Think Inside the Box

Last week was teacher appreciation week at school. (Yes, I realize this is my third blog on teacher appreciation, but we really love our teachers!)  Only five days after my knee surgery, I tried to think of something thoughtful that didn't involve a trip to the store.  Fortunately, I happened to have a box of brownies in the pantry.  Now, this is no ordinary box of brownies.  This is a super deluxe Ghirardelli triple-chocolate Costco-sized box of brownies - the best brownies I've ever tasted.

One of these giant boxes has enough brownie mix to make 3 - 9x13 pans.  Because I had 18 teachers (plus a few staff members) that I wanted to thank, I made all three pans.

I baked the brownies according to the directions and poured the batter into a parchment-lined 9x13 pan.  Once they cooled, the entire pan flipped easily onto the lid.

Originally I thought I would cut each pan into 12 brownies, but later decided that the pieces just wouldn't be big enough!  In the end, I decided that 8 giant brownies per pan would be perfect.

Using a spatula, I placed each individual brownie in a crisp, cellophane bag, found some leftover red ribbon from Christmas and attached a tag printed on red cardstock.

Voila!  Problem solved!