Brownies with Mint Icing

Brownies could be my favorite baked good.  They are so rich and tantalizing, but incredible simple too.  Sometimes the best things in life don't take hard work.  

These are homemade, but I don't turn my nose up to a under baked brownie from a box.  I usually avoid semi-homemade things that come from boxes, but brownies are the exception.  

They are practically impossible to ruin.  No fancy equipment or stirring technique is required.  

Though difficult to mess up, biting into an over baked brownie is a letdown.  They're still good, but they don't achieve the grander that by right should be theirs.

I recently posted a caramel brownie, but this is the first mint and brownie combination I have on my blog.  Mint and chocolate are a wonderful and festive flavor pair.  The mint is cool and crisp, while the dense, chocolate brownies are rich and fudge-y.

The brownie recipe came from epicurious, and it's absolutely divine.  The mint frosting came from howstuffworks.  I didn't make any alterations.

The brownie ingredients are 10 tablespoons butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 eggs,  and1/2 cup all-purpose flour.

The ingredients for the mint frosting are 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon softened butter, and 1/2 teaspoon mint extract.  I also added half a crushed candy cane as garnish.

To make the brownies I added the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to the saucepan.  I melted the butter and dissolved the sugar and cocoa into an smooth mixture over low heat.  The instructions said to use a ban marie.

I put the pan aside until it was no longer hot.  The mixture was still warm but cool enough to touch.  Once it had cooled, I added the vanilla.

I stirred in the eggs one at a time.  I stirred vigorously after each addition.

When the batter was shiny and thoroughly combined, I added the flour.  I stirred until the flour had disappeared into the batter.  I stirred for 40 strokes after the last streak of flour had disappears.  That sounds very persnickety, but it is what the recipe directed.

I poured the batter into a foil lined and greased eight inch square pan.  I am sharing three photos of this step because the strand of chocolate batter looks so luscious.

I baked this for 20 minutes at 325 degrees.  I checked, and it was very undercooked.  I increased the temperature to 350 and baked for another 5 minutes.  

It was perfectly cooked at this point.  I let the brownies cool completely.  

For the frosting, I added the butter, milk, and sugar to a bowl.  I only added 2 tablespoons of milk at first.

I added a little more milk to reach the desired consistency.

I added the mint extract and stirred it into the frosting.

I smoothed the creamy icing over the cooled brownies.  It was the perfect amount of frosting for this pan of brownies.

I crushed up half of a candy cane and sprinkled the shards on the fresh icing.  I didn't want the icing to harden before adding the candy.

This is a spectacular brownie recipe.  It is dense, rich, and decadent.  There is more butter than flour, which makes for a fudge like brownie.  You may think you have a better brownie recipe, but I encourage you to question its worth enough to try this one.

The icing was creamy and fresh.  Chocolate and mint are one of the best combinations.  It is a perfect flavor pairing for the holidays.

The candy canes added a seasonal tough.  I enjoyed the crispy texture of the crushed candy.  After a day, the candy canes soften and begin to dissolve into the icing. If you are not going to eat these within 24 hours, I would omit the candy garnish.

This has been my favorite Christmas recipe to date!  I'm going to post a chocolate mint cookie that gives these brownies a run for their money, but these were definitely worth the minimal effort it took to bake them.  They're toothsome, sweet, and chocolatey.  The brownie recipe was phenomenal.  I'm going to use it again.