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“Baked” Altoid Brownies

Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito
Crush the Altoids in a sturdy freezer bag with a mallet or rolling pin, or in a mortar and pestle. They should be relatively fine, but I do like having little bits remaining. They make a few varieties, but I’ve only used the peppermint ones, although the others will likely be just as good. If you want your brownies even more minty, add the larger amount of mints. You can add some pure mint extract to the batter, too.
  • 11 ounces (315g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (60-75% cacao), chopped
  • 8 ounces (215g) unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 1/4 cup (175g) flour
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons dark, unsweetened cocoa powder, (I used Valrhona)
  • 1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (120g) packed dark brown sugar
  • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • optional: 1/4-1/2 teaspoon pure mint extract
  • 1 to 1½ packages of Altoid peppermints, (80-120g), crushed (See Note)
  • Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Line the inside of a 9 by 13-inch, or similar sized baking pan, with foil. Butter or spray lightly with cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.
  • Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, over the heat, whisk in both sugars. Remove from heat and whisk in three of the eggs completely, then whisk in the other two, along with the vanilla and mint extract, if using.
  • Sprinkle the flour mixture and the Altoids over the top and using a spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined; there might be just a trace of the flour in places. Do not overmix.
  • Scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Like most brownie recipes, it’s best to err on the side of underbaked than over.

Notes

Serving & storage: Once cool, wrap the brownies well. These brownies are even better the next day. Since the recipe makes quite a bit of brownies, extras can be cut into squares, wrapped, and frozen for a few months.
Note: If you live somewhere where Altoids aren’t available, we’re in the same boat. You might want to play around with grinding up any mints that might be available, such as Vichy mint pastilles in France, or Leone mints, in Italy. Since I haven’t tried any others elsewhere, but for the price of a plane ticket, I’m happy to come visit and check out any and all of your local candies. ; )