Category Archives: mint

Peppermint Mocha Brownies

It’s a little late for a Christmas recipe, but frankly I can do whatever I want on this website. And what I want is a pan of Peppermint Mocha Brownies.

Made with my tried and true Cocoa Brownie base, these holiday treats come together super easily. Their already-deep chocolate flavor is punched up with semisweet chocolate chips, then accented with just enough peppermint extract and granulated espresso to evoke everyone’s holiday coffee shop fave.

But flavor’s only half of the equation here—Peppermint Mocha Brownies have to look the part, too! These are drizzled with a melted mix of chocolate chips and butter, and sprinkled with as much crushed candy cane as your heart desires. (My heart desires a lot.)

Peppermint Mocha Brownies are rich and satisfying; a little square goes a long way. I, however, have no self control and cut these on the larger side. I regret nothing.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Whatever and wherever you’re celebrating, I hope you’re safe, warm, and with people you love.

Peppermint Mocha Brownies
adapted from Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies
makes one 8- or 9-inch square pan

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (natural or dutch process)
2 large eggs, cold
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (not mint extract)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated espresso or coffee
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For Garnish:
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
crushed candy canes or starlight peppermints

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter the inside of an 8- or 9-inch square pan. Line the bottom with parchment and butter again. Set aside.

In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt butter, granulated and brown sugars, and cocoa powder together, stirring frequently, until a thick, grainy mixture forms. Remove from heat and let mixture cool 5-7 minutes.

Add vanilla, peppermint extract, and eggs to the pot, and stir/whisk to combine. Add flour, granulated espresso, and salt, and stir/whisk to combine. Fold in semisweet chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread to the edges. Tap the full pan on the counter a couple of times to release any air bubbles. Top with pecans, if desired.

Bake brownies 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs (not wet batter). Let cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Garnish the brownies. Combine chocolate chips and butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth. Use a fork to drizzle over brownies. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Refrigerate brownies for 15-20 minutes, until chocolate sets.

Slide a knife around the edges of the pan before using parchment overhang to lift brownies onto a cutting board. Use a large, sharp chef’s knife to slice brownies into 16 or 25 pieces. Serve.

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Mint Chip Buttercream Bars

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It seems impossible, but we’ve reached the last recipe of the year.

With three days to go until Christmas, I wanted this one to be easy enough that you could add it to your menu at the last second, but not so in-your-face Christmasy that you couldn’t make it for New Year’s Eve or any other time. These Mint Chip Buttercream Bars certainly fit that bill. With just ten minutes of actual baking, a flavor that’s universally beloved, and a high yield, they’re exactly the sort of recipe you want to have in your back pocket during the holidays.

Oh, they look fancy with their three layer presentation, but they’re dead easy. The thick Oreo crust is the only thing that requires baking; the creamy mint chip buttercream and chocolate topping are simply whipped up and layered on.

You can make these all in one go or do them in steps, making the crust one day and applying the other layers a day or two later. Once assembled, put them in the fridge for a couple of hours for optimal sliceability, and that’s it!

I like to cut these really small, because they pack a wallop. With layers of crumbly Oreo crust, chocolate chip studded mint buttercream and glossy chocolate, they’ve got texture and flavor all over the place. I only need a bite or two to be satisfied—that doesn’t stop me from going back for more though!

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I am taking Christmas Eve off, but will be back next week with some end of year wrap up stuff.

Mint Chip Buttercream Bars
makes 2-2.5 dozen depending how small you cut them

Oreo Crust:
24 Oreos
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Mint Chip Buttercream:
1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups confectioner's sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extrac
1/4-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
2-3 drops green food coloring (I used gel)
6 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Chocolate Topping:
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan with butter. Line with parchment, leaving overhang on two sides for removal. Grease again. Set aside.

Make the crust. Place Oreos in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until they are crumbs. Add melted butter and pulse until the mixture can be pinched together. Press it into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes to set. Let cool completely. At this point, the pan and crust may be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored for a day at room temperature.

Make the mint chip buttercream. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in confectioner's sugar in two installments, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Beat in salt, vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract. Add in heavy cream until desired consistency is reached. Add 1-2 drops gel food coloring (or a few drops of liquid) and use your electric mixer to beat until combined. Adjust color as necessary. Fold in mini chocolate chips.

Spread mint chip buttercream over the crust, smoothing into an even layer. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Make the chocolate topping. Combine chopped chocolate and butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring in between, just until melted. Drop chocolate over filling one spoonful at a time. Use a small offset icing knife (or a silicone spatula) to carefully spread it over a section of the filling. Continue dropping and spreading chocolate until it’s all used. Freeze until chocolate has hardened, about 15 minutes.

