Better-than-BYU Mint Brownies

My married daughters keep asking me to post recipes, but I'm hesitant because I don't have pictures of any of them. I'm like any other non-professional blogger/baker/chef, which means when I cook, I am usually cooking with a specific purpose OTHER than sharing on the web. These brownies, however, have been my MOST REQUESTED recipe of those who I've made them for, so I'm posting to have an easy place to send recipe-seekers to.

The past two years my youngest daughter has participated in her high school musical. When it's tech week (the week prior to the show), the kids start running the show immediately after school until 9 or 10 at night. During this week the parents of the participants bring in dinner for the cast and crew. Last year I signed up for "2 dozen hand-held treats" on 3 or 4 evenings, and I made a double batch of these brownies the first night. My daughter came home that night and said that the kids loved the brownies and hoped I would bring them again, which I did. They were a hit (no pun intended haha), so I also signed up to make them for the cast party. This year they were requested before tech week even began. It's safe to say I've made a double batch recipe at least a dozen times in the past year... and I've never taken a good picture of the finished brownies. I snapped these pictures of some that were left over from a neighborhood party my husband and I hosted last week -- these are actually half of a brownie, but I'll explain about brownie sizes after the recipe.

Better-than-BYU Mint Brownies

Brownie:
1 cup butter, melted (2 sticks)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1-1/2 cup flour

Mix butter, cocoa, and sugar; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Stir in flour. Spread into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Mint Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 to 3 Tbs. milk
2 tsp. mint extract
Green food coloring

Mix butter and powdered sugar. Add only enough milk to make a smooth consistency. Add mint extract and enough food coloring for a light green color. Frosting will be fairly thick. Spread over brownie layer and refrigerate until firm.

Chocolate topping:
1-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave for 2 minutes on 80% power, stir to combine. If more time is needed, microwave in 20 second increments, then stir, until smooth. Pour over frosted brownies, covering mint frosting completely (an off-set spatula is your best friend). Refrigerate until topping is set and hardened. Let brownies sit at room temp for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting. Cut into 24 squares (I use a paper towel to wipe my knife with each cut for clean edges).

**Notes: I have primarily made these by doubling the brownie recipe and using a half-sheet pan. I generally only 1-and-a-half times the mint frosting and chocolate topping when doubling the recipe. In the pictures included with this post I fully doubled the mint frosting and chocolate topping, and they were REALLY rich. I think I like them better with the 1-1/2 recipe. If you love those thick layers, then by all means, fully double all recipes. IF you are only making a single recipe, you will have thicker layers unless you do the math to decrease the recipe size of toppings. That makes sense, right?

The half-pan doubled recipe can be cut into 48 servings... or 96 if you cut them in half again, which is perfect when there are other selections of treats. Those half servings also fit nicely into cupcake papers, as you can see from the second picture.

For full disclosure, here, I've never had a BYU mint brownie... I have heard about them. I have, however, had people who HAVE had them tell me these are better. I made them for my daughter Shilo's high school graduation party, and since she would be attending BYU that fall, just for fun I called them "Better-than-BYU Mint Brownies."

Mom-made is always better, right?