Christmas tree brownies to bake with kids

Name: Christmas tree brownies to bake with kids
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: about 24 small trees
Ingredients: 125 g butter; 150 g dark chocolate; 175 g caster sugar (half can be light brown sugar); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 3 eggs; 75 g plain flour; 25 g cocoa powder; a pinch of salt; 100 g icing sugar and 1 tbsp water, for the icing; green food colouring gel; sugar pearls or small sweets, as baubles; 24 small pretzel sticks, for the trunks

Prep: 25 min · Cook: 25 min · Makes: about 24 small trees · For: Ages 6–9 Ages 10–12

Brownies are always a favourite, and cut into triangles with green garlands and a little pretzel trunk they turn into a whole forest of Christmas trees. The recipe is made in one pan with a wooden spoon, so there is no mixer to wash up.

Tips

Do not overbake. Brownies keep cooking as they cool, so take them out while the centre is still slightly soft.
Cool completely before cutting, or the triangles will crumble.
Use the corners and scraps for a brownie trifle or just for nibbling.

Little helpers

Children can stir the batter, crack the eggs (over a separate cup), pipe the garlands and decorate the trees. Melting the chocolate on the hob is a job for a grown-up.

Ingredients

125 g butter
150 g dark chocolate
175 g caster sugar (half can be light brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
75 g plain flour
25 g cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
100 g icing sugar and 1 tbsp water, for the icing
green food colouring gel
sugar pearls or small sweets, as baubles
24 small pretzel sticks, for the trunks

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4). Line a tin of about 20 x 30 cm with baking paper.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a pan over a low heat, stirring, then take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Stir in the sugar and vanilla, then beat in the eggs one at a time with a wooden spoon until glossy.
Sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until no flour is visible.
Pour the batter into the tin, spread it out and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is set and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake.
Let the brownie cool completely in the tin, then lift it out and cut it into strips, then into triangles. Each triangle is a little tree.
Mix the icing sugar with the water and a little green colouring. Pipe zigzag garlands across the trees with a small bag with the corner snipped off.
Press on sugar pearls as baubles while the icing is wet and push a pretzel stick into the bottom of each tree as a trunk.