Thin Mints Brownies – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2016March 17, 2016 The Culinary ChroniclesLeave a comment

I know, I know….it’s usually the time of the year where I whip up a few batches of Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream. It’s St.Patrick’s Day after all!

But imagine my predicament last night when it not only hit me that St.Patty’s was a mere hours away but I also didn’t have a drop of stout beer in the house.

Blasphemous!

Sure — I could have trekked out to the store to pick up some but there was a crazy, blizzard-snow-storm out!!! Trees were flung out of the ground, pigs were flying and I think I even saw Dorothy’s house spinning out of control in the sky!

Ok, ok….that may not be totally accurate.

It was a beautiful 74 degrees in San Diego.

And I was lazy.

But I still wanted to bake something festive to share with the staff for St.Patty’s. And guess what? I may not have had any stout beer but I sure as heck had a TON of Girl Scout Cookies!

Thanks to my cookie-slinging-niece Maya (and a little strong-arming from my seester), I have boxes and boxes of GS Cookies. Enough to last me months and months!

…..more like weeks.

….or days….

Those boxes are getting smaller, right? At least that’s what I tell myself when an entire box magically disappears after a day.

With Girl Scout Cookies at my disposal, I toyed around with a few ways I could incorporate them into a festive treat. Previously I’ve used the cookies in:

I even threw some in a birthday cake this past weekend. So it was time that I gave brownies that Girl Scouts touch.

I took my go-to brownies recipe and added chocolate chips and chopped up Thin Mints Cookies. To amp up the mint, a dash or two of mint extract was added to the batter for good measure. And since we are celebrating St. Patty’s, it only seemed appropriate to cover the tops with more cookies and sprinkles!

SLAINTE dear friends and I wish you a fantastically HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

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Thin Mints Brownies
Makes 16 squares

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter
1¼ cups premium chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 eggs
¾ cup flour
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup 60% cacao or semisweet chocolate chips
1¼ cup chopped Thin Mints Cookies, divided
2 tablespoons colorful sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper for easy removal. Cover parchment paper with cooking spray.

In a heatproof bowl, melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave until smooth. Do this in 20 second intervals, stirring in between to ensure that you do not scorch the chocolate. Cool the chocolate mixture until room temperature. Stir in the sugars, vanilla extract and mint extract. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy and smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Stir in the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped Thin Mints Cookies. Spread the brownie batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle the remaining Thin Mints Cookies over the top of the brownie batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Halfway through the baking process, cover the top of the brownies with the sprinkles and rotate the pan. Bake until done. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan and once at room temperature, cut into 16 squares. ENJOY!

Desserts/Pastries

Browned Butter Double Chip Cookies

April 14, 2014 The Culinary Chronicles3 Comments

If there was ever a day of the week that you deserved a cookie, it would be today…..

Monday.

Because Mondays are just darn rough – they don’t call them Manic Mondays for nothing.

And because you’re amazing, I think you deserve to make yourself some amazing cookies –these Browned Butter Double Chip Cookies to be exact.

Browned Butter….

Dark Chocolate Chips…..

Toffee Chips….

Sprinkled with Sea Salt.

HAVE MERCY!

Slightly crispy exterior, uber chewy interior and jammed packed with goodness. And the bonus? The dough freezes perfectly. Just scoop the dough onto a baking sheet and freeze them in a single layer for a few hours before bagging them up.

The frozen dough can keep in your freezer for a few months (if they last that long!). And when you get a hankering for warm cookies, bake them frozen (don’t defrost) and add a couple extract minutes to the baking time.

Here’s to Mondays – now go bake some cookies! 🙂

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Browned Butter Double Chip Cookies
Makes about 18 large cookies

Ingredients:

¾ cups unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cornstarch
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1½ tablespoons vanilla extract
1½ cups dark chocolate chunks or chips
1 heaping cup baking toffee bits (I used Heath’s)
sea salt flakes

Place the butter in a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Swirl the pan and allow the butter to bubble and foam slightly. Continue browning the butter until it begins to smell nutty and it turns a dark golden brown. Remove it from the heat and allow the butter to cool to room temperature.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and cornstarch. Set the dried ingredients aside.

Place the browned butter and both sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat for about 1-2 minutes. Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract until combined. On low, slowly add in the dry ingredients until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chunks and toffee bits.

Chill the cookie dough for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

Once chilled, use a cookie scoop (ice cream scoop) and scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 2-3 inches apart from each other. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with sea salt.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown and have set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Desserts/Pastries

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies

December 23, 2013 The Culinary Chronicles2 Comments

When I saw Nestle’s Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels, I knew I just had to have them—in my brownies 🙂

I started these little goodies with my basic brownie batter and added mint extract along with the morsels. It’s really a no fuss recipe and the flavors were scrumptious. Chocolate and mint are a classic winning combo.

And since they’re such a quick dessert to whip up, they are the perfect last minute addition to your holiday events.

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Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter
1½ cups chocolate, roughly chopped
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 eggs
¾ cup flour
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dark chocolate and mint chips (or other chocolate mint candies of your choice)
½ tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper for easy removal. Cover parchment paper with cooking spray.

In a heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate in the microwave until smooth. Do this in 20 second intervals, stirring in between to ensure that you do not scorch the chocolate. Cool the chocolate mixture until room temperature. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla extract and mint extract. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy and smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Stir in the dry ingredients into the the chocolate mixture until combined. Stir in 3/4 cup of the dark chocolate and mint chips. Spread the brownie batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle the remaining dark chocolate and mint chips over the top of the brownie batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the brownies completely before dusting the tops with the powdered sugar. Cut into squares and serve.