Use parchment overhang to remove bars to a cutting board. Carefully peel off and discard parchment. Use a lightly-greased sharp chef’s knife to slice bars (mine are 1x1 1/2-inch). pieces).

Bars may be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week (check the date on your heavy cream). Layer them with parchment if they are to be stacked.

Peppermint Bark Cookies

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Peppermint Bark Cookies How have I never put peppermint bark on here? It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint, it’s festive, it’s iconic, and yet it’s never graced this blog. That is, unless you count assembling it on top of a giant sheet of chocolate cookie and then breaking it into a zillion jagged pieces, which I very much do.Ooooh y’all, these have been a long time coming. Over the years, I have tested putting peppermint bark on a cookie cake, shortbread bars, potato chips and brownies, none of which have made to on the blog, but these Peppermint Bark Cookies? These are where it’s at. If you make one new cookie recipe this holiday season, let this be it. It’s the best of two worlds (peppermint bark and cookies, duh), surprisingly simple, and so, so good.The dough comes together in a flash. It’s just my chocolate cut-out cookie recipe, but instead of stamping out cookies with graduated cutters, it’s divided in two and rolled into big rectangles. Each one gets a 15 minute freeze, a 17 minute bake and then has to cool completely before the peppermint barking. <—Sounds weird, keeping it anyway.

The way the recipe is written, these big cookies retain a good amount of softness, but aren’t gooey or underdone at all. Once baked and cooled, you can wrap them in plastic and wait a day or two before assembly, or you can get right to it. Peppermint Bark Cookies This part—the peppermint bark part—is easy, but I still have a few tips for you.

Use good quality pure white chocolate, like Ghirardelli or even Baker’s. Please don’t use white chocolate chips. Just don’t. Melting white chocolate is always a little finicky, but white chocolate chips? Forget it—too many stabilizers. I’ve outlined a microwave method for melting white chocolate in the recipe; it’s easy, but involves a few stops and starts and adding more chopped white chocolate at a certain interval. You may be wondering if any of that matters and if you can’t just chuck it all together and call it a day. And yeah, you can, but your white chocolate will never be as smooth and spreadable as what you see here. Heat and time, y’all. They’re important.

After your white chocolate is melted, add 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. This will make your white chocolate seize slightly for a few seconds, but just keep whisking and it will smooth out. Could you skip the extract? Sure. But that extra hint of peppermint is wonderful. Peppermint Bark Cookies And speaking of peppermint, I like to use starlight peppermints in my Christmas baking. Some bakers prefer candy canes, but peppermints are cheaper ($1!) and look the exact same as candy canes when all bashed up. Oh, and unpopular opinion? They taste better than your average candy cane. Fight me. Peppermint Bark Cookies To make the peppermint bark, spread the melted white chocolate all over the big chocolate cookies and scatter on the bashed peppermints. Then give your cookies a 20 minute freeze to set the bark. You can also let it set at room temperature, but it will take a couple of hours and that seems like a lot when cookies can be had so much sooner.The last step in this process is the most fun: breaking the big cookies into shards! Just like with traditional peppermint bark, make the pieces as big or small as you like. Try to let go of the outcome—the charm here is that each piece is different. If you need uniformity with your Peppermint Bark Cookies, you can obviously slice the big rectangles into squares.After that, it’s time to treat yourself! These cookies have it all: a soft chocolate base, a layer of smooth, snappy, peppermint-spiked white chocolate, a smattering of candy, and a whole lot of holiday cheer. They’re so delicious that you could easily hoard the whole batch to yourself, but I think they’d be amazing packed up in tins and gifted. And speaking of food gifting, that’s what we’re talking about on Friday. See you then! Peppermint Bark Cookies

Peppermint Bark Cookies
makes lots

Chocolate Cookie Base:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For peppermint bark:
40 starlight peppermints
16 ounces pure white chocolate (not white chocolate chips)
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (not mint extract)

Special Equipment:
rolling pin
2 12×16-inch sheets parchment
2 quarter sheet pans or jelly roll pans
small hammer/meat tenderizer/heavy object

Place oven racks in central positions. Preheat oven to 350F.

Make chocolate cookie base. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in granulated and light brown sugars, followed by the egg and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients in 3 installments, combining completely after each. Use your hands to knead dough into a mass, then divide it in two.

Lightly flour your rolling pin. Place one half of the dough on a sheet of parchment. Gently pat it into a rectangle shape before rolling it out to an 8×12-inch rectangle. You may need to slice off edges and patchwork your corners together—this is fine. Transfer dough (on parchment) to one rimmed sheet pan. Freeze 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining half of dough.

