Fudgy Peppermint Brownies

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with foil (be sure to leave a bit of an overhang for easy lifting) and spray with cooking spray (see note below).

In a small microwave safe bowl, melt butter. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. Pour butter in a steady stream into sugar/cocoa mixture, whisking to blend. Add vanilla.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition. Add flour and stir just until combined; I would use a spatula for this.

Pour batter into prepared dish and spread evenly. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs when inserted (see note below). Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let brownies cool completely before adding ganache.

While brownies are cooling, make ganache. (Depending on how cool/warm your house is, I would give the brownies a 30-minute head start on cooling before proceeding to make the ganache. After about 1 1/2 hours when my ganache was ready, the brownies were still slightly warm, melting the ganache.)

For the ganache:
In a medium to large bowl, place chocolate chips.

Add marshmallows and heavy cream to a medium-sized saucepan and place over medium low heat. Whisk frequently until marshmallows are completely melted.

Pour marshmallow/cream mixture over chocolate chips and let stand for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, stir until completely combined and smooth (see note below). Add in peppermint extract and stir to combine. Place bowl in fridge and chill ganache for 90 minutes, stirring every 30 minutes.

Once brownies are completely cool, carefully remove (using overhangs) from pan. Once ganache is ready (it will be pretty thick), spread evenly onto room temperature brownies. Top with some peppermint bits or crushed candy canes—or both!

Notes:
1. Greasing the dish: I just read in a magazine where it said that they buttered and floured their pan for brownies. Doing this made the brownies come out very easily and provided nice cuts. One might could also use some baking spray. Regardless of which you use, if you try this let me know how they turn out!
2. Around 30 minutes of baking (I don’t remember the exact time), my brownies were beginning to smell done. Even though the toothpick was coming out with a tiny bit of batter, I removed them anyway and they turned out perfectly! So I would recommend you do the same if you are having the same issue; it’s better to have fudgy (sometimes even underdone) brownies than burnt ones!
3. For the ganache: If after you stir marshmallow/cream mixture and chocolate chips together, the chocolate chips won’t melt completely. Remember to stir well first. Place the bowl (if it’s microwave safe) in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds in two 15-second intervals at a power level of 50. This should be enough to do the job.