Mint Chocolate Brownie

Welcome back… to you and to me!

It has certainly been a bit of a hiatus since my last blog post. It was not really intentional, and it didn’t reflect a lack of baking, but rather an increasing devotion of all my writing energy towards my thesis. But I’m very pleased to say that I submitted that beast in February, and then spent the following month and a half in the UK/Europe. My husband was temporarily working in Hull, and we travelled to Edinburgh, Dublin, York, London and Lisbon. It was a fantastic trip and I have been inspired to try and bake some of the delicious treats I ate over there.

I am now back home in Auckland and anxiously waiting for the final stages to finish off my PhD!

A couple of snapshots from the last few months. Lisbon, Edinburgh and THESIS!

So, I hope you’ll accept that as a decent enough excuse for my seven month absence, and I assure you that I intend to get back into regular blogging.

My latest indulgence comes from one of the cookbooks I picked up in the UK: Sesame & Spice, by Anne Shooter. I was very pleased with this book, as everything in it sounds amazing (it’s Middle East-inspired), and it only cost £4! Bargain!

Ooey gooey chewy mint chocolate brownies! They’re not the most photogenic of baked goods, but they taste delicious, I promise!

As I can almost never leave a recipe alone, I did make a couple of changes. This brownie is of the rich chewy gooey variety. It is by no means healthy, but it is delectable. If you like the combination of mint and chocolate (I acknowledge that not everyone does), you will enjoy this recipe. I think it could be very easily adapted to be gluten-free.

These brownies contain a layer of mint chocolates – I used Cadbury’s After Dinner Mints. The original recipe suggested After Eights, which are a bit bigger, and could probably form a single layer with no gaps, however I couldn’t see them at the supermarket. The mints melt into the surrounding brownie, so I don’t think you miss out on anything by using smaller chocolates.

Enjoy these brownies on their own, or serve with ice cream and chocolate sauce for a special dessert!

Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 140g butter, cubed
• 225g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon peppermint essence
• pinch salt
• 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
• 85g flour
• about 16 mint chocolates (e.g. After Dinner Mints, After Eights)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC, conventional bake. Line a 20cm square tin with baking paper.
2. Heat chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, until melted and combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before adding sugar, peppermint essence, salt, eggs and egg yolk. Whisk to combine.
3. Fold in the flour and mix until just combined.
4. Pour half of the batter into the lined tin and spread out to the edges. Evenly spread the mint chocolates around the tin. Top with the rest of the mixture.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, until the top has started to crack. Allow to cool in the tin and then cut into squares.