Chocolate peppermint brownies

Chewy chocolate brownies with a hint of peppermint flavor. No need to crush up candy canes for this recipe!

Back in December, I really wanted to make some chocolate peppermint brownies.

Though when I was searching for recipes, all I could find were brownies with crushed up candy cane. That is not what I wanted!

I just wanted to be able to use my newly purchased peppermint extract to add a hint of peppermint flavor. No candy canes.

I found a recipe that also included peppermint tea leaves (!) but as I was starting to play around with it I also greatly misread the amount of flour (it read 4 and 1/2 ounces, I thought it was 4 and 1/2 cups).

Luckily I was going to cut the ingredients in half, because that sounded like a lot, but it ended up being very much my own creation by the time I was done. And it worked!

These brownies are so soft and chewy and had just the right amount of peppermint flavor I was looking for. You can top them off with peppermint icing…

 Or just sprinkle some powdered sugar on top.

But they are great without toppings, too. I better step away from these pictures or else I’ll want to go make them again. Enjoy!