Rich, fudgy, deliciously dense chocolate After Eight Brownies hiding a secret layer of mint thins throughout.
After Eights, for those that don't know, are essentially a layer of thin mint fondant encased in a layer of thin dark chocolate. When I was a child they were quite a treat, and not nearly as cheap as they are now. Perhaps that is why I still adore them and they always feature on our table at Christmas.
But, I thought, why not go a step further? Why not add them to a lovely, gooey, fudgy brownie? It can surely only be a good thing!
By adding a layer of After Eights mint thins we introduce a layer of mint but still keep the richness of the chocolate brownie on either side. So we have different levels of flavour and different textures in one gloriously soft, rich brownie.
These After 8 brownies are truly one of my favourite bakes to date and I really hope that you lovely people enjoy them too.
For another sweet treat Biscoff recipe my Biscoff Fudge
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Why make these After Eight Brownies?
Soft, gooey and fudgy ✔️
Dense and rich ✔️
A layer of After 8s inside ✔️
Intensely chocolatey ✔️
Perfect mix of peppermint and chocolate flavours ✔️
Ingredients and Substitutions
Unsalted butter: yep we wang in a whole block with not a thought to the calories. Adding a block of butter ensures our brownies are moist, tender and aerated so that they rise a little.
Dark chocolate: always use good dark chocolate, it makes such a difference to the quality of your brownies. It doesn't have to be expensive, I used one block of supermarket branded dark chocolate and topped it up with Dr Oetker 72% dark chocolate. Just be sure your chocolate is at least 70% cocoa solids for best results.
Golden caster (superfine) sugar: I prefer golden caster sugar as the hint of caramel works perfectly in our brownies. You can use white caster sugar if you prefer.
Plain flour: brings some structure to our After Eight Brownies, without flour they would be overly gooey.
Cocoa powder: again, try to use a good brand if you can to ensure your brownies have a real chocolatey richness.
Baking powder: to help our brownies rise a little.
Eggs: our eggs are beaten before we add them to our brownie batter, so as to beat some air in beforehand and help the brownies to rise. They also give our brownies a soft texture and ensure the dry ingredients combine.
After Eights: yep a whole box is used! They are not called After 8 Brownies for nothing!
Instructions
See end of post RECIPE CARD for precise quantities and instructions.
Instructions
Heat your oven and line your baking tray with greaseproof (parchment) paper.
Melt your butter in a bain-marie and then add your chocolate and stir until melted.
Stir in your sugar and leave to cool. The mixture must be cool before you add your eggs, otherwise, it will simply cook them!
Sift your flour, cocoa and baking powder and beat your eggs.
Fold in your flour mixture and then your eggs.
Add half of your brownie mixture to your tin, cover with a layer of After Eights.
Cover with the remainder of your brownie batter.
Pop a few After Eights onto the top and sprinkle over your remaining dark chocolate chunks.
Bake until a skewer comes out only with a few cakey, fudgy bits stuck to it.
Leave to cool completely in your tin and then cut into small squares.
Top Tips
- To ensure your brownies are fudgy and not cakey keep your mixing to a minimum so that you do not incorporate extra air. Your final batter should be silky in texture.
- Ensure you cool your brownies at room temperature, don't be tempted to refridgerate to speed up the process because they won't set properly if cooled too quickly.
- They like to be baked at just the right temperature for just the right amount of time. Overbake just by minutes and they are cakey, under bake and they can be raw in the middle.
- To know when they are baked, give the tin a gentle shake and look for a bit of a wobble, just in the very middle but not a huge jelly-like wobble.
- Another test is to insert a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of your After Eight Brownies and continue baking if it comes out coated in uncooked batter. If just coated in a few cakes, fudgy bits then your brownies are done.
Variations
You can use this recipe for plain brownies, just leave out the After Eights, everything else is the same.
Or create fruit and nut boozy brownies. Soak 75 grams of raisins in a tablespoon of brandy for at least 30 minutes and then add them, along with 60 grams of chopped nuts, to your brownies batter after you've mixed in your flour.
You can add still add After Eights as per the recipe below or omit them altogether.
Did you try this recipe? Please do leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the Recipe Card at the end of this post if you can. Thank you.
