I hate camping. Hate it. I hate bugs, I hate excessive amounts of dirt, I hate having to talk about how attractive this tree or that one is, and did I mention I hate bugs?
I’ve been camping twice. Once with my mother in the second grade. We stayed in a cabin, aptly named the Suffering Servant. It doubled as a daddy-long-legs habitat. The second time was freshman year of college, when I went camping with my neighbor. We’ll call him by his apartment number, 312 because he probably doesn’t want his name out there in a food blog of questionable merit. I make many of my recipes with him in mind so that I don’t eat them all in one sitting he doesn’t go hungry. He sometimes comes over claiming to be helpful while I cook but spends most of his time doing things like this:
(ZZ Top: so appalling)
Anyway, so we went camping with two other friends of ours. It was HORRIBLE. The tent was too hot, there were bugs EVERYWHERE, I’m evidently terrible at canoeing, we went on a million mile hike, etc.
He, of course, loved it. We’ve agreed to disagree. However, the one thing we both loved about the trip was the s’mores. I lovvvveeeee s’mores. They’re so simple, but unfailingly tasty. Of course, he likes his marshmallows burnt to a crisp and I want mine just slightly melted, but whatever.
Since there’s absolutely zero chance of me ever camping again, when I saw these s’more bars on Lovin’ from the Oven, I knew they were the best possible compromise. Real s’mores are just not the same made at home with the broiler, and so I’ve been searching for the ideal s’more themed dessert for a while. I finally settled on these and I’m so glad I did. They’re incredibly easy and unbelievably good. 312 and I devoured the entire pan in one 24 hour period.
Don’t be too worried if the different pieces don’t completely cover everything, especially the dough. My dough spread out perfectly fine while baking, and the bits that were a little more thin allowed the marshmallow to bubble up deliciously.
Finally, don’t be worried if the marshmallow fluff looks a little…sketchy, coming out of the jar:
This was one dessert I wasn’t tempted to eat in its pre-baking stages, but the fluff is really tasty once it’s baked. Real marshmallows don’t really melt well enough for this recipe.
Kim on Lovin from the Oven placed these in her top 3 things ever baked (and she’s baked some pretty good things!), and I have to agree. You MUST try these.
Recipe
Source: Lovin’ from the Oven
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (125g) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups (166.6g) all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used just under a whole sleeve of one of the Nabisco 400g boxes because I love graham crackers)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2.5 4 oz milk chocolate bars (Hershey’s)
- 1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray or grease 8 inch pan.
- Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Whisk flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt together. Combine with butter and sugar mixture at low speed until just combined.
- Divide dough in half. Press half of dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer. You may have a little extra chocolate. You can definitely get by with only 8 oz of chocolate. Spread chocolate with marshmallow fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. Flattening the dough into pieces and laying it on top like puzzle pieces is the easiest way to do this.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until top is lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting.
My last attempt at some form of peppermint brownies tasted like toothpaste. No, really, exactly like toothpaste. This was my fault for not noticing that my recipe was a recipe from Cooking Light that had been “lightened” even further. I’m all for healthy eating, but some foods just do not translate well. These mint brownies were one of those foods.
Since then, I’ve been a bit scarred. I told myself that mint brownies just didn’t work, and that I wasn’t missing anything. Some tiny part of me knew, however, that the perfect mint brownie recipe was still out there. This is that recipe.
I first saw this recipe on David Lebovitz a few weeks ago and couldn’t wait to try it until I saw it used Thin Mints, which seemed difficult to obtain. Or maybe I was just worried I would buy and immediately consume 5 boxes of Tagalongs if I opened the Girl Scout cookie door. Anyway, I wasn’t interested in making my own like he did, so I filed the recipe away to be tried if anyone ever unexpectedly gifted me a large quantity of Girl Scout cookies (it could happen…). Imagine my delight then when I saw that these brownies were featured on Brown Eyed Baker using York Peppermint Patties! How brilliant! I’m always a bit disgusted with myself when clever and easy substitutions like this get past me.
(These brownies aren’t what I would call photogenic, but as Paula Deen said, some of the tastiest things in life just don’t look nice!)
I wouldn’t even call these a substitution, really, because that has such a negative connotation, and I can’t imagine how the Thin Mint original could taste any better than these.
For such delicious results, this recipe was surprisingly simple. However, I would be hesitant to try it without a stand mixer – 10 minutes of high speed mixing by hand? That would pretty much equal my weekly exercise level.
Otherwise it was a piece of cake…or brownie 
It means a lot that I’m saying this, because it included melting chocolate over a pot on the stove. This used to be hands down my favorite baking task until I read this post on How Sweet It Is. Now I usually spend the whole time wondering if my racquetball goggles would protect my eyes from exploding shards of glass.
It means a lot that I’m saying this, because it included melting chocolate over a pot on the stove. This used to be hands down my favorite baking task until I read this post on How Sweet It Is. Now I usually spend the whole time wondering if my racquetball goggles would protect my eyes from exploding shards of glass.
Anyway.
I changed very little from original Brown Eyed Baker recipe except to increase the number of peppermint patties. I didn’t have quite enough with her number. I would probably increase them a little more still just to fully cover the brownie bottom. Oh, and I sprinkled powdered sugar on the finished brownies. Because these brownies definitely needed even more than 3 1/2 cups of sugar…
This recipe was also exciting for me because I finally got on board with the program of adding instant coffee to recipes to bring out the chocolate taste. I’ve always been a skeptic since I’m not a fan of coffee, but these were AH-mazing, so I’m converted.
Don’t be worried if the chocolate looks a little meager compared to the whipped sugar, eggs, etc., it all mixes quite well.
And yes, in answer to a commenter’s question on BEB: it really is 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Mmmm.
Finally, I did undercook mine a little. I got a bit too caught up in reading this book and couldn’t remember what time I put them in. Paranoid about overcooking them, I removed them a bit too early. As the pictures can attest to, they weren’t the most photogenic brownies on earth because of this. If you’re taking these to a party or something, by all means cook them the full 35 minutes, but the undercooked, gooey…ness of these brownies was DELICIOUS.
Enjoy!
Recipe:
Very slightly adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, original: David Lebovitz
8 ounces (225g) baking chocolate
8 ounces (225g) unsalted butter
5 large eggs, at room temperature, although I didn’t do this. naughty…
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3 1/2 cups (350g) sugar
1 2/3 cup (170g) flour
Originally 2 lbs York Peppermint Patties, but I would use 2.5 to fully cover the pan. Who doesn’t want more peppermint?
Optional: Powdered sugar for sprinkling.
1. Preheat oven to 425ºF
2. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil, coat with butter or non-stick spray.
3. Melt baking chocolate and butter in a bowl over slightly simmering water, stirring regularly. Immediately remove from heat after both have melted.
4. Using the whisk attachment of a hand or stand mixer, or by hand if necessary, whip the eggs, vanilla, salt, instant coffee, and sugar on high speed for about ten minutes. The mixture will be foamy and stiff when ready.
5. Stir in chocolate and flour by hand.
6. Pour a generous half of the batter into the pan and place mints on top, filling in completely with broken mints where necessary.
7. Pour the rest of the batter on top and smooth.
8. Bake the brownies for 35 minutes, rotating the brownies midway during baking.
When done, the top will have a firm crust but a toothpick inserted in the center will still come out wet.
9. Let the brownies cool completely before lifting them out of the pan and slicing.
10. Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar and serve.
