Team Oven Loving for the Recovering

I came across the Baking Gals site earlier this year and had planned on signing up to participate on one of the Teams that bake and send cookies to our Troops. For numerous reasons my schedule was not syncing up with their shipping schedule, but finally this month I could do it. I signed up this month to bake for our soldiers who are recovering from injury. The Team's mission is to send packages filled with homemade baked goods and well wishes to hospitalized soliders and their families. The baked items are incorporated into a program that is held each Friday in their honor. The program helps bring them together while serving them a home style meal in the hospital along with the baked goods.

Take a minute to think of the sacrifices these men and women have made for our country, their families, friends and for us and our family and friends. Since I enjoy baking so much, I thought this effort would be a small way for me to say thank you to our Troops and provide them with a taste of home as they recover.

I decided to make Martha Stewart's Blondie Cupcakes in the mini version along with Peppermint Cookies n' Cream Brownies that I saw on Baking Bites. The Blondie Cupcakes recipe says it makes 12 regular sized cupcakes. Since I made minis I ended up with 30. You can find the Blondie Cupcakes recipe on this previous post or on Martha's site. On to the brownies....

The recipe was inspired by and calls for Peppermint Jo-Jo's. These are a peppermint oreo cookie that Trader Joe's sells during the Holidays. Since it is September, I opted to use Newman O's Hint 'O Mint cookies. They are a minty oreo type cookie that worked fine in the recipe. I am a big fan of the peppermint Jo-Jo's so will be looking foward to when those are in stock! Nicole at Baking Bites notes that if you cannot find a mint oreo type cookie, use a plain one and add a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the batter.

The brownies came out very good. It is a rich batter with a nice hint of mint and crunch of the cookie. Since they were being shipped, I probably should have pushed down the cookie crumbs I sprinkled on the top just to avoid any falling off. Lastly, I baked mine for about 40 minutes which I think was just a few minutes too long. Since this was the first time I made them I was not 100% sure on the texture and was nervous (as usual) of underbaking.

Take a minute today and remember all that our Troops do on our behalf. I pray for those that are still in War fighting, those that have come home, those that have come home and have a long road to recovery and those that lost their lives fighting for our Freedom. Let's also remember those today that lost their lives in the terrible terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 and their families that have had to face the unbearable losses.

Peppermint Cookies n' Cream Brownies
Adapted from Nicole at Baking Bites

1 cup butter
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups roughly chopped peppermint oreo-type cookies (approx 18)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, and grease lightly.

In a medium-large saucepan over low heat, melt together butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. Whisk in sugar, salt and vanilla, then turn off heat. Whisk in eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stir in flour and cocoa powder until mixture is uniform. Stir in peppermint oreo cookies and pour batter into prepared pan.

Crush 3-4 additional cookies finely and sprinkle on top of batter, if desired.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not coated with batter.

Cool brownies in pan for about 20 minutes, then lift brownies in the foil out of the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 36 brownies (or 48 bite-sized brownies).