Christmas Tree Chocolate Brownies!
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Chocolatey & delicious triple chocolate brownies in the shape of Christmas trees – perfect for the festive season!
Christmas baking
As it’s soooo close to Christmas this year now I am SUPER excited. All my presents are wrapped, the house is decorated, and everyone is in such a lovely mood (apart from drivers.) and my Christmas baking is no closer to stopping.
Honestly, I pretty much bake from the first day of November, up until New Years Eve with all things festive and delicious. I decided to post a Christmas brownie recipe, but decided that a simple triple chocolate brownie would be ideal – one that EVERYONE will love and adore – and then make it Christmassy of course.
Brownies
I based the recipe around the base recipe of my triple chocolate brownies & chocolate orange brownies as they are both so lovely – making it simply chocolatey was easy enough – and the recipe is still yet to fail me. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, right?
- Butter – For brownies I can float between block butter or a baking spread, depends what I have in the fridge
- Chocolate – Always use dark chocolate for a brownie mixture – you need the cocoa content for best results. I use and recommend 70%+ cocoa content. I use this dark chocolate
- Eggs – I tend to use medium eggs, so I use four, but if you have large, use three.
- Sugar – I like using light brown soft sugar, as well as caster sugar, and either work well here.
- Flour – ALWAYS use plain flour, you don’t want any raising agents in brownies.
- Cocoa – I use strong cocoa powder (100%!) but you can use any good quality cocoa powder. Try to avoid hot chocolate powder
Decoration
I have seen decorations like these all over the place recently – so no, I didn’t think this idea up! I like to think I put my own twist on it, especially using my deliciously yummy recipe. I used some deliciously smooth buttercream coloured green as the colour against the brownies contrasts perfectly. I then used some Christmassy sprinkles that remind me off Christmas tree baubles finished off with a yellow M&M (or a Smartie) to resemble a star – all cute and festive and perfect.
I find it easier to get the tray out of the tin once it has baked, set and cooled and onto a large chopping board. I cut the tray in half, and then I cut 10 triangles out of the traybake. There are four little off cuts, but they are chef perks and you should basically just eat them.
I tend to push the base of the candy cane in first, and then pipe the green on top. I used a 2d closed star piping tip for the green and then some more bauble like sprinkles as they are cute and colourful. You can buy some moulds that will make a triangle shape for your brownie anyway, but using a square tray works for me.
Adaptations
After having a look on Pinterest recently, I have seen people use Cadburys chocolate fingers as the stumps/trunks, or anything else tasty. I use candy canes because I adore the mintiness, but this isn’t to everyone’s tastes.
Something such as Cadbury’s Flakes would probably be a smidge too delicate, but anything else you fancy will do. With one batch, I even used a liquorice flyer style sweet as the trunk part – I am not joking when I say you can really make these your own!
You can also flavour the bake in different ways by using orange, almond, lemon, or whatever you fancy – it’s up to you!
Tips & Tricks
For me, baking at Christmas time is a must. However, I completely understand its a very stressful time of year for a lot of families be it with work, family, or just because you love a last minute panic. Check out some of my other Christmas recipes for a stress free but yummy festive period.
- I use this 2d closed star piping tip
- I use this green food colouring
- I use this 9″ square tin
- I use these large piping bags
- These will last for 3-4+ days in the fridge or room temp
- These will freeze for 3+ months
Christmas Tree Brownies!
Ingredients
Brownies
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 4 medium eggs (or 3 large)
- 275 g caster sugar
- 100 g plain flour
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 100 g milk chocolate chips
- 100 g white chocolate chips
Decorations
- 10 candy canes
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 200 g icing sugar
- Green food colouring
- Sprinkles
- Sweets
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line a 9″ Square baking tray with parchment paper.
- Melt together the butter, and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water, on the microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted. Leave to the side to cool to room temperature!
- Using an electric whisk/stand mixer, whisk together the eggs & caster sugar for a few minutes until the colour has turned pale, is very mousse-like, and is double the original volume of the amount of eggs + sugar! You will know it's done because when you lift the whisk up out of the mix it should leave a trail for a couple of seconds before disappearing!
- When whisked, pour the cooled chocolate mixture over eggs and fold together carefully. It might take some time, but be patient – you don’t want to knock out the air you made up on the previous step!
- Once completely combined, sift the cocoa powder and plain flour on top of the chocolate mix and then fold together again – still be careful to not knock out the air!
- Once combined well, fold through the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared tin – bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes! Once baked, leave to cool in the tin completely.
- Once cooled, cut the brownies into the tree shapes – I cut the tray in half, and then triangle the two halves – and eat all the offcuts. Carefully insert the candy cane sticks into the base of the brownies (like shown!)
- Cream together the butter and icing sugar to create a delicious buttercream
- Add some green food colouring until you get to your desired decoration colour!
- Transfer to a large piping bag with your chosen piping tip (I used a 2D closed star tip!) and pipe some zigzag lines on to your brownies
- Add some bauble sprinkles and sweets or whatever you are using and dont forget your yellow star (I used an M&M) at the top of the brownie. Enjoy!
Notes
- I used regular candy canes and snapped the tops off so that I just used the straight part – I used the off cuts of the candy canes in my Christmas bark
- These will last in an airtight container for 1 week, but will make excellent little gifts this Christmas!
