Midnight Mints

My husband has had a tough couple of weeks at work, working until unheard of hours in the morning and having to go in to work in (literally) the middle of the night. I let him pick this week’s cookie and he came up with this recipe for Midnight Mints. Imagine my surprise that he didn’t pick chocolate chip cookies, which is his favorite. These sounded really great and they were a no-bake recipe. It was warm on the day I made these and it was nice to be able to avoid turning on the oven.

These have a very nice base of butter, cocoa powder, graham cracker crumbs and coconut. I omitted the nuts that the recipe called for, since I don’t think that nuts and mint really go together very well. I added a bit more cocoa powder than the recipe specifies; I’ve really got to
start reading recipes more carefully! The topping is basically frosting, and I ended up using about 2-1/2 cups of powdered sugar since I didn’t want the filling to be too soft. I thought that the bars would be too hard to cut if the filling was super soft.

The mint in these is really refreshing, and I think these would be an excellent choice for the holidays. They are a little tricky to eat, since the chocolate topping gets soft when you pick up the squares to eat them. I guess you just have to eat them quickly. I would double the chocolate topping, since the chocolate layer ended up being so thin. That may make them more difficult to cut, but as long as you chill the bars before cutting I think that you will be ok. I lined my pan with foil so I could lift the bars out of the pan before cutting, which makes the cutting a lot easier.

½ cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
I egg, beaten
1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut

Filling
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Green food coloring

Topping
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter

Melt the ½ cup butter, cocoa powder, and sugar together in a large saucepan on medium heat until boiling. Reduce the heat to low and add the egg. Stir until thickened and remove from the heat. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs and the coconut. Press the mixture into an ungreased 9” square pan. Refrigerate while you make the filling.

To make the filling, combine the powdered sugar, butter, milk and peppermint extract. Mix until smooth. If you need to thicken the filling, add more powdered sugar. If the mixture is too thick, add additional milk. Spread the filling on top of the bottom layer.

Heat the chocolate chips and the butter in a small saucepan (or heat in a microwave), stirring until the mixture is smooth. Spread the chocolate over the filling and chill until the chocolate is set. Cut into squares.

Recipe from Company’s Coming: Most Loved Treats by Jean Pare