McCormick Peppermint Bars Recipe

This week, my Test Kitchen session was sponsored by the folks over at McCormick. I was challenged to create one of their holiday recipes.

They had a nice list of cool recipes that looked really rich and yummy, but I narrowed it down to 3 that caught my eye. My husbands eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw the Peppermint Bars, so even though the recipe looked like a doozy, I went for it. I think they came out good! Not bad for a first try, right?

I was also looking at their Gingerbread Biscotti recipe and Peppermint Truffle Cookies, too, so maybe next time... they have a lot of fun recipes on their site!

This is the recipe I used:
Peppermint Bars from McCormick.com

Serves:
Makes 36 servings.

What you need:
1 package (family-size) fudge brownie mix

2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 7 tablespoons butter, divided

1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Peppermint Extract

12 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate

coarsely choppedCrushed peppermint candies (optional)

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Spread in greased foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

2. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean. Cool in pan on wire rack

.
3. Meanwhile, beat confectioners’ sugar, 7 tablespoons of the butter, melted, cream and peppermint extract in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended and smooth. Spread evenly over cooled brownie. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

4. Microwave chocolate and remaining 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter in large microwave bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spread over top of chilled brownie. 

5. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies, if desired. Cut into bars.



I used a double chocolate brownie mix that was chock full of chocolate chips. I made mine in a little bit of a different shaped pan than the recipe called for, because I wanted to make this treat smaller. I did not want 36 of these rich little suckers sitting around staring at me for the next 7 days. Then, I had a tough time getting it out of the my pan without breaking it. Lucky for me the USA Baking pans I use are super non-stick! I found that I liked working it with 2 smaller pieces, anyway. It was easier to get it in and out of the fridge and cute them up when I was done.



Once it was cooled, I slathered on my peppermint filling mix. I actually added a little cream cheese to my recipe, but it was delish without it, too. I think I was just craving that cream cheese flavor and still had a Costco sized tub of it in my fridge waiting to fill a recipe so I added a healthy scoop. What a creamy dreamy peppermint frosting this is!



This is the McCormick Peppermint Extract that I used for the white peppermint layer in this treat. I went to Ralph's and they didn't have it but luckily across the street at Albertson's they were stocked up with tons of McCormick stuff. I never really looked at all of these different extracts! It definitely opened another realm of possibilities for me... I can't believe I was so vanilla for so long.



Then, after a 30 minute stint in the fridge, I spread the chocolate over the top, then sprinkled the crushed candy canes.

Here it is after another 30 minutes in the fridge.

Then, with my big knife I cut them into neat little squares and started eating.

These are a great treat to share for the holidays. They are a little time consuming to make with the 3 different layers, but they are so pretty and yummy when they are done! 

Lucky for me, I was invited for coffee at a friend's house, so I brought them along. They got raving reviews and almost all disappeared! Most of my girls are active and eat healthy, so I made the disclaimer that this was not my usual healthy treats... but too good to pass up! I will definitely be making these or something similar again.

* Although I was financially compensated for this post, all thoughts, opinions, and extra calories are my own.