- This recipe was originally based on BBC Good Food recipe with my own changes and decoration!
- I used this green food colouring!
- I used these piping bags!
- I used this piping tip!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane,
I’ve been following and trying your recipes for a while now, and unfortunately this is the first one that hasn’t worked out 😞 I left them to cool and then tried cutting them and they are just mush in the middle, they will not hold their shape. They were put in for an extra 7 minutes than stated and I also tested the temperature in the middle, and they were definitely cooked. Any idea what’s happened? The outside tastes amazing BTW! 😉
Thanks, Leila x
If they’re still gooey, they needed more baking in the oven. Best thing to do is chuck them in the fridge to solidify a bit before cutting, but if they needed extra time to bake in general, it just means the original mixture was either too thin (so not enough mixing), or you needed to be more careful when folding things together. x
Thanks for the quick reply Jane and the handy tips! 😊 I have made your mint candy cane brownies today and cooked them for longer with foil on top, they seem to have come out better, but they’re still cooling so the proof will be in the cutting… Eeek! I put yesterday’s ones in the fridge and then they were fine 👍 thanks again x
Awh I am so glad!! As long as you like the taste it’s all good!! x
Wanting to try these for the longest and finally did. OMG, they turned out great and taste even better. But I’m trying to make these for a friend and not really a fan of dark chocolate, can I substitute with milk chocolate?
Hiya! Ah amazing! Do you mean for the chocolate chunks folded through, or the base of the brownies? For the base I would 100000% recommend still using dark chocolate as thats what makes it such a good brownie, milk chocolate doesn’t tend to work as well because its thinner, but for the chunks you fold through you can easily not use dark chunks and just use milk/white! X
Hi I’ve just made your chocolate brownies they smell amazing, but I’ve put them in the oven for 40 mins and they are still gooey in the middle can you help please
It might be that you overmixed them slightly, or you didn’t whip the eggs/sugar up enough before baking but they should firm up in the fridge if they are still gooey.
I’m literally working my way through your entire recipe list ? Made these today without the choc chips just plain brownie and they seem to have turned out more like chocolate cake than a brownie consistency, any idea what I did wrong Jane? ☺️
Your oven might have dried it out a bit if it was over done / or it wasn’t mixed quite correctly.
Jane I’m following your recipe and whilst it tastes amazing I find I have a lot of trouble with the top of the brownie cracking. I’m careful not to knock out the air in the whipped eggs and sugar and the brownies are quite well risen when they come out of the oven but settle down a bit as they cool. This is fine but it leaves me with a hard and cracked surface which literally lefts away from the rest of the brownie and looks really unsightly when I try to slice them. Any advice? thanks
Hey! Oh I’m sorry you’re having troubles… are you sure your oven is the correct temperature? It might be worth getting an oven thermometer to check as I haven’t personally experienced this, but i know my oven is the correct temperature. If it is the correct temp, it might be worth baking them for 25 minutes, compared to 30, and then leaving them to cool fully, and refrigerating to firm them up slightly before cutting. It sounds almost like a crust is forming on top? x
Yes it is a crust. My ovens are both quite new and I’m a pretty experienced baker and the temp works for everything else I make. I did increase the quantities as I make them in larger foil trays. I think maybe I’m putting too much in the tin. Also tonight I base then again and I also made a point of knocking a bit of air out as I stirred them. They seem to have come out better. I’m leaving them to cool overnight before I try to cut them. Thanks for the response though. Love your stuff. X
Ah yeah maybe! Sorry you’ve had troubles anyway!! xx
OMG !!! These are the most amazing brownies ever !! These are moist and chocolaty and very rich. I usually struggle to make brownies, I can never get them quite right but these are perfect ❤️ Xxx
Aaahhh yaaayyy! Haha I’m so so glad! I love these brownies for that reason! I used to struggle all the time as well. ? xx
Hi if i were to halve this recipe. Should i use 1,5 egg or 1 egg +1 yolk? thank you!
Use two small eggs!
ok thank you!
2x or 3x recipe, do I just double up on ingredients?
Just found your site and just found these! Will make great treat bag for my chocoholic nieces and their daddy.
I’m looking for a fab Knickerbocker Glory recipe – to go with home made fish n’ chips Boxing Day. Any ideas Jane?
Hiya! I don’t have one yet I’m afraid, sorry!
I’ll look for any excuse to have a brownie! These look so festive and cute.
I like your style! Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Jane
Loved making these and they were so loved by all. I used match sticks for the stumps. Wish I could upload a pic:)
I had halved the recipe.
Today I want to make the full recipe but only have medium size eggs how many shall I use pls?
Ah amazing! And I would use 4 medium x
Oh I love the look of these Jane – so flippin’ cute! I would actually leave the handles on the candy canes and make them look like christmas tree umbrellas lol 😀 Merry Christmas! xxx
Hahah that would be cute! Thank you! 🙂 and you too!! xx
These brownies are so cute! I love the inclusion of white chocolate chips. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! And I couldnt resist – they’re my favourite!! x
Jane these Christmas tree brownies are so cute? great job!!!
Thanks Marisa! 🙂 x