You are going to love this candy cane brownie recipe! Have you joined a Christmas baking exchange? I have and I just love it! I love the idea of swapping recipes and traditions and goodies with friends and family just in time for the holidays. The brownie recipe that I am sharing today is PERFECT for baking exchanges because one batch creates a lot of bars and there are not a lot of complicated steps to making them.

Each batch makes approximately four dozen brownie bars cut into 1.5×1.5 squares. Three batches of brownies should yield twelve dozen candy cane bars. This is perfect for our annual baking exchange where each baker is asked to bring 12 dozen goodies.

Tips for Holiday Baking:

Double or triple recipes to make large batches of goodies. This allows cookies and bars to be made in an assembly line fashion and speeds up the process.
Pick holiday recipes that compliment each other and look good plated together. For example every year I like to make Candy Cane Brownies, Eggnog Cookies, Cranberry and Pistachio Shortbread and Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Cookies for a good variety.
Participate in a Holiday Baking Exchange! This is a great way to prepare for a season of holiday entertaining.
Start baking early and store goodies in the freezer until they are needed. I use these large Rubbermaid food storage containers (aff link) to save a mixture of cookies and bars in my freezer so that I have them ready to go for Christmas parties and gatherings all season long.

Be sure to allow the brownie to completely cool before cutting. I even put ours in the refrigerator. Once it is cool, carefully pop it out of the baking pan and lay it on a cutting board. Using a large knife cut the brownie into bars. I use our largest kitchen knife (not serrated) and cut with a chopping motion (like a paper cutter) and wipe my blade clean between slices. This allows you to get clean, crisp edges and helps to prevent the brownie from sticking.

I mean, how festive is this candy cane brownie recipe?! These brownies taste delicious because of the combination of peppermint and chocolate. They are my absolute favorite!

Candy Cane Brownie Recipe

Name: Candy Cane Brownie Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup butter or margarine; 1 cup cocoa powder; 2 cups sugar; 4 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla; 1 ½ tsp peppermint extract; ½ cup crushed peppermint candy canes; (reserve 2 Tbsp crushed candy cane for topping)

Yield: 4 dozen

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp peppermint extract
½ cup crushed peppermint candy canes
(reserve 2 Tbsp crushed candy cane for topping)

Instructions

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter and mix with cocoa.
Add eggs, vanilla and peppermint extract.
Add sugar.
Carefully add flour mixture and combine well.
Fold in crushed candy canes.
Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan, spread and smooth with a spatula, sprinkle with remaining candy cane and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Allow to completely cool before removing from pan and cutting into squares.

Have you tried making these yet? What did you think?