Mint Brownies

Is it Christmas yet? I’m pretty sure that it was July about a week ago and all of a sudden Halloween has gone by! And what did I do on Halloween? Perhaps I went to some crazy costume party. Or maybe I enjoyed an evening of pumpkin carving with friends. No, that’s all lies. I spent my Halloween on a train. A five hour train ride getting home from Washington, D.C. The only Halloween festivities that I saw Sunday night were the crazy people in Newark train station. I must mention that I was not out amongst the lunatics, I watched from my little train window as they reveled.

This time of year is rife with holidays, which means that the time seems to pass all that much quicker. No sooner is one holiday upon us that we are looking forward to the next. I like to go buy Halloween candy (for me to eat, not give out to cute kids), but I am confronted with chocolate Santa’s and peppermint nougats. We spend thanksgiving reading the ads for the next day’s black Friday sales. Christmas is spent deciding what you are taking back tomorrow (those pants are totally going back).

So in the spirit of enjoying every moment, I am going to spend the next several days celebrating me! Did you know that it’s my birthday next week? I will be entering into my final year as a twenty-something. So let’s spend the week celebrating with sweets! I’ll throw in something healthy every few days, but I want to celebrate with sugar! And today we start with mint and chocolate, mmm. Happy Birthday me.

Mint Brownies

Adapted slightly from Fat Witch Brownies

So I baked these in a 7 ½ x 7 ½ inch pan and they took 45 minutes to bake. If you are using a traditional 9 x 9 inch pan then you should be fine with the 25 minutes in the directions. Just be sure to check, with a toothpick, if your brownies are done. Poke the brownies somewhere in the middle and the pick should come out clean when they are baked through.
12 tbsp butter (1 ½ sticks)
½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli)
1 tbsp peppermint extract
3 eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chocolate chips (or mint chips if you can find them!)
Green sprinkles (optional, but so fun!)

Heat oven to 350 °F. Coat a 9 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

In a small saucepan melt butter and chocolate. Allow to cool and add peppermint extract.

In another bowl whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and whisk to blend. Sift together the flour and salt directly into the bowl and mix well. Add chocolate (or mint) chips.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and top with green sprinkles. As much as you want! Bake brownies for 25 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool for at least an hour. Remove brownies from the pan and enjoy!

Makes 12 to 16 brownies (or nine, if it’s your birthday week)