(Almost) failed experiment and brownie cutting tip

I guess the first part of this is what NOT to do. There was a ton of fresh mint left over from last Saturday, so I thought, why not try to use it? And what does mint go with? Chocolate, of course! I thought I would be clever and chop up some fresh mint and put it in those amazing cocoa brownies.

I rinsed a large bunch, pulled off each leaf, carefully chopped them into little bits and stirred it in. No flavor. Rinsed, pulled, and chopped a slightly large bunch. Fingers starting to get annoyed at the action. Stirred it in. Not really a flavor. Gave to two others to test. Nope, really just no flavor. Hmmm.... getting discouraged, but will not be beaten to easily! Extra large bunch, rinsed, pulled, chopped! Stirred! Refused to taste in case there was no change. Flavors should blend more in oven, yes? Put in oven, set timer.

As I pulled it out, I could finally smell some mint. Thank goodness. Not nearly done, so put back in for 15 more minutes. When I pulled it out, I was much too impatient to wait for them to cool, so I used an old trick: Cut hot brownies with plastic. A plastic knife would be perfect, but any piece of straight plastic works. In the kitchen there is a (slightly melted) cheap plastic spatula that is really thin, and I used that. Put brownie in mouth: mmmmmm, a nice touch of mint.

Moral of the story: Use mint extract to make mint brownies. And then cut them with a plastic knife while hot. Fingers hurt from chopping, so I'm done now.