dark chocolate peppermint brownies

holiday brownies after christmas, sue me

Hi and happy holidays from California! I arrived here a week ago, without a return ticket (edgy), but with a strict rule to completely switch my work brain off (…even edgier, at least for me).

OOO!!!

I’m not sure when I forgot how to relax, but I’m grateful that I have family to remind me - my dad took one look at me yesterday and accused me of having “withdrawals” (he’s so drama). I’m not sure what gave it away… my aimless house pacing, furious searching for a book, or the 3rd walk I threatened to embark on. I have to literally re-learn every holiday season that this time of the year is all about giving ourselves permission to reset. It’s productive to process the year before coming up for air on another. The RX for you and me: Grant yourself that uninterrupted couch time…

the brownies

I can recognize the fact that sharing a recipe for dark chocolate peppermint brownies (which are gluten, dairy, and refined sugar-free, by the way) the day after Christmas may seem sacrilegious to you, but to me, it is really just a purposeful act of necessary rebellion. Holiday baking is a mindset, not a prescription. Who says you can’t bake these in March if you wanted to? Not me. Not anyone. I think we should all go a little rogue in 2025.

These brownies have three components as you can see in the process pictures below — the…