Chocolate Mint Brownies

I don't know about y'all but I've been on the hunt for a good mint brownie recipe that doesn't include some sort of alcoholic extract and is still awesome. I FOUND IT! In a Family Fun Christmas book of all the places... It's always in the last place you look, right? Since no one responded to my query about whether or not you wanted me to share some of my favorite holiday recipes BEFORE the holidays, I took matters into my own hands and I'm doing it anyways because hello, I love Christmas. As a side note, this calls for a 9 inch pan and I only have an 8 inch one. Mike, I need a 9 inch pan. They were still good, but I think they would be better if I did them the way they were supposed to. Moving on, here's the recipe!

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Brownies:
½ cup butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
½ tsp salt

Mint frosting:

¼ cup softened butter
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ to 3 TB milk
½ tsp peppermint extract
Green food coloring

Chocolate topping:

¾ cup semisweet chips
3 TB butter

Heat the oven to 350 and grease a 9 inch square baking pan. For the brownies, place the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 1 minutes, stir, cook for 1 minutes more, then stir until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Stir in the chocolate and vanilla extract. Finally, stir in the flour and salt. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 1 hour.

For the frosting, cream the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until it is smooth and spreadable. Beat in the peppermint extract and tine to the desired shade with green food coloring. Frost the cooled brownies, cover, and chill for 1 hour.

To make the topping, put the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 ½ minutes or until the chocolate melts. Stir until smooth. Pour the chocolate over the brownies and smooth it with a knife. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until the coating hardens.
Bring the brownies to room temperature, then cut into 16 to 32 pieces.

Also, here is another favorite Christmas song of mine. Also sung by Straight No Chaser. ENJOY! (If I keep posting about Christmas recipes, do you think the temperature will start to drop? We're going on temps of about 104-107 for the umpteenth day in a row...)

Recipe Source: Family Fun