St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Hat Brownie Bites

St. Patrick’s Day has a bit of a reputation for being a day of inebriated merriment with the occasional bagpipe performance, but my favorite memories of the holiday are (like most things) rooted in childhood. Each year on the evening of March 16th, leprechauns would sneak into our house while we were sleeping and make mischief. My sisters and I would wake up on St. Patrick’s Day to the sight of drawers opened and their contents strewn about on the floor, pictures hung upside down, and spilled flour on the counters with tiny little leprechaun tracks in it. To make up for the mischief, the leprechauns would also leave us treats in their favorite color – green. Gum, breath mints, lollipops, and sometimes a red licorice pipe. We would rush around the house trying to find the “mistakes” before anyone else and shout them out loud to each other. Whether leprechauns visit your house or not, these little Leprechaun Hat Brownie Bites are a fun, kid-friendly way to get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit!

Mini-cupcakes or muffins would probably also work, but because you handle them a lot while transforming them into hats, a firmer brownie works better. After dunking them in a double bath of green candy melts, bands of black licorice are topped with sparkling gold gumdrop buckles. A boxed brownie mix works (just make sure you make them more cakey than fudgy), but if you prefer homemade, here is our Best Brownie Recipe to get you started! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

SEE THE RECIPE: Leprechaun Hat Brownie Bites

This post was first published in 2012 and has been updated.