems after that.) Use a cookie scoop to fill each cup to about 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes. But -- and here I’m sorry it’s not more precise -- make sure you start checking them after about 9 minutes. My oven took 12 minutes, but my friend who made these last weekend, only needed to bake them for 9. Ovens can be as unique and different as individual people are!

When they have finished baking, and you have removed them from oven, take a thin spatula that you use for frosting cakes and run it around the outside of each brownie to loosen it up.

Using this spatula, after the brownies have cooled for about 5 minutes, you can then gently pry them out of the pan and onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Bake the rest of your Brownie mixture. I made sure to spray the pan EACH TIME I filled it. I didn’t want to run the risk of having these babies sticking and getting ruined as I pulled them out of the pan. I needed them to look BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL for the reception!

After you’ve finished baking the brownies, you could seriously walk away and be done. They are delicious right now. That’s how good this recipe is!

But why would you just walk away? Especially when you can take them to the NEXT LEVEL?

Exactly.

Mint Frosting for Brownies
2 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp water or milk
Food coloring (make whatever color you’d like)
1/2 C butter – softened
1/2 tsp. mint extract

Mix together until creamy. Eezy Peezy, I know!

I put the frosing into a decorating bag and used a Wilton #12 decorating tip to swirl the icing on top of the cooled brownie. Of course, that’s optional.

Again, I could have stopped there. The brownie was beautiful with just that little swirl of color on top! But, I couldn’t walk away, just yet! There is ONE MORE LEVEL!

Chocolate Topping
1 C semi sweet chips
6 Tbsp butter.

Carefully melt in the microwave. I start off by putting it in for 1 minute and then 30 second intervals after that. Stir after each time, making sure you don’t scorch and burn it.

When it’s completely mixed together you take a little spoon and carefully spread it on top of the frosting. Make sure you leave a little edge of the frosting showing! I think it looks prettier that way!

And there you have it! It sounds like it might be a little labor intensive, but it really isn’t. You can knock a batch of these out in just a couple hours and it makes a TON, so you can share it with your friends/neighbors/family/co-workers and still have plenty left at home for you to indulge in. And seriously, they are probably the tastiest thing this side of bacon.