Generally my cravings for sweets of late have been directed at butterscotch hard candies you can buy in the economy size bag at the grocery. However, this last week thoughts of chocolate and mint have been playing havoc in my hypothalamus and pushed me to action. I tried an appeasement strategy .i.e. Andes chocolate mint on Milano mint cookie in the microwave for a few seconds quick fix but that did not put the issue to rest.

The fall back position was a reliable crème de menthe cake / brownie recipe that I had not visited in at least a decade. So here it is with a few added layers and a bit of added chocolate chip mint ice cream.

When I made this I "fudged" the recipe a bit in order to stack it. The top layer / glaze is only molten and pourable right after you melt the semi sweet chips and butter together. Once it cools it is no longer liquid at all. So for the hot fudge effect with ice cream layers I had to assemble the layers before hand and then pour the warm glaze over it right before serving. Also, to get a thinner layer for stacking you can use a jelly roll pan instead of a 13 x 9 pan. Just reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes instead of 25.

This recipe has been around a long time, a friend passed it along to me but I have seen very similar if not identical versions on the internet.

Recipe: Three Layer Crème de Menthe Squares

1st Layer- Cake layer
Combine and beat
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs

Then add the following to the batter

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1- 16 oz. can Hershey syrup

2nd Layer- crème de menthe filling
Cream together
½ cup unsalted butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tablespoons crème de menthe
Note: Cake should be cool before applying 2nd layer

3rd Layer - Glaze
6 oz chocolate chips semi sweet
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Melt and pour and cool

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine and crème together the butter sugar and eggs, gradually add the flour, vanilla, salt and hershey’s syrup. Mix well.

3. Spread batter in a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before adding crème de menthe layer.

4. While the first layer is cooling, cream together the butter, confectioners sugar and crème de menthe.

5. Spread it over the cake layer and refrigerate.

6. In a double boiler, melt the semi sweet chocolate chips and butter for the glaze. Allow it to cool slightly and pour/ spread over the thoroughly chilled mint layer. Refrigerate it again to chill and set the glaze topping.