While everyone loves a good brownie, a brownie can be made exponentially better by adding peppermint (or peanut butter, caramel, marshmallow… the list goes on).

Mint chocolate brownies are the perfect treat as the weather gets colder, but really, they’re perfect for any time at all. Is there ever a bad time for a brownie?

The Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter

8 oz. of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (chocolate chips will work too)

1 cup sugar

3/4 t salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

25 small peppermint patties (my fave are York!)

Getting to Brownie Bliss:

Line an 8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil with butter on it. This will make the brownies much easier to get out of the pan (the easier it is to get the brownies out of the pan, the sooner you can stuff your face).

Put the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Gently stir until the chocolate is melted and then remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.

Now whisk in the eggs, cocoa powder, and flour until the mixture is nice and smooth. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan.

Unwrap all your peppermint patties and arrange them over the layer of batter. Now pour the remaining batter into the pan, bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, and consume!

Sound like too much work? You can also make the mint chocolate brownies using a boxed brownie mix. Simply make the batter following the box’s directions, pour 1/3 of it into a pan, layer your peppermint patties, and pour the rest of the batter over. So technically, the brownies didn’t come from a box because you added your own special touch to them.

Now that I’ve had these, I want to make brownies with all sorts of candy bars inside. Snickers? Heath bar? This could get dangerous.