Thoughts on Baking

They look good don't they?  That is, if you like marshmallows.  Unfortunately they look a lot better than they really are.  They are Triple Layer Mint Brownie S'mores. 

The mint comes from mint patty candies placed on a layer of brownie batter and then covered with more batter.  You really have to be careful that the mint patties are not physically too close to the sides and bottom of the pan.  If they are too close, when they melt during the baking process, they reach a higher than intended temperature.  As the hotter than planned candies cool, they become very hard lumps. 

All in all, it seems a little too fussy to me, especially when I can have a wonderful, marvelous chocolate mint combination with Grasshopper Brownies.  Grasshoppers begin with a rather ordinary brownie.  After it cools, it gets a buttercream frosting flavored with mint and colored with a little pink or a little green food coloring.  After the buttercream sets a little, it is finished off with a dark chocolate glaze.  I can skip the melted marshmallows on the grasshoppers. 

But. . . if I need some marshmallow with my chocolate, I can always make a Mississippi Mud cake which has a layer of marshmallows on top of the chocolate cake and is then covered with a thin chocolate icing. 
Or. . .I can opt for a Texas sheet cake which omits the marshmallows and includes chopped nuts in the cake batter. 
One could always add chopped nuts to the Mississippi Mud cake or marshmallows to the Texas sheet cake and have the best of both in one cake.