White Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Bark

So, it seems that this time of the year, peppermint is a really popular flavor. Personally, I have to admit, I am not a fan, but when I saw this bag of M&Ms at my local supermarket, I was instantly inspired to bake something with it. I've never made any type of "bark" before, but the idea of brownie bark suddenly came to me and it sounded amazing. And I knew if I paired it with these white chocolate peppermint M&Ms, it would be a total hit for the holidays.
Just so you guys know, making bark is like the easiest thing ever. You cannot mess it up. The secret ingredient to this particular brownie bark is dry milk powder, which keeps the bark from becoming too crunchy. I was so excited about trying this recipe that I forgot to buy this crucial ingredient. But my mother-in-law came in clutch because she actually had some in her pantry! I knew then that it was destined for me to make this bark.
Now, I had a few different ideas about how I wanted to include the M&Ms into the brownie bark. First I thought about melting them, then I thought about including them in the batter, then I thought about sprinkling them whole. I finally settled on chopping them up in a food chopper, which resulted in a lot of M&M dust and a few chopped candies...which was just fine! I made it work! I sprinkled the dust on top of the melted white chocolate I had drizzled and it added just the perfect amount of peppermint flavor.
You could definitely chop up the M&Ms by hand and throw those into the batter as well, if you wanted a more pronounced white chocolate peppermint flavor. Just make sure you go to your local supermarket and snag you a bag or two before they are all sold out!

White Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Bark

Yield: Approximately 20-24 squares

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate peppermint M&Ms, chopped

1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon shortening

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a jelly roll pan or large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk together until well-incorporated.  Whisk in milk powder and dry ingredients just until combined.

Stir in chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of chopped M&Ms.

Pour batter onto parchment paper lined pan and use an offset spatula to spread it out into a large rectangular shape. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and cut into squares. (I used this to cut out squares and it worked perfect) Return to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Melt white chocolate chips with shortening. Drizzle over cooled squares. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of chopped M&Ms on top. Break apart the squares once the chocolate has hardened, and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour