Chocolate Mint Brownies

If you love chocolate mint as much as I do, you will love these Chocolate Mint Brownies. Gooey chocolate brownies studded with minty bits make for such a treat. I’ve been making this recipe for years, ever since I developed it in tribute to my paternal Grandmother, Mary Addis.

You cannot beat the combination of chocolate and mint, and it really shines in these brownies! Don’t worry if you can’t get mint chocolate chips – there are lots of other options for making this delicious recipe.

Press the Jump To Recipe Button at the top of the page or scroll to the bottom for the Chocolate Mint Brownies recipe, or read on if you’d like to find out a little more about the remarkable lady who was my Grandma.

My Grandma Mary

My Grandmother, Mary Addis, left her home in Belfast when she was barely 18 years of age to travel to Canada. She undertook the risky, unpleasant sea voyage with several other young women her age, under the protection of her future employer, who owned a textile mill in a town that would soon be known as Galt.

Mary left Belfast wearing this locket containing photographs of her mother and father, never expecting to see them again. I immigrated to England when I was 23, but there was almost no question that I would see my family again. I can’t imagine being as brave as Mary was.

I’m not sure what the conditions in the mills were like, but I know they would not have been acceptable today. As Mary died before I was born, I have little knowledge of her life during her first days in Canada. However Grandpa told me that not too long after she arrived, she “roller skated right into” my Grandpa, a World War One veteran recently returned from the front. According to my Grandpa, it was very much love at first sight. I always loved that story. Mary and Joe, my grandpa, were married in 1922.

Mary and Joe went on to have four children and 11 Grandchildren, although Mary only met six of her Grandchildren before her death aged just 61. I was born less than a year after she died, but sadly she never even knew I was on the way.

During World War 2, while Joe was away from home in the Canadian home guard in London, Ontario, Mary took in trainee soldiers on their way to the front, who became part of the family while they trained. This must have been a challenge in so many ways, particularly with four children of her own. My Dad and his brother were under five at the start of the war, but their sisters were older, the eldest in her teens. Despite all this, Mary did her bit for the war effort, even working in a munitions factory for a time.

My Grandpa talked about Mary (who he called ‘May’) all the time when I was little. He kept her aprons, crisply ironed and neatly folded in a kitchen drawer. Grandpa let me choose an apron to wear whenever I helped him in the kitchen. We never made Chocolate Mint Brownies, but he was a pretty good cook, and I know Mary would have been proud of how well he managed after she died.

Visiting Ireland

Mary returned to Belfast twice, once for a visit with her parents in 1925 and again for her father’s funeral in 1948. On her first visit, Mary took her first child, my Aunt Irene, with her. The ship’s rosters for both their outgoing and return journey tell me they were gone for several months.

Her last journey took considerably less time as she travelled by plane. Mary’s two journeys home make me realise how lucky I was to be able to visit with my late parents so many times, both here in the UK and back in Canada.

I haven’t been to Belfast yet, but I have visited the southern part of Ireland many times. I’ve even kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle (above). I also love Dublin and Kinsale.

When my Grandpa passed away, he left me Mary’s locket. I wear it regularly, and always on St Patrick’s Day. I think of Mary often, particularly when I’m nervous about trying something new. It reminds me that if my Grandma could do what she did all those years ago, both when she left her home in Ireland and during the war, there really is very little excuse for me not to be brave in nearly any circumstances.

Back to my Chocolate Mint Brownies!

I like to use Guittard Mint Baking Chips (affiliate link) for my Chocolate Mint Brownies. Mint Baking Chips are often hard to get in the UK and always very expensive, but I love their flavour and the green colour they give to the brownies. During the pandemic it became nearly impossible to source these minty bits of goodness, so I tried dark chocolate and mint crunch bars by Chocolate and Love (affiliate link). I just cut the bars up in small squares, to create makeshift mint chocolate “chips”. They had a wonderful flavour and stood up well to the heat of the oven. So if you can’t get the mint baking chips, you can use any good chocolate mint chocolate bars provided they don’t have a creamy filling.

Tips for Making Chocolate Mint Brownies

If you cannot find Chocolate Mint Chips or a Chocolate Mint Bar to chop up – or if you like a strong mint flavour – you can always add a half a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the chocolate mint brownies instead of vanilla. My friend April Birch uses pure peppermint essential oil to make these brownies. She recommends adding about 5 drops to the batter, but you can add more or less to taste. In this case, it’s a great idea to replace the mint chips with dark or milk chocolate chips.

I like to use Green and Black’s cocoa powder (affiliate link) because of its rich dark chocolate flavour and I like that it is a fairtrade product. You can, of course, use any cocoa powder that you like. However, please don’t use anything labelled ‘drinking chocolate’. Drinking chocolate has milk powder added and does not work in these Chocolate Mint Brownies – or in baking in general.

I recommend using this 13 x 9 inch pan (affiliate link) for baking these Chocolate Mint Brownies. While you still need to grease a non-stick pan, it releases the brownies easily and cleans up effortlessly. The lid is perfect for storing the brownies at room temperature—my last batch stayed fresh for over a week, though that was mostly because there were only two of us eating them! 

The covered pan is also great for taking brownies on the go or gifting them. I simply bake a batch, then give the pan as part of the gift, explaining I don’t need it back. It’s a thoughtful present for any baker!

Be sure not to overcook the brownies as it’s their moist texture that helps make them so irresistible. I always check them after about 20 minutes and keep an eye on them from there so they do not overcook.

The glaze on these Chocolate Mint Brownies is purely optional but it really does make them extra special – especially if you are serving them for St Patrick’s Day.

Chocolate Mint Brownies – Printable Recipe