Triple Chocolate and Mint Brownies

 

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm pieces
• 200g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g white chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g milk chocolate, broken into chunks
• 290g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 100g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 16 after dinner mints, such as 'after eights'

 

Method:

1. Place the butter and dark chocolate into a bowl which is large enough to sit over a sauce pan.
2. Place enough water in the sauce pan so that it comfortable covers the bottom of the pan, but isn't deep enough to touch the bottom of the bowl.
3. Place the bowl over the sauce pan and heat the water on a medium heat. Turn the heat down low as soon as you can see any steam. Stir the mixture every few minutes until it's all melted into a thick but even liquid. Don't over heat it or it'll start to separate.
4. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
5. Place the bowl of chocolate and butter to one side to cool.
6. While it's cooling chop the white and milk chocolate pieces into smaller blocks. This is easiest to do by resting the point of a sharp knife in a chopping board and then bringing the knife blade down onto the chocolate.
7. Find a tin with reasonably high sides and an area of about 400 square cms. This means a 20cm square tin or a 13cm by 30cm tin. Cut out some greaseproof paper so that it fits the bottom of the pan and lightly grease it with some butter. Also grease the sides of the tin slightly to help prevent sticking.
8. In a large bowl mix the eggs and caster sugar. Get a whisk (preferrably an electric one) and whisk for about 5 minutes.
9. When the mixture has increased in size considerable and started to be thick enough that it takes a second or two for your whisk marks to disappear then it's done.
10. Carefully fold in the butter and dark chocolate mixture by lifting liquid from the bottom of the bowl to the top in a smooth flicking motion. I prefer to use a spachelor here, as a spoon can break too many of the bubbles that you whisked in.
11. When the chocolate is all folded in, use a sieve to add the flour and cocoa powder. I don't usually think that a sieve is necessary in recipes, but it is in this one to make sure that there are no lumps of flour or cocoa in the mixture.
12. Carefully fold in the flour and cocoa until it's a smooth mixture.
13. Finally stir in the pieces of milk and white chocolate.
14. Pour half the mixture into the prepared tin and use the spachelor to push it to the edges.
15. Place the after dinner mints flat over the top of the mixture and pour in the rest of the mixture over the mints.
16. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes is up give the dish a sideways shake to check that the middle is firm and doesn't wobble. If it does wobble then give it another 5 minutes and repeat the shaking until it's solid enough. There should also be a lovely paper thin crisp layer forming on the top.
17. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the side. It's important to wait until it's fully cool before trying to remove it from the tin, otherwise it can still be a bit runny and collapse.
18. When it is fully cool, remove it from the pan and cut into 16 squares.
19. Store in an air tight container and eat as soon as possible.

 
Makes 16 brownies.