One of my favorite past times from high school was making mint brownies with my dear friend Kyle.  We would happily sit on the couch (likely watching Harry Potter) with a pan of brownies to our right and a bowl of kettle corn to our left and not move for hours.  It’s really kind of amazing that I am not obese if you think about it.  We even took a whole pan with us on an orchestra trip once and proceeded to eat them all without sharing a single brownie with our poor bus mates.  I have since become more generous, and would like to share the ridiculous ease of this recipe with you.  I even cheat by using a brownie mix.  And no one is the wiser.  Kyle and I used to make brownies with only the mint topping, but Meg later re-introduced me to the idea of a hardened chocolate layer on top which our mom used when we were growing up.

What you’ll need:

Brownies

– Brownie mix and corresponding ingredients.  We used Ghirardelli because we fancy ourselves to be fancy.

Mint Layer

– 4 tbsp soft butter

– 2 tbsp milk

– Green food coloring

– 2 cup powdered sugar

– 1 tsp peppermint flavor

– 1/2 tsp vanilla (because Meg has to add vanilla to everything.  It’s a rule.)

Hardened Chocolate Layer

– 6 tbsp butter

– 1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

What you’ll do:

1)  Make the brownies.  Just like the box says.  Easy peasy.  Let brownies cool.

2)  Mix all of the mint layer ingredients (butter, milk, powdered sugar, peppermint, and vanilla) in a large bowl.  Just wanted to point out the fancy pants vanilla that Megan uses to make everything taste like magic.  It is Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla.  So you know it’s good.

3)  Add the food coloring, one drop at a time.  Mix until the frosting becomes your chosen color.  We settled on a very light mint green.  Spread over your brownies.  You don’t have to kill yourself to make it look good because you will be covering it with the chocolate layer.

4)  Make a double boiler by placing a small metal bowl over a large metal pan with simmering water.  Melt together the butter and the chocolate chips until nice and smooth.  Spread evenly over the mint layer and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes to harden.  Once they are done, I keep the brownies in the fridge so they don’t melt.  And I might still eat them straight out of the pan.  I really do think they taste better that way.