12 Projects: Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

I love anything with chocolate and peppermint.  Peppermint bark, mint m&ms, they are all favorites of mine.  I usually make these chocolate peppermint brownies with the No Pudge brownie mix, but I thought I would try to make a batch from scratch.

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 a cup non fat vanilla yogurt

1-2 teaspoons peppermint extract (depends on how minty you like it)

1 cup mint chocolate chips(optional)

crushed candy canes (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all dry ingredients until blended.  Add yogurt and peppermint extract.  Stir until smooth.  It will take a lot of stirring to mix all the powder, but it will turn dark and fudge if you keep stirring.  Mix in chocolate and mint chips (optional).   I put mine into cupcake cups, to make them easier to give away, but you can smooth the batter into an 8 or 9 inch square pan.  sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until brownies reach your desired consistency.  Since this recipe contains no raw ingredients, your brownies can be as fudgey as you want them to be!   I baked my cupcake brownies for 20 minutes.    Let them cool, or top with ice cream for a delicious treat.  Enjoy!

Mmm brownie batter

If you want to make these using your favorite brownie recipe or boxed mix, just add the peppermint extract, chocolate chips and candy canes after following the normal baking instructions.

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12 Projects: Stocking Stuffers

Stuffing a stocking can get very expensive very quickly.  Just because things are small, doesn't mean they are inexpensive.  But stuffing stockings is so much fun! For today's post I'm going to share with you some of my favorite stocking stuffer ideas.  I will not be sharing the actual stocking stuffers I may or may not have made, because their recipients may be reading.

Mint Chocolate Blossoms, adapted from The Cooking Photographer

Edible gifts:  A mini loaf of bread or a packet of cookies will make someone smile.  For kids, try homemade candies.  It's a great excuse to try something new in the kitchen, but not have all those tasty treats haunting you.  If you don't bake, try a jam or jelly from a local vendor.   Pinterest is a great place to find recipes (as well as new blogs to follow), but don't forget the recipes that come from the food companies.  I'm in the process of making these sandwich cookies from Ghirardelli, and I always follow the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.  Snack Picks has a whole slideshow of tasty looking holiday ideas.

Photo from Leethalknits

Small Knitwear: This one is a little more time consuming, but ends in a big payoff.  You could knit a simple hat, like Leethal's scant, pictured above.  You could also put together a pair of wrist warmers, or even a coffee cup cosy!  There are tons of free and low cost patterns to be found on Ravelry.  Looking for something even smaller?  Try this crochet necklace from The Making Spot.

Photo from Make and Takes

Health and Beauty: Rice bag tutorials are all over Pinterest, and they are a great useful stocking stuffer.  The photo above is from a tutorial over at Make and Takes.  Once you have the general idea, you can make these in any shape or size.  I even made these with kids at the library once.  I pre-sewed the bags out of white cotton so they could decorate and fill them.  we closed off the bags with iron on hem tape.  A simple body scrub is also an easy stocking stuffer idea.  Check out this tutorial for lavender foot scrub over at Frugal Granola.

What kind of homemade presents are you making this year?  What do you like to stuff in stockings?




Missed something?  Check out The 12 Projects of Christmas.