Peppermint Kiss Brownies That Will Make You Wish Every Day Is National Brownie Day

December is full of so many exciting celebrations, it can almost be hard to keep track. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, my birthday — there is never a dull moment. But we tend to look past the most important holiday of the entire month: National Brownie Day.

Brownies are definitely one of my favorite desserts, but I rarely ever make them at home. If they’re around, I’ll eat them, but I won’t go out of my way to get them. However, once I learned that National Brownie Day is right around the corner, it was a sign that I just had to make some.

I didn’t want to dump a box of brownie mix in a bowl and be done. So instead, I did dump boxed mix in a bowl, but I added my own flair. I made two different batches of peppermint brownies, because, y’know, holidays. And they look and taste just like Christmas, which is all I’ve ever wanted in a brownie.

Both batches are made with a boxed brownie mix as the base (gives me more time for wrapping presents), but the fun comes from the frosting: peppermint Hershey’s Kisses, and some crushed candy canes.

In one batch, I randomly placed whole peppermint Hershey’s Kisses into the brownie batter just before baking. In the other, I melted a handful of the Kisses and swirled that into the batter before pouring it in the pan. If you want to make the swirls show up on the top of the brownies, I’d give the melted Kisses a bit of red food coloring before mixing it in. I didn’t do that for mine (since I was really unsure of how it’d turn out anyways), and the swirls didn’t keep the delicate color they had before baking.

Once the brownies were done baking and cooling, it was time for the frosting. The batch with the whole Kisses got a lighter vanilla frosting with crushed candy canes mixed in (crushing candy canes with a rolling pin is perfect for releasing any holiday frustrations). And the melted Kisses batch had the same vanilla frosting mixed with some leftover melted Hershey’s Kisses, red food coloring, and crushed candy cane pieces.

Here’s a super helpful tip: The absolute best way to get all of the gooey brownie batter out of the bowl is by using a spoonula. You read that right.

You can get that much needed spoon-spatula hybrid here.

Check out the illustrated ingredients list and instructions below if you want to get into the National Brownie Day spirit:

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
2. Prepare the brownies with the instructions on the box — I added two eggs and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to my mix, per the box’s instructions.
3. Pour one mix in the pan, and add whole peppermint Hershey’s Kisses throughout the batter.
4. For the other optional batch, melt some peppermint Hershey’s Kisses in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mix the melted chocolate into the batter, then pour the batter into a pan.
5. Bake both batters for roughly 45 minutes. Let them cool completely.
6. Melt two cans of vanilla frosting separately for 45 seconds, stopping to mix it in intervals.
7. Crush candy canes in a bag with a rolling pin until the pieces are small. Pour a little bit of the pieces in each frosting.
8. To one bowl of frosting, add red food coloring and more melted peppermint Hershey kisses.
9. Once the brownies are cool, spread the frosting on top in an even layer. (You can decide which frosting goes on each batch, but I put the colored frosting on the batch with melted Hershey’s Kisses).