Award Winning Mint Brownies: A Recipe

Once upon a time my fiance made a batch of brownies. These were not just everyday brownies; they were a family recipe, from his future mother-in-law. He made them in his carpeted kitchen in a house he shared with two roommates in Steubenville, OH. He then submitted them to a baking contest judged by university professors. He won the prize in his category, and took me out for dinner with his gift card prize. The baking contest may have been a fundraiser for my household...

Last Friday was not planned for by a certain wife and mother. The kids had made their Valentine cards the previous week, and the house had since then been plagued by and purged of a stomach bug. I was scrambling Friday afternoon to celebrate my love for my family with something in addition to the pizza delivery. 

I whipped together the family favorite mint brownies, only to discover that I had no confectioner's sugar. Thankfully, I was saved by a generous neighbor, and M arrived home to almost finished heart shaped brownies.

Pink mint is pretty weird to look at. I suppose I could have left it just white, since green is not really appropriate for St. Valentine's Day, but with three little girls in the house I had to use pink.
 
I am not sure where my mom got the recipe, but she has been making them my whole life.

She sent a copy of this card to me after I asked her to send me the recipe, when M wanted to make them for the baking contest. I then took it and made it into an easy to follow set of charts. And here it is the recipe:

Award Winning Mint Brownies or Chocolate Mint Layer Cookies:

·Grease 8x8 or 9x13 pan and set oven to 350° F. Set out icing butter to soften.

* Can use 2 oz. or 3 oz. of unsweetened chocolate
depending on pan size instead of shortening and cocoa.

·Melt butter and shortening and add cocoa.
·Beat in eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
·Stir in other ingredients.
·Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on pan size.
·After cools a bit out of oven, cool in the freezer or refrigerator to ready the brownies for the frosting.

·Using an electric mixer, whip together sugar and softened butter.
·Add milk little by little until a nice fluffy consistancy. 
·Add the mint extract and whatever coloring or lack of coloring you desire.
· Here I used a greased heart cookie cutter to make heart shaped brownies. Usually we just frost the brownies in the pan and cut them into squares. 
·Spread frosting onto cool brownies, and then chill the brownies again until ready to add chocolate drizzle. 

 

·Melt the butter and chocolate together, and add vanilla. (My sister and I discovered over Christmas that substituting chocolate chips for the baking chocolate can work for the drizzle.)
·Drizzle the mixture over the frosted brownies.

·Let cool, and cut, and serve!