It was my boss’ birthday yesterday and every year, my coworkers and I buy a cake from a local bakery to celebrate. I decided to bake a treat to celebrate as well. Baking is quite tricky when you don’t want to indulge on the whole pan, so I tend to package up the goodies for friends and co-workers. It’s a great idea, because you don’t end up eating the entire pan at once and you look super thoughtful.

These mint chocolate brownies do not disappoint. I adapted the recipe from @chocolatewithgrace. But, I created a hack by using boxed brownies. I also tried to be even sneakier by using the icing that came in the package for the ganache layer, but that didn’t work out too well so I made the ganache from scratch- which only took a millisecond.

So, my hack for you non-bakers who want to look bomb in front of guests is to use a boxed brownie mix, buy white icing and flavour with mint and green food colouring. Then, all you really have to do is make the 2 ingredient ganache- I know you can handle it.

From scratch or by hack, these mint chocolate brownies are worth gossiping about!

Mint Chocolate Brownies

Yield: 20 squares

INGREDIENTS:
1 boxed brownie mix

Mint Buttercream
1/2 cup butter softened
1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 teaspoon mint extract (depending how strong you want it)
Green food coloring, few drops

Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bake brownies according to box directions. Let fully cool.
2. Meanwhile, using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1-2 minutes, beat in the powdered sugar. Add enough of the cream to be a spreadable consistency and the mint extract to your taste. Add in the green food colouring until incorporated with no streaks. Spread on top of cooled brownies and place in fridge for an hour.
Hack: Use store bought white icing, add in the mint extract and food colouring- continue the rest of steps as instructed.
3. To make the chocolate ganache, finely chop the chocolate and place in a heat proof bowl. In a heavy saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Do not let it boil. Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour the ganache over the mint layer and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares. Enjoy!

*recipe slightly adapted from @chocolatewithgrace