Christmas Tree Brownies Recipe

This post has been published by Steve.

Brownies are one of my favourite bakes. The are very easy, super quick and so delicious. For Christmas I decided to jazz them up a bit and turn them into happy little christmas trees. This recipe will make 6 large brownies which are ideal for leaving out for Santa, as a Christmas Movie Night Snack or after school treat.

Ingredients:

For the Brownies;

333g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter

250g dark chocolate

150g plain flour

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

For the decoration;

200g icing sugar

100g unsalted butter

green food colouring

Candycanes (with the hook cut off)

Method:

Start by melting the butter and dark chocolate in a pan. Use a low to medium heat as you just want the butter/chocolate to melt but not boil. Once all the pieces have melted down, leave it to one side and allow it to slightly cool.

Next add the caster sugar, eggs and vanilla to a mixer and using a beater attachment beat together until it forms a smooth batter. Then add the cooled chocolate butter to the sugary, eggy batter and beat until everything is incorporated.

Now add the flour and a pinch of salt and mix together until you have a thick chocolatey brownie batter. Pour this into a deep, lined baking tray. I like to butter the tray before putting the baking parchment in as it helps the parchment stay in place as you pour in the batter.

Bake at 200°C, after 20 minutes prick with a skewer and if it comes out clean the brownies are done, if the skewer still has cake mix on it leave it for another 10 minutes. Leave the brownies to cool and when ready cut with a christmas tree shaped cookie cutter.

While the brownies cool you can make the buttercream icing. Beat together 100g of softened unsalted butter with 200g of icing sugar and a few drops of the green food colouring. The more drops you add the darker the colour will be so start with a small amount and add more until you have the colour you want. If the mix is too thick add a couple of tablespoons of boiling water and this will loosen it.

Spoon the buttercream unto a piping bag and snip the end (you can also use a nozzle if you have one). Pipe the buttercream onto the christmas trees in the pattern you like and insert a candycane in the bottom of the brownies as the treetrunk.