Today I’m sharing this fantastic and festive peppermint brownie brittle recipe. A copycat version of Brownie Brittle but with a Christmas makeover!
Everyone needs a fantastic brownie bark recipe in their life, and this minty version is holiday perfect. Make a ton, too, because it makes a great food gift!
Another delicious recipe to try is my chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies (that are gluten free!).
For ease of browsing, here are all of my cookie and bar recipes. Thanks for stopping by!
Watch my peppermint brownie bark web story here.
Peppermint Brownie Brittle, At a Glance
✔️Skill Level: Beginner
✔️Skills: separating eggs, Spreading batter out very thinly
✔️Type: Cookie Brittle
✔️Number of Ingredients: 11
✔️Prep Time: 10 minutes
✔️Cook Time: 35 minutes
✔️Yield: about 32 pieces of brittle
Jump Straight to the Recipe
This brittle turns out nice and crispy, and if crispy is your thing, you won’t be able to stop eating it!
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Making Peppermint Brownie Brittle
This is a pretty straightforward recipe to follow
I’ll go over the ingredients, the procedure, and give you some tips on how to make it nice and crispy.
If you just want to get in the kitchen and get going on your brownie brittle, you can jump straight to the recipe.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe.
How to Make Crispy Brownie Brittle
I researched plenty of brownie brittle recipes, and some of them suggested you just take your favorite brownie recipe and spread it out really thinly before baking.
While I’m sure that will yield a passable brownie brittle, what you really want is a way to make your final product crispy and not crunchy/chewy. To do that you:
- take out some of the fat by substituting egg whites for whole eggs–after all, what’s crispier than thin sheets of baked meringue? Not much.
- double the amount of flour you’d usually use and use cocoa powder as opposed to melted bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate.
Capping the amount of fat helps to keep things dry and crispy/crunchy since fat is a tenderizer.
As a base recipe, I turned to Alton Brown’s Cocoa Brownies and performed this simple math on the formula: subtract the yolks (save for custard!) and divide the amount of all other ingredients, except for the flour, by two.
This worked out brilliantly and yielded a crispy/crunchy, deeply chocolatey base.
Since I wanted to use the rest of my Peppermint Bark, I added two drops of peppermint oil to the batter, but you could also leave that out since you’ll get a lot of mintiness from the candy.
Other Rules for How to Make Your Brittle Nice and Crispy
- Once you leave out the yolks and reduce the fat in your recipe, make sure you spread out your batter very thinly. I know that seems obvious, but you really want it to be about as thin as you can get it. The thinner it is, the crispier the end result.
I went to town with my small offset spatula until I got my batter about as thin as humanly possible.
Note, if you add mix-ins to the batter, it will be very difficult to spread it out super thin because the mixins will drag and leave lines in your batter. Trust me, I’ve been there.
It’s a much better idea to leave mixins out of the batter, sticking just with extracts to alter the flavor, and then adding crushed toppings after your batter is all spread out.
- You’ll want to bake at a lower temperature for a longer time than for brownies. This ensures the center (even though the batter is thin) gets nice and dry without the outsides burning. Make your brownie brittle too thick, and you’ll most likely end up with bendy brownie bark that’s a little burned on the outside.
- Don’t add your candy toppings until the last few minutes of baking, especially if you’re using peppermint bark like I did. The white chocolate will caramelize and won’t be that lovely creamy-white color. It will taste great, but it won’t be as pretty. You can see that in some of my photos. Learn from my mistakes and add delicate toppings during the last few minutes of baking.
Flavor Variations
Know that you can use this base recipe for whatever kind of brownie bark you’d like to make, so don’t stop experimenting with this peppermint version.
Go on and make great copycat recipes for any of your favorite store-bought flavors. Or make up your own. Here are some ideas for you.
- add toffee bits and sprinkle with some flaky finishing salt
- sprinkle on mini chocolate chips towards the end of baking
- sprinkle on some finely chopped white chocolate once they come out of the oven and the spread it out into a thin layer once it melts
- add mini M&Ms to the top of your brownie bark
- sprinkle on peanut butter chips (just like the white chocolate version except with peanut butter) and/or finely chopped nuts
- add some espresso powder to the batter and top with crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans towards the end of baking time
Other Brownie Recipes You May Enjoy
I know you’re here for brownie brittle, but these brownie flavors might inspire you in your experimentation. Enjoy!
