Saturday, October 04, 2008

Food 2.0: Mint-Chocolate Brownies


Mint brownie.  What an excellent idea.  It's like a York peppermint patty, except a brownie.  And all hot and fudgy and gooey and melty.  And it goes perfectly with ice cream.  Unless it's cold.  Then it's just perfect in all its warm yumminess.

Mint-Chocolate Brownies
From Food 2.0 by Charlie Ayers

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler or in a bowl set over, but not touching, simmering water in a pan. Stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a small bowl.  Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer until very thick and pale, and the beaters leave a trail when lifted out of the mixture. Mix in the melted chocolate and the peppermint and vanilla extracts at lowest speed. Fold in the flour mixture and the chocolate chips, mixing just until the batter is no longer streaky.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted about 1 inch from the edge comes out clean, about 35 minutes. The top should feel set, but the center should still be quite soft. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool and cut into squares when cold. Store the brownies in an airtight container.

Makes 16 servings

No comments: