dark chocolate peppermint brownies

3/4 c. dark cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2/3 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. boiling water

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla

1 bag of small baking peppermint patties

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease a 13x9 pan. mix cocoa powder and baking soda together with wood spoon and add 1/3c of melted butter. it will be super think and paste like. once you get there - add boiling water and mix until smoothish. next add sugar and eggs and the other 1/3c of butter. this is when i switch to a whisk. whisk the batter until it is very smooth. stir in the vanilla until it's combined and finally add the peppermints. i will say that you can truly add any candy or no candy at this point. the brownies alone are pretty good. sorry i didn't take pics of the actual process - i forgot that i wanted to post it until i was finished mixing the batter. because these are dark chocolate, they are very dark and so delicious.

sorry about the giant brownie missing from the photos, P was not waiting one more minute. annoying.

anyway - these turned out better than i'd anticipated. if dark chocolate isn't your thing, feel free to use standard dutch process cocoa powder. happy eating!

xox

csj