For those of you who may not be familiar with Laramie, Wyoming (some of you may have never even heard of it-shocking, I know), we are a small town in southeastern Wyoming that is home to the University of Wyoming. We are geographically situated in the Laramie Valley, which lies in between two beautiful mountain ranges, the Snowy Range and the Laramie Range. The weather here is less than desirable at times, mostly because of the wind tunnel effect created from our valley location. All in all, however, it is a great place to live. The people are friendly and we live in a very safe place to raise our children. There is a certain peace of mind that comes with residing here. One of the downfalls, however, for an avid baker like myself, as well as the numerous athletes who come to play at War Memorial Stadium and find themselves unable to breathe, is the ALTITUDE. We are talking 7,200 feet above sea level people! It's a whole different game here in so many ways...
If any of you live in high altitude areas or have before, you may know the challenges it presents for baking. I can't even count the times I have made something that either exploded all over the oven or sank so far in the middle that there was practically a crater in it. Most baking recipes from scratch have to be altered by adjusting various combinations of things, to include leavening agents, flour, and more. I have yet to find a "standard adjustment" that is a magic solution to all of these high altitude baking dilemmas, and with working full-time and being a mom, my free time just does not allow for me to spend hours in the kitchen playing the role of a mad scientist, trying to adjust all my recipes to find the right measurements, sheerly just to be able to say that I made something from scratch. Sorry. Maybe someday, but definitely not anytime soon!
Having said that, this recipe starts from a brownie mix in a box. I like to use Pillsbury because I know that that particular mix stands up well to being tampered with and having multitudes of delectable ingredients added to it. More than likely though, if you have a particular brownie mix you turn to every time you need your chocolate fix, by all means, try it with that!
Here is what you will need for this recipe:
-1 box (19.5 oz) Pillsbury Fudgy Brownie Mix
-1/4 cup water (as called for on box)
-2 eggs ( as called for on box)
-1/2 cup milk (INSTEAD of oil called for on box)
-12 Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies
-22 Andes Creme de Menthe Candies
-1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
-2 cups powdered sugar
-1 to 2 tsp. mint extract, depending on your "minty-ness" preference
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13" cake pan with two pieces of overlapping foil, leaving excess foil on each end to create handles. This makes for easy removal after the brownies have baked and cooled. Spray the foil WELL with nonstick cooking spray.
Make the brownies according to the instructions on the box, again remembering to substitute milk for the oil originally called for on the box. I find that this makes an even more moist brownie. Set this mix aside.
Take 8 of the Thin Mint Cookies and break them into medium-sized pieces. You don't want to leave them whole, but you don't want them crushed, either, for this step. These cookies are what provide the "crunch" in these Double Mint Crunch Brownies. :)
Next, take 10 of the Andes Mints and chop them into chip-sized pieces. You can actually buy the Andes Baking Chips if you want- they are on the baking aisle with the rest of the chocolate chips, but they are way more expensive and, what can I say? I am stingy!
After you have broken the cookies and chopped the mints, stir them into the prepared brownie mix. Stir well to make sure the pieces are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Every bite deserves a little extra love, right?
Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 23-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Allow brownies to cool at room temperature.
Meanwhile, make your frosting. I LOVE cream cheese frosting! In fact, it is the basis of almost EVERY frosting I use for cupcakes, cakes, and brownies. It is so adaptable and there are so many things you can do with it, and I just love how the savory aspect of the cream cheese compliments the sweetness of the frosting so well. It cuts nicely through the flavors so that the frosting is never overwhelmingly sweet or rich.
Using a hand mixer, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and both extracts in a large bowl. The deeper the bowl the better- otherwise, you might end up with a kitchen looking like Laramie in the middle of a snow storm, with white powder all over the place. Mix these ingredients together until they are smooth and creamy, then spread the frosting over the cooled brownies.
Take the remaining Thin Mint Cookies and crush them up, just like you would graham crackers if you were making a crust. Sprinkle the crushed cookies all over the top of the mint cream cheese frosting. Cut each of the remaining Andes Mints in half diagonally, and set aside. (If you can resist these brownies long enough, about a half hour to an hour in the freezer will make cutting these gooey, delicious treats much easier.)
Using the foil handles, remove the brownies from the pan and cut into 24 bars. Top each bar with one half of the mints. Refrigerate for best results and keep stored in an airtight container. Enjoy! And if you're feeling generous, maybe even share a few with coworkers, family, or friends, but only if they are deserving of this chocolaty, minty goodness! Just throw your cut brownies onto a platter, sprinkle some more cookie crumbs over them, and let them speak for themselves! More than likely, whoever is lucky enough to be eating them will think you spent WAY more time on them than you actually did, but it can be our little secret. I won't tell if you won't! :)
Omg these look absolutely amazing. My mouth is watering!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alanna!
ReplyDelete