Storage
Store After 8 Brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
You can freeze your brownies, once totally cooled. Wrap the whole lot, uncut, in two layers of foil and then a layer of clingfilm, ensuring all layers are nice and airtight. Cut when fully defrosted.
Or, to freeze your brownies individually, cut them up, place them in an airtight container and place a piece of greaseproof (parchment) paper in between.
FAQ
You may find that once you've taken your brownies out of your oven you realise they are a bit too gooey inside and could do with baking for a bit longer. Simply reheat your oven and pop them back in. This is fine to do even if your brownies had been cooling for a few hours.
If you want to revert overbaked brownies back to their gooey finery simply prick the brownies all over and then pour over a chocolate syrup to replenish the moisture content, here is a recipe you might want to try. You can, if you wish, go a step further and cover with a chocolate ganache as per the one used in my Chocolate Orange Cake recipe.
Linked recipes
Peanut Butter and Banana 🍌 Brownies
Jammy Dodger Blondies with White Chocolate
📖 Recipe
After Eight Brownies
Here's what you'll need...
- Heatproof bowl that will rest safely on the saucepan
- Large saucepan
Ingredients you'll need...
- 250 g Unsalted butter chopped into chunks (US = 1 Cup and 1 tablespoon)
- 225 g Dark chocolate minimum 70% cocoa solids chopped into small chunks
- 360 g Golden caster sugar (US = superfine sugar = 1 Cup and 9 tablespoons)
- 75 g Plain flour (US =all-purpose flour)
- 50 g Cocoa powder (US = ½ Cup)
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 4 Large eggs (US = extra large)
- 1 300 g Box of After Eights
Here's what we do...
- Heat your oven to 160°C Fan/180°C/355°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Grease your baking tin and then cover with greaseproof paper. To do this cut a piece of paper that will cover the long sides and base of the tin. You want to ensure the paper overhangs the edges of the tin so that you can hold it to remove your brownies when cooled. The shorter sides will be fine if just greased as long as your tin is in a good condition.
- Add boiling water to your saucepan, it needs to be about a third full. Keep to a gentle simmer on a low setting and place your heatproof bowl on top. Be careful, it will be hot!. The base of the bowl should not touch the water. This is known as a Bain-Marie.
- Add your butter to your heatproof bowl and gently melt.
- Mix in 200 grams of your chopped dark chocolate and stir until melted.
- Carefully remove your heatproof bowl and pour the mixture into your large bowl, then mix in your caster sugar.
- Leave to cool until at room temperature.
- Sift your flour, cocoa and baking powder together and then fold into your cooled chocolate mixture. Folding means turning the mixture over onto itself, rather than mixing in circles, this retains air which would be lost if mixing.
- Beat your eggs and then fold them into your brownie batter.
- Add half of your brownie batter to your prepared tin.
- Place over a layer of After Eights.
- Cover with the rest of the brownie batter.
- Finally, add another 6 or so After Eights to the top of the batter and dot over the remaining 25 grams of chopped chocolate. Don't press the chocolate into the mixture, just leave on the top to melt as it bakes.
- Place in the centre of your oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Your After Eight brownies are ready when there is a slight wobble in the centre. A skewer inserted into the centre should not come out clean, like with cake and it should also not come out with lots of wet mixture stuck to it either. The skewer should just have a few cakey fudgy bits on it, ie something in between!
- Leave to cool completely in your brownie tin, then cut up into squares.
Supporting Notes
- To ensure your brownies are fudgy and not cakey keep your mixing to a minimum so that you do not incorporate extra air. Your batter should be silky in texture when ready
- Ensure you cool your brownies at room temperature, don't be tempted to refrigerate to speed up the process because they won't set properly inside if cooled too quickly. Also, don't try to cut them up before totally cool.
- Brownies like to be baked at just the right temperature for just the right amount of time. Overbake just by minutes and they are cakey, under bake and they can be raw in the middle.
- To know when they are baked, give the tin a gentle shake and look for a bit of a wobble, just in the very middle but not a huge jelly-like wobble.
- Another test is to insert a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of your After Eight Brownies and continue baking if it comes out coated in uncooked batter. If just coated in a few cakes, fudgy bits then your brownies are done.
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