This weekend was one of most exciting ones for me and Jessica in the Kitchen – I won a special award for my contribution to food blogging in Jamaica! I shared photos on my Facebook page so please definitely check those out! Being awarded was such an honour, and reminded me at the core, why I love Jessica in the Kitchen and why I show up every week to post here. What better way to celebrate than with these brownies?
When I think of Christmas, I automatically think of PEPPERMINT and CHOCOLATE. Well, I think of chocolate all the time, but it does seem to fit so perfectly in this scenario. This is my most beloved brownie recipe aka the BEST brownies titled by dozens of folks, that I created about 4 years ago and have been using whenever I need to make brownies ever since. They’ve been compared to Ghirardelli Brownies! I can’t make this stuff up. My usual recipe was made with all purpose flour and I wanted to revolutionise it so that you could get flourless brownies and brownies that are still thick, chewy and fudgy all at the same time. Guess what? It happened, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Oats have been a true friend to me on this blog and have helped with removing flour from recipes and replacing them with ground up oats. That’s exactly what I did here – I upped the dry quantity from ¾ cup to 1 cup of oat “flour” since oats absorb liquid so much and ensured to use rolled oats since I still wanted thick brownies. I’m incredibly impressed with the results.
The oats worked even better than I thought and you won’t even realise. They created beautifully tall thick and chewy peppermint chocolate brownies that were fudgy all at once, while being offset with the Christmas addition of peppermint extract. This is in no way a sponsored post, but I do believe that the best brownies are made with chocolate chips and not cocoa powder, and Ghirardelli chocolate chips/baking chips are the best ones to use. Seriously, I have used every single time and none have produced results like those have. After I took one (okay ten) bites my teeth sunk deep and I was hit by every flavour all at once in the most delightful way. It’s healthier comfort food, but some AMAZING comfort food nonetheless. So, now that we’re done obsessing over the brownie itself, the white chocolate candy cane topping. I knew most recipes have an entirely new layer on top but I really wanted the brownies to shine through without making this dessert too much. I melted some white chocolate mixed with a drop of peppermint extract, drizzled it on top and sprinkled crushed candy canes on top. It seems so simple (and it is) but it creates such a flavour explosion in your mouth that I dare you to make these and only eat one. Christmas is so close and these peppermint chocolate brownies need to be made in your kitchen. Whip up two batches so you can gift one, and eat one all by yourself.
If you try these Chocolate Peppermint Brownies (Gluten Free) please let me know in the comment section below, or tag me on instagram with the hashtag #jessicainthekitchen! For more exclusive recipes follow me on Instagram AND on Snapchat: jessinkitchen.
If you try this Flourless Peppermint Chocolate Brownies please let me know in the comment section below, or tag me on instagram with the hashtag #jessicainthekitchen! For more exclusive recipes follow me on Instagram AND on Snapchat: jessinkitchen.
