cherry bomb dessert

Peppermint “Smoke Bomb” Brownies!

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Ruthanne

Celebrate July 4th with these fun peppermint brownie cups! Fun to make and sooooo yummy to eat!

I got a little chocolate bomb mold a few months ago and I love it. I have used it for so many creative things! This time, I am using it to make actual bombs- edible smoke bombs that is! The inside of this red candy shell is packed with sweet mint filling that mixes with the dark chocolate of these brownies perfectly!

Yes, these are a little fussy. It seems like anything super fun in the food realm takes some effort. If you want to make these SUPER easy, they are simply an adaptation from my Candy Cane Brownies from last Christmas. You could certainly add a little blue to the mint filling and just sprinkle stars on top for a fun (and equally delicious) patriotic alternative. OR you could be an over-achiever and make mint smoke bombs. Your choice! 🙂

Here is how we put these fun treats together: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1cup butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Chocolate Glaze:

6oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine here!)

Mint “Smoke Bombs”:

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) melted butter
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
Food color in red and blue
One bag of Wilton’s Candy melts in red
One bag of Twizzler’s Red, White and Blue licorice (I found them at Target)
Large Star Sprinkles
Mini Star Sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spoon evenly into 24 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (don’t over bake- they will start to pull away from the liner)
Cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Set aside until bombs are made

Mint Smoke Bombs:

Melt red candy melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Use a pastry brush to brush melts into a chocolate bomb mold and freeze for a couple minutes until hard. Do two coats- freezing in between.
Make mint filling by adding melted butter to sugar and extract.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Divide into 3 parts and color 2 of them red and blue using food coloring.
Place all three colors into a large zip-top bag and swirl together with a knife before sealing bag.
Cut a corner off bag and pipe mint filling into each red bomb shell- filling them about 3/4 full.
Refreeze these for a few minutes before gently popping them out and setting them on a plate. (I took pictures of this process in an earlier recipe here– but I didn’t fill these shells all the way full like I did there).
Repeat this process until you have 24 mint bombs ready.
Assemble brownies by spooning a little glaze on top of a brownie cup and then setting a bomb on top. Sprinkle edges with small star decorations and freeze to harden the glaze.
Once all your brownies are in the freezer, make the wicks by pulling apart the licorice and cutting into 1 to 2 inch pieces of blue.
Dip one end into the leftover red candy melts (you might need to remelt these) and set it on top of a large red star sprinkle to harden.

Once these have hardened, and your brownies are nice and cold, take a few brownies out of the freezer, dip the end of a “wick” in red candy melts and hold it to the top of a cold peppermint bomb. It should immediately set and hold the wick in place.
Then- simply enjoy the smiles as people bite into your yummy (and very patriotic!) peppermint brownies!!!

My thoughts: Ah…I loved making these. I always wonder if the idea in my mind will come across the way I pictured it, and these did—-makes me smile! I loved sharing these with friends and family too. Makes me wish I had a 4th of July party to go to this year!!! 🙂 I hope you get a chance to try these and that you love them as much as I do! ~r