Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies

Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies are just what you need when looking for a decadent brownie fix – intensely fudgy brownie base, topped with a creamy cool peppermint frosting and drizzled with melted chocolate!

Anyone who knows me well enough is well aware of my fascination with Classic Hollywood – the time roughly from the late ’30s to the early ’60s when the Golden Age of Hollywood regretfully came to an end.

Other than famous Classic Hollywood films, I have this fondness for discovering obscure and relatively unknown old Hollywood movies and stars. YouTube has a staggering choice of such movies to choose from and I’ve found out about quite a number of long forgotten but good movies and little known yet talented stars there so a big thank you to all you wonderful classic movie uploaders!

I love all things Classic Hollywood, be it the movies, the stars, the fashion – you name it. I named my beautiful tortoiseshell cat Harlow because Jean Harlow was the original platinum blonde bombshell. Also because of the ’90s supermodel Shalom Harlow but that’s another story.

So when I came across a recipe by Hollywood great Katharine Hepburn in an article by the wonderful food blogger and food historian Tori Avey, I was pretty excited to try the late star’s simple recipe that promised a wonderfully rich and fudgy brownie.

The recipe did not disappoint. I think this is my new favourite fudge brownie recipe. Yes Miss Hepburn certainly knew how to act AND she also knew how to make an incredibly fine brownie!

This brownie is pretty great on its own. However, I decided to take things up a notch by topping it with a creamy cool mint frosting and decorating it with an old-fashioned feather design made with melted chocolate. Hence my Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies were born.

This is not an original idea but for me it is one that stems from the childhood nostalgia for my Mother’s baking and one other particular baking memory.

My Mom used to make these brownies called Triple Layer Brownies back when I was growing up in Daharki. They similarly consisted of a brownie base but with a creamy vanilla frosting and melted chocolate top.

My Mother’s late sister, who lived in Karachi had a few Goan colleagues who’d share their delicious cooking and baking recipes with her. My Aunt in turn would share those lovely recipes with my Mom. Amongst such recipes was a “Minty Chocolate Cake” and I was so thrilled by the idea of peppermint flavour in a chocolate cake (like many children, I was a chocoholic child too) that I asked my maternal Grandmother to please look for peppermint essence in Karachi ASAP!

It should be kept in mind that peppermint essence was even rarer to find in Pakistan back then than it still is but I believe my Naani searched high and low for it and finally located it in the treasure trove that is Karachi’s stalwart Empress Market.

I still remember that peppermint essence bottle. It was a longish glass bottle and was unlike the other small Bush brand essence bottles that were the sole local essences available in the country back then (and are still around). The bottle with the bright green peppermint essence inside reminded me of that “Drink Me” bottle from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and for me it was probably just as magical.

So I had my Minty Chocolate Cake dreams turn into reality thanks to the peppermint essence and combining that food memory plus my Mother’s Triple Layer Brownies with Miss Hepburn’s recipe, I literally baked myself a personal baking dream and named it Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies.

And since it’s St. Patrick’s Day in a few days and I’m all for celebrating occasions and celebrations that bring happiness, warmth, fun and people together, my minty green Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies are the perfect St. Paddy’s Day dessert for my family and friends.

I was photographing these brownies out in natural daylight and suddenly it began to rain! So you can see some raindrops in places on the newspaper in some of the photos. I ran inside with brownies and camera in tow, waited for the rain to stop and then proceeded to go back out and take more photos of Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies.

These brownies are delicious and rich which is why I think it is best to serve them cut in small squares or rectangles. I doubled the recipe for both the brownie base and the mint frosting because I wanted stodgier brownies and that is why the brownies in the photos are thick. If you want to double the recipe, feel free to do so and adjust the baking time accordingly.

I would like to add here that even though I am totally in love with Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies, I understand that not every brownie fan is crazy about peppermint and that’s okay. Also, peppermint essence or extract is not very easy to find in Pakistan either. You can substitute vanilla or any other extract or essence of choice if you wish. You will then have Katharine Hepburn’s Vanilla-ey Chocolate Brownies 🙂

 

Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies

Recipe Type: Dessert    Author: Alice In Eatland

Prep Time: 10 Minutes    Cook Time: 40 Minutes Total Time: 50 Minutes

Serves: 8 – 10

 Decadently fudgy with a minty layer & chocolate drizzle, Katharine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies are as classy as the Classic Hollywood star herself!

 

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 cup finely ground sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup flour

 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
2. Line an 8″ x 8″ square baking pan with foil. Butter the foil well.
3. Melt the butter in a small pan or in a microwave safe bowl until melted.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa.
5. Beat in sugar until combined.
6. Let cool 5 minutes.
7. Beat in vanilla and the eggs one at a time.
8. Finally fold in the flour with a spatula or spoon.
9. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake 30 – 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the centre comes out almost clean with just a few crumbs.
10. Remove from oven and cool completely to room temperature.

 

Mint Frosting:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp soft butter
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp peppermint essence or extract
• A few teaspoons of milk
• A drop of green gel food colour

1. Beat all ingredients together until of spreading consistency.
2. Spread evenly over cooled brownie and smooth the top as much as possible with a palette knife.

 

Chocolate Topping:

1. Put 1/4 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in a metal or ceramic bowl and place it over a pan of simmering water.
2. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water below. Stir until the chocolate melts.
3. Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes and pour into a piping bag or a Ziplock bag.
4. Snip one corner of the bag and quickly pipe parallel lines across the top of the mint frosting.
5. To get the lines as straight as possible pipe in quick straight strokes, like drawing a line quickly across a page. The slower you pipe, the stragglier the line!
6. Once the lines have been piped, draw the tip of a small sharp knife in opposite directions alternately across the piped lines to get a feather effect.
7. Or just snip the tip off one corner of the piping bag / Ziplock bag containing the melted chocolate and simply drizzle the chocolate on top of the mint layer.
8. Let the chocolate set and then cut into squares or rectangles with a sharp knife.

 

Store Katherine Hepburn’s Mint Chocolate Brownies in an airtight container.

If the weather is hot then keep airtight in the fridge. Serve at room temperature.

Please, under no circumstances serve these brownies cold straight from the fridge!