Mint Chocolate Brownies ~ Mid Week Munchies

With St. Patrick's Day on my mind,  I had a delicious craving from the past: Mint Chocolate Brownies. As a married adult I have never made these brownies so I called my Mom for directions. Here is her mouthwatering recipe:

Start by using your favorite boxed brand of brownie mixes or your own homemade recipe. Cook brownies according to boxed instructions. Little tip: when greasing pan, I like to add a coating of sugar to the bottom. It make the brownies easy to remove from the pan and adds a little touch of sweetness.

Once brownies have cooled make your mint buttercream frosting. I like to have my mint frosting be about 1/4" thick. Mix:

4 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

4 tablespoons melted butter (or more, depends on what you like)

1/8 cup milk (more or less depending on thickness of frosting) 

Drop of green food coloring ~ channel your inner leprechaun for degree of green!

Allow frosting to set (harden) for an hour or so before adding chocolate.

Chocolate Top: In a sauce pan heat 5 tablespoons of butter on low until melted. Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate and lightly stir til chocolate is melted and mixed. Chocolate will melt practically on its own, so not alot of stirring is required. Little tip: add about a tablespoon of Crisco to chocolate...this gives the chocolate a shiny texture which is really pretty. Once chocolate has cooled, (this may take up to a half an hour) but still warm enough to spread, spread over brownies. (Side note: I only added about 1 1/4 cups chocolate and felt like I didn't have quite enough that is why I upped the recipe a 1/4 cup, add even more chocolate and butter if you want a thick chocolate top!)

All three layers: brownie, mint frosting, chocolate. I love to put my brownies in the fridge and let them chill for a couple hours, makes them perfect with a cold glass of milk.

Perfect treat for any Leprechaun this St. Patty's Day!