St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  It's always fun to think of what green dessert I'll make on this holiday.  (This just has one layer of green, but still.)  These brownies are so good- a chewy brownie layer, topped by mint frosting, and covered with a melted mint chocolate mixture.  I did not realize how much butter this recipe entailed until after I started making it- holy butter!!  I almost didn't have enough butter in the house to make these- I only have one tablespoon left in the whole house now!!  Lol! 

This is my Mom's recipe.  She calls them BYU brownies, after the brownies her university had for sale in their food area (cafeteria?  I don't know what to call it).  I'm just going to call them Mint Brownies, myself, since I did not go to the same university.  :) 

These are not hard to make, but time-consuming, as you must make each layer and then wait for each layer to cool before adding the next.  I started these around 10am and was finished at about 2pm (doing lots of other stuff in-between, of course!).  One could make the brownie layer the night before to make prep faster.

Mint Brownies
from my Mom

Brownies:
1 cup butter
2 cup white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9x13 pan.  In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat in the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder (a whisk works well for this).  Spread batter into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 22-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out almost clean.  Do not overbake.  Cool completely.

Filling:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1//2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 drops green food coloring (or use gel food coloring; just a dab)

Combine filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl; beat until creamy.  Spread over cooled brownies.  Refrigerate until set. 

Topping:
1 (10 oz.) package mint chocolate chips (or 10 oz. mini semi-sweet choc chips and a few drops mint extract)
1/2 cup butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter over very low heat in a small saucepan until smooth (mine never got completely smooth- but it was still fine and looked good on the brownies).  Let cool for 30 minutes or until lukewarm, stirring occasionaly.  Spread over filling.  Chill before cutting.  Store in refrigerator. 

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