Name: Cute Christmas Tree Brownies - Printable Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 14
Cuisine: English
Ingredients: 30 x 20cm Rectangular Cake/Swiss Roll Tin; Large Bowl; Spatula or Wooden Spoon; Electric Stand Mixer or Large Bowl and Electric Hand Whisk; Sieve; Wire Rack; Disposable Piping Bag; 100g (3.5 oz) White Chocolate **; Red/Green Sugar Balls **; Pack of Candy Canes **; 250g (8.8 oz) Dark Chocolate; 100g (3.5 oz) Milk Chocolate; 200g (3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp; Pinch of Salt; 3 Eggs, Room Temp; 250g (1 + 1/4 Cups) Dark Muscovado Sugar; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 50g (1/3 Cup) Gluten Free Self Raising Flour *

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(This post has been updated from the original December 2014 version to provide a better experience for you)

Looking for something fun to make with the kids over Christmas? Or need an easy festive homemade gift? These CRAZY cute Christmas tree brownies are just what you need! Read on for the easy step by step picture recipe…

With just over a week left until the big day, I found myself wondering what other awesome Christmas bakes I could try – then I came up with these little beauties. Christmas tree brownies!

Not only are they delightfully gooey and rich, they’re really fun to decorate AND vegetarian and gluten free. It’s also a great recipe to get the kids involved in. What more could you want?!

One thing to note – these brownies work best if made the night before and allowed to cool completely before attempting to slice and decorate. Also, they are the most awesome, rich and gooey brownies you will ever make. (And that’s a KitchenMason promise!)

If you love helpful tips and want to boost your baking knowledge, check out baking for beginners!

If you like this recipe…

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Christmas Tree Brownies – Step by Step Picture Recipe

(For a printer friendly version, see the recipe card at the end of this post)

Here is what you will need to make 14.

Ingredients

For the brownie

250g (8.8 oz) Dark Chocolate
100g (3.5 oz) Milk Chocolate
200g (3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp
Pinch of Salt
3 Eggs, Room Temp
250g (1 + 1/4 Cups) Dark Muscovado Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
50g (1/3 Cup) Gluten Free Self Raising Flour *

For the decoration

Pack of Candy Canes **
100g (3.5 oz) White Chocolate **
Red/Green Sugar Balls **

Essential equipment

30 x 20cm Rectangular Cake/Swiss Roll Tin
Large Bowl
Spatula or Wooden Spoon
Electric Stand Mixer or Large Bowl and Electric Hand Whisk
Wire Rack
Disposable Piping Bag

*Regular self raising flour works fine if you don’t need it to be gluten free.

** Most are vegetarian/gluten free but check the label just in case.

Instructions

Grease and line the cake tin and set to one side until needed. Preheat your oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/374ºF.

Break the dark (250g | 8.8 oz) and milk chocolate (100g | 3.5 oz) into a large bowl and add the butter (200g | 3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup) and salt (pinch). Gently melt either in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in the microwave.

Stir until smooth and shiny then leave to one side to cool.

Either in an electric stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk – whisk the eggs (x 3) for at least 3-4 minutes until really light and pale.

It should leave a slight trail when you remove the balloon whisk/beaters.

Whisked egg whites in an electric stand mixer

Add in the muscovado sugar (250g | 1 + 1/4 Cups) and vanilla extract (1 tsp) and whisk again until evenly blended but still fairly light in texture.

Whipped egg whites, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer bowl

In thirds, pour in the cooled chocolate and gently fold through using a rubber spatula.

Sift over the flour (50g | 1/3 Cup) and carefully fold this in – just until you can’t see any more lumps of flour and the mixture is smooth and still quite light.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin – be careful not to overfill as it will rise slightly.

Then bake in the preheated oven for approx 25-30 minutes.

Brownie batter in a lined rectangular tin

As mentioned before, it is best to make these brownies the night before and allow to cool completely before attempting to remove from the tin and slice.

So, when completely cooled -run a spatula down the sides of the brownie to release from the tin then gently lift out and place on a chopping board/mat.

Now, I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so yeah – I got a ruler out at this point! But basically, cut the brownie into 14 triangles. You will have 4 spare bits for you to taste test too! (Clearly I couldn’t wait to take a photo…)

Take each candy cane out the wrapper and snap into pieces approx 3cm long.

Place the brownies on a wire rack over a piece of newspaper and carefully insert a piece of candy cane into the base of each one.

Triangular brownies with candy canes stuck in the bottom

Melt the white chocolate in either a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in the microwave and pour into a piping bag.

Snip the end and pipe ‘tinsel’ across each tree then place sugar balls down the edges in the chocolate for the baubles.

I found it best to decorate in half batches – just to ensure the chocolate doesn’t set before you have stuck the ‘baubles’ in.

Triangle brownies decorated as Christmas trees

Allow the chocolate to set for about 30-40 minutes or so before either devouring straight away or placing in nice presentation boxes to give as gifts to your loved ones.

I find it best to store these in an air tight container in the fridge – due to their extreme ‘gooeyness’ they can become a little delicate if stored at room temperature.

A Christmas tree brownie on a sheet of baking paper with 2 candy canes

Go on, admit it – they’re SO cute aren’t they?! I think these make great little home made gifts for people and, with the decoration element – you can let the kids go nuts adding edible glitters, hundreds and thousands or whatever else they can think of!

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Two Christmas tree brownies on baking paper