No-Bake After-Dinner Mint Bars

If you like chocolate and mint together, this recipe is for you!  I'm a huge chocolate mint lover and this has got to be the best recipe I've ever found.  There are 3 layers and there is mint flavoring in each layer!  I make these each year for our annual beach trip to munch on after dinner while we play dominoes late into the night.  They are so popular, I started making a double batch a couple of years ago otherwise there wouldn't be any for the second night!

I found this recipe in one of those little recipe books that are sold at the checkstand at the market.  My husband doesn't care for mint (that means more for the rest of us!), but my boys give this recipe 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.  I give this recipe a 10!  These scrumptious mints are easy to make, but they require refrigeration time between steps, so you need to allow for that.

The first step is to crush the chocolate wafer cookies.  Oreos do not work for this recipe.  They need to be chocolate wafers with no cream filling.  I use the kind that can be found near the ice cream cones and toppings in the market.  To crush them finely, I use my mini food processor, which has the job done in less than a minute.  If you don't have one, they can be placed in a zip lock bag and crushed with a rolling pin or mallet.  Just make sure the crumbs are very fine.

The recipe calls for mint-flavored semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Where I live, the markets only carry that product between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That's not helpful if you want to make these mints any other time of year.  Then I discovered this product - The Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips.  I actually prefer this over the mint chocolate chips because the pieces are smaller so they melt faster and the green portion seems to melt better than that found in the swirled chocolate chips.  Either will work, I just prefer these.

In a medium saucepan, I melt the butter with 1/4 cup of the mint chips, stirring until smooth.

I remove the pan from the heat and add the wafer crumbs.  When they're mixed together, it looks like moist dirt.  Then I press this mixture into an 8- by 8-inch pan (sorry, no picture).  The pan gets put into the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.  If the butter doesn't get hard enough, it will be very hard to spread the next layer on top - believe me, I learned the hard way!

For the second layer, I place the softened butter and powdered sugar in a bowl.

Using a hand mixer, I combine the butter and sugar until it makes fine crumbs.  This helps ensure a smooth texture once I add the liquids.

Then I beat in 1 tablespoon of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, and 1 drop of green food color.  I guess the food color could be omitted, but most people expect mint candy to be green!  It ends up being a pretty shade of (what else?) mint green!

After removing the pan from the refrigerator, I spread the powdered sugar mixture on top of the crumb base.  I use an off-set cake decorator's spatula to help make it as smooth as possible into the corners.  It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, because it won't be seen, but it will help make the top layer look more even when the bars are cut.  Back into the refrigerator is goes for another 15 minutes to let this layer stiffen up a bit.

The last layer is made by melting 1/3 cup butter with the remaining mint chips from the bag in a small saucepan (sorry, no photo), stirring constantly until the chips are completely melted and smooth.  The pan is brought back from the refrigerator and the hot mint chocolate is poured directly on top of the second layer.

The liquid chocolate pretty much runs to the sides, but I have to help it get into the corners a little with a spatula.  Back into the refrigerator to cool completely.  This will take at least an hour.  I usually make these a day ahead, so I'm sure they are completely set.

You'd think that they are ready to cut as soon as they come back out of the refrigerator, but I've found that if I give them about 1/2 hour on the counter, they cut more easily without causing breakage, thereby making final product look better.  I begin by scoring the top of the chocolate.

Then, my knife has a guide to follow and I make two more passes on each line to cut through the top layer of chocolate.  I'm really trying to avoid breaking that top layer!  Then I cut all the way through to the bottom.  You'd think that then they can be removed from the pan easily, but I've found that by letting them warm up a bit, the bottom layer is not quite as "solid" so there can be some left behind when removing them from the pan, especially with the first couple of pieces.  To avoid this, after cutting the bars, I put the pan back into the refrigerator again for about 1/2 hr.

Now, they're ready to remove from the pan and savor!   If I'm serving these mints for something special, I will "clean up" the crumbs from the top, so they look better, but in this case, they're going to the beach where nobody cares what they look like, they just want to put them in their mouths.  I hope the pretty plate made them look better here!  My only other suggestion is to serve them cold.  Once they warm up a bit, they get more messy to eat.  Any way you serve them, these will be the best chocolate mints you've ever tasted!  Enjoy!

 No-Bake After-Dinner Mint Bars

½ cup butter

1 (10 oz.) pkg. mint-flavored semi-sweet chocolate chips*

2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs**

¼ cup butter, softened

1 tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon peppermint extract

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 drop green food color

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter

Lightly grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan.  In a medium saucepan, combine ½ cup better and ¼ cup of the chocolate chips.  Cook over low heat until melted, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; stir in cookie crumbs until well moistened.  Press crumb mixture evenly in greased pan.  Refrigerate 15 minutes until firm.

Meanwhile in a small bowl, beat butter adding powdered sugar gradually.  Add extract and vanilla and food color.  Spread evenly over crumb mixture and refrigerate another 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt remaining chocolate chips and 1/3 cup butter over low heat, stirring constantly.  Spread evenly over bars.  Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes.  Score the top with a knife to make cutting more easy.  Return to refrigerator for at least 1 hour before cutting and serving.  I find these are best if served cold straight from the refrigerator.

*I use the Andes mint chips

**I find these in the ice cream toppings section of my market