I often wonder when food producers began putting recipes on packaging, and why they chose to do so. I like to think that cooks and bakers across the world wrote letters to these producers, sharing innovative recipes they’d pioneered in their kitchens. Or, perhaps these cooks and bakers sought new ideas for what to do with sweetened condensed milk, or chocolate chips, or canned pumpkin after they’d made traditional recipes so many times.

When I picked up a bag of miniature York Peppermint Patties at Target today, I immediately thought they’d make a great addition to brownies. And of course, right there on the back was a brownie recipe that I adapted just slightly below, reducing the number of Patties because of how many were actually in the bag.

The batter rises significantly during baking, yielding an almost cake-like texture for these very rich treats. They’re quite delicious, but trust me when I say to cut them into small squares!

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks butter, melted
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 eggs
• 21 miniature York Peppermint Patties

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 baking pan with baking spray.

Unwrap patties and keep them in a cool place while you’re preparing your batter; you don’t want to set them next to your preheating oven, or the chocolate might begin to melt.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine melted butter, sugar, and vanilla; stir well. Add eggs and stir until very well-blended.

Add flour mixture and stir very well to fully combine, making sure no streaks of the dry ingredients remain.

Reserve 2 cups of batter in a small bowl and pour the remaining batter into the prepared pan. Place patties on top, spacing evenly, then top with the reserved batter and smooth with a spatula for an even top surface.

Bake for 55-60 minutes; brownies are done when the edges have begun to pull away from the pan and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs.

Cool completely before cutting into small squares; you’ll likely have about 36 brownies.