Time flies and it's already Halloween in two short days!
I may not be very big on Halloween but it's good to get into the spirit a little bit with some pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, and a few fun treats. I find that as the kids get older, the fervor behind Halloween is quieting down so maybe I should try to enjoy it as much as possible while my son is still dressing up and excited to "boo" his friends and neighbors.
The kids at school are having a Halloween bake sale today and I made these simple peppermint brownies for the sale. I considered making a batch of owl cupcakes but when I saw this simple idea for making Halloween "faces" using peppermint patties on brownies from Martha, it seemed like an easy/tasty project to try. I love an excuse to make brownies!
I took Martha's idea and made it even simpler. I actually used a recipe from Joy of Baking that makes brownies that are meant to be somewhere between cakey and fudgy. I wanted a moist brownie and also one that would hold up well. Since I made sure to take my brownies out of the oven earlier rather than later, mine turned out more fudgy, which is how we like them. Instead of embedding a peppermint patty into the brownies (as well as using one for the faces) as per Martha's recipe, I just added a little peppermint extract into the batter to reinforce the flavor, keeping things simple and not too crazy minty.
I don't know if everyone's a fan of peppermint brownies but my son loves it and selfishly, of course, I was thinking of him. He wanted a batch for himself and after I let him sample one, he really wanted to keep the entire batch. In other words, these are my kid-approved! Somehow, I did manage to pack up most of the brownies and they now reside with many other creepy and not-so-creepy treats awaiting the school bake sale.
Have a fun and safe Halloween! Once Monday rolls around, it's officially time to talk Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I can hardly wait!
