Candy Cane Brownies

If you are anything like me, you have about a zillion candy canes in your house right now that need to be eaten. Am I right? I made these brownies right before Christmas, {ya know, after we'd been gifted a bunch of candy canes} and ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM! In fact, I made them twice in one week, I love them so much. To my simple mind, mint and chocolate is pretty much perfection. :)

Here is the simple brownie recipe with my added candy cane twist. This brownie recipe is our favorite as-is, so if you aren't a minty person I'm telling ya, you want these brownies!

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
½ cup melted butter
¼ cups melted shortening
1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
3 candy canes, crushed

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until well mixed. Stir in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa and salt, stir into egg mixture and mix well.

Pour into a greased 9x13” pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes (25 minutes for a cake-like brownie.) Take out and sprinkle crushed candy cane on top, bake for 3-5 more minutes.

A few of my own notes:

I found that 3 candy canes was just the right amount of mint for these brownies. Adjust that amount depending on your tastes.

When I crushed the candy canes, I left some in large chunks and crushed some to powder. I liked how it looked on the brownie. Oh, and my highly professional method of crushing them was lay them on a glass cutting board and hit them with the heavy end of a can opener. Ya know, whatever works.

The candy canes will start to melt in those last 3-5 minutes you have them in the oven, so just keep an eye on them. Having them melt slightly really helped keep them on the brownie once it was cut...it wasn't like those doughnuts dipped in candy where it all falls off on the first bite.

Perfection.

What is your favourite way to use up Christmas candy? I received some cappuccino candy canes for Christmas, and I'm thinking those would be yummy this way, too. ;) Any other recipes you'd like to share?