Chocolate Mint Aero Brownies
Delicious, fudgy, intense chocolate peppermint squares with a whole layer of light, airy mint chocolate Aero. The soft and gooey inside contrasts deliciously with the green, bubbly and slightly crispy aero and the green centre stands out beautifully against the dark chocolate.
These are the mint brownies I make in the summer; somehow the mint green and the lightness that comes with the aero, makes these feel like summer. In winter, I use the same basic brownie recipe but add chunks of crispy mint chocolate and then top it with After Eight Mint Chocolates. Both versions are fabulous at any time of the year, but in our house, After Eights are synonymous with Christmas, hence the differentiation. My recipe for Mint Chocolate Brownies with After Eights, can be found here.
What shall I do with the left-over Aero?
I used 3 x 90g bars of Aero. However, I did have some leftover. You can eat this as a chef’s treat or why not save it, and 2 – 3 brownies and make some Chocolate Mint Brownie Ice Cream
Chef’s treat 
Chocolate Mint Brownie Ice Cream
How to make Chocolate Mint Aero Brownies
This recipe is adapted from my Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe. For further brownie ideas and inspiration, see here.
Collect all your ingredients together and line the baking tin:
In order to guarantee soft and fudgy brownies, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.
- Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
- Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
- Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.
1 Tin and greaseproof paper 
2 Cut out the corners 
3 Fold, corner to corner, and slot inside the tin
Brownie Ingredients:
- unsalted butter, in cubes
- dark mint chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces. I use Lindt
- soft brown sugar
- caster sugar
- large eggs
- fine salt
- plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
- cocoa, sieved
- chocolate mint Aero bars
Make those brownies:
- Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped dark mint chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
- Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
- Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
- Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee.
- Sift directly over the cake batter.
- Fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix.
- Transfer half of the mixture to your baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
- Layer the aero bars over the brownie mix, covering the whole area.
- Next top with the remaining brownie mix, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
- Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. It will carry on cooking when you take it out of the oven so bear this in mind. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland. This gives me a slightly crispy top but a gorgeous gooey centre. The cake will be slightly risen and cracked around the edges (see the pictures below) but the centre will feel quite soft. Remember the cake will continue to cook after you have taken it out of the oven.
- Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Brownie ingredients 
The aero and mint chocolate I use 
1 Chop chocolate and butter and … 
… melt. Stir to mix. 
2 Put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl …. 
…. and whisk until thick and creamy. 
3 Pour chocolate & butter into eggs & sugar, whisking. 
…..whisk until smooth and glossy. 
4 Put sieve over bowl, add flour, cocoa & coffee 
5 Sift directly over batter. 
6 Fold until mixed in 
7 Transfer half to baking tin and level surface. 
8 Layer aero bars over 
9 Top with remaining brownie mix 
10 Bake 
11 Leave to cool before cutting into squares.
What is the best way to store brownies?
When you store brownies, it is important to cover them. They keep well for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the fridge. However, if you are storing them in the fridge, remember to take them out to warm up to room temperature before you serve them.
What is the best way to warm brownies?
I adore warm brownies for dessert, served with ice cream. If you have made the brownies in advance and want to warm them up, simply zap them in the microwave for 10 – 20 seconds. The time it takes will depend on the temperature of the brownies to start with (ie have they been in the fridge or not?), the power of the microwave and how hot you actually want them. I like mine warm, but not too hot. I recommend heating them in 10 second increments until you are happy with the heat.
If you do not have a microwave, you could warm them in the oven. Cover with foil and place them in an oven preheated to fan oven 150°C/170°C/325°F/Gas 3 for 1 – 3 minutes. (Depending on how many you are heating and how hot you want them.) Check them after 1 minute and be careful not to overheat, as you may over cook them.
Can I freeze these brownies?
Yes you can! These brownies freeze well, covered, for up to 3 months.
Made this recipe?
If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.
Chocolate Mint Aero Brownies
Delicious, fudgy, intense chocolate peppermint squares with a whole layer of light, airy mint chocolate Aero.
Makes 9 or 16
Ingredients
- 200g unsalted butter, in cubes
- 200g dark mint chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces. I use Lindt
- 150g caster sugar
- 50g soft brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
- 25g cocoa, sieved
- ⅛ teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 230g chocolate mint Aero bars
Instructions
-
Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
-
Preheat oven to fan oven 170°C /190°C/375°F/Gas 5
-
Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped dark mint chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
-
Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
-
Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
-
Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee.
-
Sift directly over the cake batter.
-
Fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix.
-
Transfer half of the mixture to your baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
-
Layer the aero bars over the brownie mix, covering the whole area.
-
Next top with the remaining brownie mix, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
-
Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. It will carry on cooking when you take it out of the oven so bear this in mind. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.)
-
Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes and then, using the overhanging parchment, transfer the brownies to a cooling rack – do not remove the parchment, they will be too fragile
-
Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares. Cut into either 9 or 16 depending on your appetite.
Recipe Notes
Equipment
- Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
- Electric whisk and mixing bowl
- Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- Sieve
- Chopping board and knife
- 20cm/8inch square baking tin lined with baking parchment
Dark Mint Chocolate for the brownie mix:
Mint chocolate is a lot easier to find in winter than the rest of the year. If you cannot find dark mint chocolate, you can use the normal dark chocolate and add 1 – 2 teaspoons peppermint extract.
Mint extract:
You need to add this to taste.
- When I can find Lindt dark milk chocolate, I find I don’t need any extract.
- However, not all makes have the same level of mint, so taste the cake batter and decide for yourself.
- If you use dark chocolate with no mint, you will need 1 – 2 teaspoons extract.
Be very careful melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!
Microwave: I give the chocolate and butter a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.
Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.