Bake frozen dough rectangles 17-18 minutes, until puffed and no longer raw looking. Watch the edges to make sure they don’t burn. Let cool completely on their pans on racks.

Prepare the peppermint bark. Place starlight mints in a ziptop bag and seal. Place bag on a cutting board, or other surface that can take some light bashing. Use a small hammer or other heavy object to smash peppermints into small pieces (follow your preference). Set aside.

Chop 12 ounces of the white chocolate and place in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between, until melted (this takes 60 seconds in my microwave). Chop remaining 4 ounces of white chocolate and add to melted white chocolate. Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between, until melted (this takes about 30 seconds in my microwave).

Add peppermint extract to white chocolate and stir until smooth. White chocolate may appear to seize at first, but just keep stirring and it will smooth out.

Divide white chocolate mixture onto the two rectangles and use the back of a spoon or offset knife to spread it to the edges, leaving a narrow border if desired. Sprinkle crushed peppermints over the top. Freeze cookies for 20 minutes to set white chocolate.

Remove cookies from freezer and let thaw a few minutes before breaking into pieces. Serve.

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for a few days. Peppermints may degrade over time. Peppermint Bark Cookies

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake Yesterday was my birthday. I’m 33 now.
I may be a full-fledged adult in her *gulp* mid-30s, but I will never, ever, EVER (!) be too old for ice cream cake. That’s impossible.
Ice cream cake is too delicious, especially this mint chocolate chip version.
It’s as simple as slicing a layer of chocolate cake in half, stuffing it will 1 1/2 quarts of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and topping it with whipped cream.
You could just spread it on, but it’s my birthday and I’ll pipe if I want to…
…even if I’m just going to cover it with mint baking chips, mini chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, and homemade chocolate shell.
Yes, homemade chocolate shell! It takes just two ingredients and about 45 seconds in the microwave to achieve a drizzlable, quick-hardening chocolate sauce without the price tag or the weird ingredients you’ll find in the store-bought stuff. Trust me—once you make this version, you’ll never buy the bottled stuff again. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake
One last thing before I get to the recipe: take this ice cream cake and make it your own! Switch up the ice cream flavors! Use a different flavor of cake! Jazz up the toppings!
Except the chocolate shell. Don’t skip that.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake
makes one 9-inch round cake

Cake:
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 cup strong, hot coffee
1 1/2 quarts mint chocolate chip ice cream, slightly softened

Whipped Cream:
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
4 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Garnish (optional):
Homemade Chocolate Shell (recipe below)
green mint baking chips
mini chocolate chips
chocolate sprinkles

Make the cake. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the pan with oil. Line the pan with parchment and grease again. Set aside.

Make the cake batter. In a large mixing bowl to sift together flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together oil and egg, followed by buttermilk and coffee. Whisk in dry ingredients in three installments, just until combined. Pour batter into the pan. Tap full pan on the counter five times to release any air bubbles. Bake 23-27 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before running a small, thin knife around the edges. Invert cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature.

Line a deep 9-inch round cake pan (I use a springform) with 2-3 large sheets of plastic wrap, leaving a foot of overhang on each end.

Use a serrated knife to cut cake in half equatorially so that you have 2 thin layers. Place one thin layer cut-side-up in the prepared pan. Top with scoops of softened mint chocolate chip ice cream and use an offset knife to smooth it into an even layer. Top with remaining thin layer, placing it cut-side-down. Wrap plastic wrap overhang over the top of the cake. Freeze 8 hours or overnight.

Remove cake from the freezer and lift/invert it out of the pan. Unwrap the cake and invert it onto a serving plate. Place back in the freezer while you make the whipped cream.

In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar. Use an electric mixer to whip cream until stiff peaks form. Spread or pipe whipped cream on top of the cake. Freeze cake for at least an hour or overnight.

Remove cake from freezer. Drizzle homemade chocolate shell (as much or as little as you like) over cake and top with optional green mint baking chips, mini chocolate chips, and/or chocolate sprinkles. Freeze for 30 minutes.

To serve, let cake thaw for 15-20 minutes. Dip a large, sharp chef’s knife in warm water and wipe dry. Slice cake, wetting and wiping the knife again between cuts. If you have difficulty slicing through the chocolate shell, use a slight sawing motion.

Leftover ice cream cake will keep covered in the freezer.

Homemade Chocolate Shell
makes about 3/4 cup

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons coconut oil (preferably refined/high heat)

Combine chopped chocolate and coconut oil into a small bowl. Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Pour or drizzle over ice cream or ice cream cake, or use as a dip for other frozen treats.

Leftover chocolate shell will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month. Reheat by microwaving in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until pourable.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake Homemade Magic Shell

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