Brownies:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp peppermint extract

¼ tsp salt

Frosting:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

½ stick unsalted butter at room temperature

2 Tbsp whole milk

¾ tsp peppermint extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease a 9 by 13 inch glass baking pan.

3. Melt the butter and chocolate. I did it in a saucepan on the stove, to avoid the possibility of the whole thing exploding on me in the microwave.

4. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl for about 5 minutes.

5. Add the chocolate and butter mixture, flour, salt, vanilla, and peppermint extract to the egg and sugar mixture and stir until just blended.

6. Pour the batter into the glass pan and smooth it out with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool completely before frosting.

7. For the frosting, the recipe says to combine the powdered sugar, butter, milk, and peppermint extract and beat in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Next time, I plan to beat the butter a bit first, because I ended up with a good deal of powdered sugar on my shirt during the first few seconds of turning my electric mixer on.

8. Spread frosting over brownies.