Name: Peppermint Brownie Brittle Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
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; 1/2 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; 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1 stick, (4 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled); 4-6 oz peppermint bark, finely chopped

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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!

Christmas cardboard loaf pans filled with squares of crispy peppermint brownie brittle.

Watch my peppermint brownie bark web story here.

What You'll Find in This Post Click to view ToC

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.

To make crispy brownie bark, leave out the yolks and reduce the fat. Use cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate in your brownie brittle recipe.

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.

Is This Recipe Vegan?

A stack of peppermint brownie brittle shot from the side on a green plate with a Christmas tree in the background.

As written, this recipe contains egg whites, so it is not vegan. You would also have to double check that all the component ingredients are strictly vegan as well.

To make a vegan brownie brittle, you could substitute some whipped aquafaba for the whites. I have never done this before, but I bet this would yield excellent (crispy) results. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using flax eggs in this recipe since the bits of flaxseed could potentially keep you from being able to spread the batter out as thin as it should be.

If you do want to go with flax eggs, make sure to process your flaxseed really finely in a spice mill or blender before using.

Can I Make Mine Gluten Free?

You can absolutely make a gluten-free version of brownie brittle, you guys! That’s the fun of making your own.

I don’t do a lot of gluten free baking, but I know Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour is excellent as well as Cup 4 Cup.

And do check to make sure that all the other individual ingredients are also gluten free.

Flavor Variations

A pile of thin and crisp brownie bark from a peppermint brownie brittle recipe stacked on a green plate with a Christmas tree in the background. — *Thin and crispy and nice and minty, this brownie bark is perfect for snacking on or for gifting.*

Know that you can use this base recipe for whatever kind of brownie bark you'd like to make, so don't stop your 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!

If you have any questions about this or any other recipe or post on the site, there are a few ways to get in touch.

You can leave a comment on the post, and I'll be back in touch within 24 hours.

If your question is more pressing, don't hesitate to email me, and I should be back in touch within 4 hours (unless I'm asleep) or often much more quickly than that.

Email Jenni

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.

Peppermint Brownie brittle in decorative boxes for gifting. — *Call them brownie crisps, brownie bark, brownie brittle--it doesn't matter. What matters is that you make some of these pepperminty beauties!*

A Note About Measurements

This is the kitchen scale that I recommend for home cooks and bakers. Using a scale will help you be more accurate and consistent in your measurements.

It is lightweight, easy to store, accurate, and very easy to use.

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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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06/10/2023 10:57 am GMT

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Peppermint Brownie Brittle Recipe

Yield: 2 1/2 sheet pans

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

This peppermint brownie brittle recipe is crispy/crunchy, makes a ton, and is perfect to give to friends--or snack on yourself--for Christmas. And yes, you probably should dunk it in milk. NOTE: All measurements are by weight.

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
1/2 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
1/4 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!

Notes

NOTE: All measurements are by weight. Please get a kitchen scale if you don't already have one. It will make your life so much easier, I promise!

*If you add the chopped bark now, the white chocolate will lightly caramelize while baking. I love the depth you get from caramelized white chocolate, but it's not as pretty as bright ivory white chocolate. To keep the color bright, wait to add the chopped bark to the top of the batter until the last 5 minutes in the oven. Once you remove the pans from the oven, rescore the brittle along the lines you already cut, just in case some of the bark has melted and will hold your pieces together once it cools. I'm sure there's a better way to say that, but that's all I've got right now.

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