Mint Meltaway Brownies

Okay...I've come to the conclusion that some parts of me were born to bake. Unfortunately other parts of me were born to eat and the two just don't go well together. Since I've joined Weight Watchers to take off those baby pounds (who am I kidding - I needed to lose weight before baby came along...), I've decided that to indulge my baking obsession I needed to find someone to give it away to. Normally that would be my office gang but as I'm on maternity leave right now I've shifted my sugar pushing to my husband's office. On Wednesdays I bake and on Thursdays my husband gets to be the little cookie faerie at his office. So here's today's concoction...

I've done a lot of baking with those little miniature peanut butter cups as both my husband and my mother enjoy them quite a bit. However, my favourite sweet flavour combo is chocolate and mint and when I saw these little mint chocolate cups at Superstore the other day...I couldn't resist.

Mint Meltaway Brownies

8 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 package of mint chocolate cups (I've seen similar items at Walmart or you could probably use miniature York Peppermint Patties)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 13x9-inch pan. Optionally, you can line the pan with parchment paper.

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat (be careful not to burn) and set aside.

Beat eggs, vanilla and sugar together on med-high speed for 10 minutes. This will create a thick, yellow creamy mixture. Ten minutes is a long time and is not necessary for the success of these brownies - but if you have a standing mixer let it go for the full 10 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture, flour and salt and beat just until all ingredients have been incorporated and the batter is a uniform chocolate colour.

Pour into prepared baking pan. Arrange mint cups on top of batter and push into the batter. The batter may not cover them initially but it will bake over them in the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.

When cool cut into squares or make shapes with a deep cookie or biscuit cutter. Enjoy!

This is a rich, fudgy brownie. The basic recipe can really be used for any brownie combination. Add nuts, chocolate chunks, miniature peanut butter cups or anything else your little heart desires.