So my favorite holiday treat is a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks. They also make a peppermint brownie that’s really yummy. I couldn’t really pick a dessert to make for Thanksgiving so I asked Brian to pick one. We went through Tastespotting for some ideas and came across a few that looked really good.
We finally decided on a peppermint brownie that we saw on this site. Since I love peppermint brownies, I thought it was perfect. I didn’t try the Katherine Hepburn brownies that was featured on TWD, instead I found a recipe on King Arthur Flour that looked pretty good.
It turned out great! I like my brownies more on the fudgy side and not cakey and these were perfect. The peppermint filling was great as well, it wasn’t too sweet and it had the perfect amount of mint flavor. These were a hit!
Notes: I had to make more mint filling since it didn’t seem to fill up my brownie pan. Make sure you let the brownie layer cool completely before putting on the mint layer or else it’ll melt the icing.
Fudge Brownies from King Arthur
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan
2) In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.
4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
5) Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the bakedbrownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.
6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9″ x 13″ pan.
7) Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons fat-free milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Chocolate Ganache Icing from King Arthur
2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips or chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy cream or whipping cream
In a microwave-safe bowl, or in a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat the cream till it’s very hot. You should see wisps of steam beginning to rise from it, and some very tiny bubbles around the edge. Add the chocolate to the cream, and stir till smooth. Don’t panic—at first, the mixture will look disarmingly soupy, but just keep stirring. Very shortly it’ll become a rich brown, thick, shiny spreadable icing. Yield: 2 cups icing.
Once brownie layer has cooled, spread mint layer over the top of the brownies. Now you can have as thick of a layer as you like but I prefered mine to be a thin layer. Spread the layer of ganache over the brownie mix and let cool. You can put it in the fridge to set if you like. Cut up and enjoy!





















