Brownies on the Brain

The past couple of years I've taken up the habit of making treats for my friends as gifts (birthdays, Christmas, etc). So I usually tailor the gift to the recipient's taste or the theme of the occasion. One of my friend's LOVES green tea & crunchy cookies so I made him a batch of green tea butter cookies. One Christmas I made peppermint bark & cookies for all of my friends. Anyhow, you get the idea...

A really good friend of mine had her birthday earlier this month but I literally already planned what to make for her birthday THIS year when her birthday rolled around LAST year. My friend, let's call her Miss Mouse, L-O-V-E-S brownies. She also really likes mint chocolate. She loves dark chocolate. Naturally, I decided to make mint dark chocolate brownies. I've been experimenting with different brownie recipes for years and I finally found one last year that I really liked - the right balance of cake/fudge brownies... Although, you know that crackly "crust" you get from brownies from the box? Yeah, still experimenting to replicate that (and I think I have it figured out).

Brownies - I like substantial ones. Meaning, I like F-A-T brownies. I mean, if you're gonna indulge, you might as well go all the way. So I baked them in my favorite all edges brownie pan (my favorite piece is the corner) and cut them - the brownies looked like chocolatey cubes of yum. I picked up a small bottle of peppermint oil from a local cake supply shop with the sole purpose to make mint chocolate brownies - seriously. I wanted oil because it's more potent than extract. I also have a seemingly never ending supply of ghiradelli dark chocolate chips (my favorite chips for cookies) so I decided to mix those into the batter.

I packed the chocolate treasure into the box - it was HEAVY. And I can happily say that Miss Mouse thoroughly enjoyed her birthday present this year =)

the brownies almost overflow...

the fat brownie - I like to feed my friends.