Deep Chocolate Mint Swirl Brownies with Thin Mint Crunch

During the Girl Scout Cookie season, my dad usually ends up buying a few boxes on impulse (he just can’t resist the cute children offering him sweets!) Unless I find some way to use the cookies in a recipe, my dad ends up eating his way through entire boxes at an alarming rate. I consider stealing his cookies for my recipes to be an act of kindness. In the past, I’ve made a couple smoothies with Girl Scout Cookies, but hadn’t baked with them until I had the random notion the other day to make brownies with a crunchy Thin Mint crumble on top.

These brownies contain no flour. As a result, they are intensely chocolatey, as well as rich and filling. The base recipe could certainly be used for those who don’t eat gluten, although the Thin Mints would have to be removed (what a pity) or replaced with some sort of gluten-free alternative. To make them prettier as well as more interesting, I swirled some sweet melted Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses candies into the batter. The only improvement I think could be made to this recipe would be possibly to add a swirl of melted chocolate as well, or maybe some chocolate chunks. Because sometimes even double chocolate isn’t enough. As is, though, they taste great, and are a great way to use up any Thin Mints you may have lying around.

Deep Chocolate Mint Swirl Brownies with Thin Mint Crunch

makes one 8×8 pan of brownies, or about eight servings

Ingredients:

brownie batter

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Guittard brand)
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Original or Whipped (I used whipped because that’s what was in the fridge at the moment)
• 1/4 of an avocado, mashed
• 1 tbs organic light agave syrup
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 2 tbs skim milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp mint extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

candy cane swirl

• 8 Hershey’s Candy Cane flavored kisses, unwrapped
• water

Thin Mint topping

• 4 Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies, chopped roughly

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Spray an 8×8″ square pan with nonstick spray, or line with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Brownie Batter: Place the chocolate chips, mashed avocado, and Earth Balance in a medium saucepan. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate and Earth Balance are melted completely. Remove from heat.

Mix and blend the melted chocolate, Earth Balance, and avocado into each other thoroughly. Add the agave, egg substitute, milk, vanilla, and mint extract. Mix. Add the cocoa, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar and mix some more.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.

Candy Cane Swirl: Fill a large saucepan about 1/3-1/2 of the way with water. Place a bowl on top of the saucepan. Place eight unwrapped Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses in the bowl, along with a couple teaspoons of water. Heat to medium. Stir occasionally. When the Candy Cane Kisses are completely melted, remove from heat. Allow to cool a few minutes before handling.

When melted candies have cooled sufficiently, spoon over surface of brownie batter in pan. Be sure to get some melted candy in every possible area of the brownies. Then use your spoon to swirl the melted candies into the batter a little.

Now brownies are ready for baking. Bake in the 325 Fahrenheit oven for 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the crushed Thin Mints on top. Then, return to oven to bake for another 7 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

It’s hard to resist brownies straight out of the oven, but if you can bring yourself to let them cool in the fridge overnight before digging in, definitely do so. These brownies are awesome chilled, and the longer they spend in the fridge the firmer and easier to cut they become.

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