- Apricot Swirl Brownies
- Strawberry Balsamic Swirl Brownies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
- The Best Brownies in the World
- Kit-Kat Cheesecake Brownies
Let’s Get On with It, Shall We?
This recipe is a decadent and spot-on holiday copycat for store-bought Brownie Brittle. Use the base to make any flavor you can imagine.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Peppermint Brownie Brittle Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 3.5 oz brown sugar (dark or light) (1/2 cup)
- 3.5 oz granulated sugar 1/2 cup
- 1/4-3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 drops peppermint oil
- 2 oz about 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2.5 oz about 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled)
- 4-6 oz peppermint bark finely chopped
Instructions
- Place a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven (or bake in 2 batches, setting a rack in the center of the oven).
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Line two half sheet pans with Silpat. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip whites, brown sugar, granuated sugar, salt, vanilla, and peppermint extract until very light and thick, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together and add to the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until incorporated, scraping the bowl thoroughly.
- With the mixer running on medium speed, pour the butter in down the inside of the bowl and mix until well blended. Scrape bowl as necessary.
- Plop half the batter on each of the prepared pans. Using an offset spatula, spread out as thinly as you can.
- Sprinkle half of the peppermint bark evenly over each pan of batter.* (See Note)
- Bake for 15 minutes, rotating pans and switching racks halfway through.
- Remove the pans from the oven and score the peppermint bark brownie bark with a small pizza cutter or a knife. You can score it in whatever shapes you like.
- Return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes, rotating pans and switching racks halfway through.
- Allow the bark to cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then carefully remove the bark to racks to cool completely.
- Bark might not be completely crisp when it’s still hot, but it should crisp up nicely once cool. If any pieces–especially center pieces–seem less crisp that you’d like, just put them back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes or so.
- Enjoy!
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
And there you have it, friends. Enjoy the bark, and if you decide to use this base to make others of your favorite Brownie Brittle flavors, I’d love to hear about them!
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Hello! I would like to confirm that the batter is to be split between TWO 13×18 inch sheets. I am looking forward to making this but don’t want to ruin it by interpreting your instructions incorrectly.
Hey, Roshan! Yes, you are correct. The batter is split between 2 half-sheet pans or 13 x 18 pans. You will need to line them with Silpat or other Silicone pan liner and not parchment, because it could very well stick to the parchment. It may not seem like enough batter, but you’re spreading it out in super thin layers so it’ll bake up crispy, so use that offset spatula and go for it. Enjoy, and please let me know how you like the brittle!
I made this last night for a Christmas party. I made rum cake for the adults and this brownie brittle for the kids. The adults refused to share the brittle with the kids! Huge hit! I’m definitely going to make it again. Thanks Jenni, for an easy and delicious treat!
Oh, hooray!!! I am so glad they enjoyed it–that you guys enjoyed it, and that you didn’t share, either!! =)
OMG homemade brownie bark! If I make this, I ain’t sharing it lol!
Totally your prerogative! You have earned some treats for your very own! =)
These sound delicious! Can I use peppermint extract or does it have to be oil? If I can, what amount?
Hey, Carol! Yes, you can use extract instead, but you’ll probably need to use more since the oil is more concentrated. Still, given all the peppermint bark on top, I don’t think you’d need more than about 1/4 teaspoon of extract. Add a little, stir it in, taste the batter and see what you think, keeping in mind the mintiness will increase once you add the topping. Enjoy!
Oh My! I have been craving brownie brittle since finding a random bag of gluten free brownie brittle in TJ Maxx a few weeks ago. I am thinking to try using gluten free flour to get my brittle fix.
It’s a sign, Sandi! Go for it! xo
OHMYWORD!!! these are fantastic! we omitted the bark and sprinkled with crushed candy canes. The cocoa I use is extra dark which gives then deep flavour… think thin, crispy oreo!
Giving as gifts and will be keeping these on my go-to list for a quick but highly enjoyable fix.
Merry Christmas :o}
So glad you made them your own with the crushed candy canes, and I am really *really* glad you guys enjoyed them so much!