Brownie Doctor: York Brownies

Well...hello there. *sidles into view* Sorry for the unintentional month-long hiatus. We had the best intentions of keeping up posting during December, but then the dreaded Finals Season descended upon us and I barely saw the light of day for about 10 days straight. This year was my most intensive finals season yet (so much for senior slacking), and I barely had time to eat, sleep, and hygiene, let alone bake and photograph tasty treats (unfortunately). I did, however, manage to whip these up before the full brunt of finals hit. They sustained me a few days into the madness, then disappeared about the same time as my sanity*. I suspect a correlation.

*Seriously, ask my friends - I spent about a week in a state of constantly teetering on the edge of delirium. In fact, they'd probably say I wasn't even teetering but had already crossed the line.

These are maybe the perfect thing to bake during finals. They're super easy, so you can mix them up and toss them in the oven during a 15-minute study break. They're made out of chocolate which, obviously, brain food. And they're just really, really yummy, which goes a long way toward soothing finals anxiety. Really.

I don't know about you, but I feel better just looking at them, and I'm not even stressed anymore. Well, about finals, anyway.

I love the way the chocolate casing of the York melts into the brownie batter, merging the two together into one delicious, chewy mint-chocolate morsel. It ends up being kind of like an oversized York where the chocolate casing was swapped out for chewy, rich brownie. Super York.

... that comparison maybe made more sense in my head. Maybe my brain is still a little finals-addled.

Luckily, there's still one more week of break and several baking projects lined up to help me get my head back on straight before second semester starts.

Don't let the Christmas-y York wrappers fool you - these brownies are not just a holiday treat. Chocolate + mint is a winter-long (even year-long - mint-chocolate chip ice cream, anyone?) appropriate flavor pairing. You could whip these up as a last-minute addition to your New Year's Eve snack table, easy. You could make a batch to woo your Valentine by plying them with chocolate and letting them think these brownies took more skilled labor than they actually did. (Or, if you don't have a Valentine, you could make a batch just for yourself because chocolate is even better than a shoulder to cry on when it comes to making yourself feel better. Fact.) What I'm getting at is...there are a lot of occasions coming up that warrant brownies. These could be those brownies. I'm just sayin'.

- Molly

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York Brownies

1 box Ghiradelli dark chocolate brownie mix
1 bag York Peppermint Patties

Mix brownies according to box instructions. Line cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers. Put one spoonful of batter into each cupcake holder. Place one York on top of batter. Top with remaining batter. Follow package baking time instructions.