Double Peppermint Oreo Brownies...revisited!

A long time ago I made mint oreo brownies! I am a HUGE Oreo fan...as you will know by now if you read my blog from time to time.  I had stumbled upon this recipe and decided I had to make it, but without actual mint Oreo's I improvised and used regular Oreo's but substituted half of the chocolate for Mint Aero so it still had a minty taste.  This time round I could make the real deal since my amazing friend brought me some back from NYC!

I decided, over a year on, since I had originally made them I'd browse around and see what other Mint Oreo recipes I could find! so in the end I took a few little ideas from different places and put them altogether to produce the ULTIMATE Mint Oreo Brownies! I mean who knows how long it will be before I get my hands on some of these delicacies again so I had to make sure my baking sesh would be memorable!

I started off by using the original Mint Oreo brownie recipe I had found, and here's a pic when it was fresh out the oven - look how much cuter it looks with that green filling peeking out of the Oreo's!

Peppermint Oreo Brownies:
1 cup butter
6 oz. Dark Chocolate, chopped
3 cups  caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cups Plain flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups roughly chopped peppermint oreo-type cookies (approx 18)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees c.

2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. 

3. Whisk in sugar, salt and vanilla, then turn off heat. 

4. Whisk in eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. 

5. Stir in flour and cocoa powder until mixture is uniform. Stir in peppermint oreo cookies and pour batter into pan.

5. Crush 3-4 additional cookies finely and sprinkle on top of batter, if desired.

6. Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not coated with batter.

7. Cool brownies in pan for about 20 minutes.

I decided I wasn't finished there, and that I would add a peppermint frosting.  So here is the recipe I used for that:

1/4 c. softened butter

1/4 c. double cream

85g softened cream cheese

1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

4 drops of green food coloring

3 1/2 c. icing sugar

1. In an electric mixer add butter, cream, cream cheese, peppermint and green food colouring with 1 cup of the sugar.  Start on slow speed and then when it starts to come together turn to medium until it is well blended.

2. Add another cup of sugar and beat on high speed, repeat with the rest of the sugar.

3. Spread frosting on brownies when cool and refrigerate for 1 hour.

...but I still wasn't finished! I decided for once I'd try and make some chocolate ganache style topping.  I usually shy away from recipes involving ganache simply because I never have any cream in the fridge! and a never ending supply of butter means buttercream is always the easiest and laziest option! but I went to the shop today and bought some cream so I was ready and equipped! 

Chocolate Topping:

100g Milk Chocolate

50g Dark Chocolate

1/3 c. softened butter

1/3 c. double cream

1. In a saucepan heat all ingredients on medium heat.  Keep stirring until chocolate is all melted and topping is looking smooth and glossy.

2.  Pour it over the frosting, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

3. Once set, remove from the fridge.  Let stand for 10 mins and then cut into squares.

So I decided after 3 layers of fun my brownies were done, but I couldn't resist adding a little something something...so a mini Oreo just topped them off:

You've probably guessed by now these certainly aren't for people watching their weight, in fact I don't even want to think about how many calories there are in these bad boys...I mean you've got the chocolate chunks at the bottom of the brownie, the chopped up mint Oreo's, the mint frosting, the chocolate ganache and the oreo on top! but man they taste so good that they are completely worth it!