BYU Mint Brownies

This post is dedicated to my siblings and their spouses who all attended BYU (even though I didn't). (Oh, and to my youngest sibling, you're included even though you haven't gone YET and don't have a spouse YET.) I'm sure they know how legendary this BYU Creamery treat is and while I don't, I can still vouch for how delicious they are. I don't usually make brownies from scratch because, let's be honest, you really can't beat brownies from a box-most of the time. However, this just might become my go-to brownie recipe. They are absolutely wonderful. They are rich and chocolaty without being overly sweet. I love having both the mint and the chocolate frosting, but you can certainly do just one or the other. Make sure you have glass of milk handy.

For the brownie:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 Tbsp. honey
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Melt butter and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Pour batter into a greased brownie pan or 8x11.5 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool. Frost with mint icing and place in fridge or freezer for a few minutes to stiffen it up. Then frost with chocolate frosting.

For the mint icing:
2 Tbsp. butter
dash of salt
1-2 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring

Soften butter. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp. milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

SOURCE:The Girl Who Ate Everything, originally from BYU Dining.

NOTES:If you're a BYU mint brownie purist, here's what I changed; I only adapted it slightly from the original BYU Dining recipe. First off, I halved the recipe, which makes a 9x13 pan of brownies. They used margarine, I only use butter. I doubled the cocoa. They also added walnuts (1 cup for full recipe); sorry, I don't do walnuts in brownies. They give no recipe for the chocolate frosting and I think the Hershey's is the best there is when it comes to frosting.