Easy Christmas Tree Brownies

Brownies

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. As soon as the butter is melted, take the pan off the heat and allow to cool – do not allow it to bubble.
2. Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
3. Grease and line a 23 x 23cm (9 x 9 inch) brownie pan. See tips in THIS POST for how to line a brownie pan.
4. Combine the flour and cocoa in a large bowl.
5. Crack the two eggs into a jug (or another bowl) and whisk lightly.
6. Add the sugar to the eggs, and whisk lightly to combine the eggs and the sugar.
7. Add the cooled melted butter to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk lightly to combine all the wet ingredients.
8. Pour the egg/sugar/butter mixture into the flour/cocoa mixture and gently stir together until just combined.
9. Tip the brownie batter into the prepared tray, spread the batter out to the corners and smooth the top.
10. Place in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownies in the middle. (I recommend you make them a little less gooey than you would normally, so they look more attractive when decorated.)
11. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin – until cool enough to handle – then lift out and place on a wire rack. Leave to cool on the wire rack until completely cold.
12. When completely cold, cut the brownies into 8 triangles, using THIS TEMPLATE (See Note 5 for a fuller explanation.)
13. NB: some of the tree bases, will be the parts of the brownie that touched the sides of the pan. You will find it difficult to push the candy canes into these bases. So I recommend cutting the very bottom off these bases to make it easier to push the candy canes into.

Decoration

1. Mix the sieved icing sugar with a very small amount of water to make a very thick icing. It should be as thick as you can make it, so add the cold water very slowly – one teaspoon at a time until it just comes together.
2. Add the green food colouring a little at a time until you get the colour you want. (I found I had to add about half a tube to get the vivid green you see in the pictures!)
3. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small-ish round piping nozzle. (If you don’t have a piping bag, just snip the corner off a clear plastic food bag – it works nearly as well for these brownies! See Note 4.)
4. Pipe the green icing along the bottom edge of the brownies, then zigzag your way up the Christmas trees until you reach the top. Ensure your piping goes to the very top, so you can stick the stars to the top.
5. Decorate the Christmas trees by adding mini smarties as ‘baubles’ and placing a star at the very top.
6. Finally, make the ‘trunks’ of your Christmas Tree Brownies. Cut your candy canes into 5cm (2inch) lengths and push one piece of candy cane into the base of each Christmas tree.
7. Your Christmas Tree Brownies are now finished and ready to serve!