Chocolate Mint Brownies

I have something to confess:  The other night as I was making these...

... I had a little hissy fit and declared that I would never make them again.  (My hissy fit may have been fueled by my intolerance of whiny kids paired with my overabundance of whiney kids.)  And then I had a spoonful of chocolate mint goo.  And everything was better.  Rest assured, Dear Husband That Likes To Eat The Leftover Goo When I Cut These, I will make these again.

The players:

Brownie Layer

3/4 cup butter

6 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

3/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Mint Layer

3 tbsp butter

1 1/2 powdered sugar

2 tbsp heavy cream

3/4 tsp mint extract

green food colouring

Chocolate Glaze

4.5 oz high quality semi-sweet chocolate

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 325 F.  Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.

Brownies:  Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler. (If you don't know what that is, just wait, you'll see a picture of it a little further down.)

 Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla.

 Add the eggs, one at a time.  Beat well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

 Stir in the flour and salt and beat until smooth, about one minute.  Pour into the parchment-lined 9x13 pan.  Bake for 25 minutes.

 Once the brownies come out, let them cool.  Take a bath, read a book, have a coffee.  Make some lasagna for dinner.  Once the brownies are room temperature, make the mint frosting as follows:
Beat all ingredients (butter, sugar, cream, mint, green colouring) until smooth. 

 If you think the frosting is too thick to spread, add a few drops of cream.  It should be spreadable, not pourable.

 Spread the mint frosting evenly over the brownie layer.  Allow to set.

 It may take half an hour or so for your mint layer to set.  You want it to have a little crust over it so the next layer doesn't mix with it.  You've got half an hour or so, so pick up the phone and call your best friend/mom/sister.  She'd love to hear from you.

Once it's got a nice crust over it, it's time to make the chocolate topping.  In a double boiler (here's the picture, just for you!) melt the semi-sweet chocolate* with the butter.  Spread over the mint layer.  Allow to cool fully before cutting.  The chocolate layer should start to dull somewhat.

 *I used Chipits chocolate chips, but have determined that they are too finicky.  I'll now only use Belgian semi-sweet chocolate for this stage.

 I cut my 9x13 pans into 40 pieces (8x5 pieces.)  I have to cut these like I cut cheesecake.  Cut once, scrape knife, cut again, scrape knife.  This is where the ooey-gooey bits come in.  My husband loves when I make these because he gets to eat all the castoff icing bits.

And voila!  Chocolate Mint Brownies!