Peppermint and Ganache Topped Brownies

Christmas 2010, I found these yummy brownies on Sunset:

 

They were AMAZING, and I bought all the stuff to make them again this year.  Sadly I got too busy.  I'm only eating junk on Saturdays and so I wanted something really, really good (and these qualify).  I thought that by making the peppermints heart shape, they'd be less Christmasy and perfect for Valentine's Day.

I adapted the original recipe b/c I'm lazy.  If you are the type of person that shuns box mixes and actually owns a double-boiler check out the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1 batch of 9x13 brownies baked and cooled.
17 oz bag of peppermint swirl candies (I used the Target brand)
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup whipping cream


Place cream and chocolate chips in large microwave bowl.  Cook, 30 seconds at time, stirring until completely blended. Cool until only slightly warm. Poor on top of brownies.  Refrigerate 1 hour.


Preheat over to 300. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.  Unwrap the candy and place about 1 1/2  inch apart on parchment paper.  Bake 15-25 minutes until the candies melt, but remove before it starts turning yellow.  Immediately remove from oven.  Use a greased cookie cutter to score heart shapes.  If the score lines melt together, score again.  When completely cooled carefully break out the heart shapes.  About 15% of mine broke-so make extras. Cut brownies into squares and place a heart on each.  Refrigerate for 3 hours (to soften candy). Trust me they are worth the wait.


I think the next time I make them, I'm going to make the brownies on a cookie sheet.  Then I will cut them out with the cookie cutter and then put the candy on top.  They will be awesome peppermint-brownie truffles.

Thanks for stopping by, if you're interested in some free clothes-please check out this weeks give-a-way and linky party.

I'm linking up here.