christmas class gifts - brownie trees

please allow me to introduce you to the idiot (me) who thought it would be a good idea to make these adorable brownie christmas trees for each child in my two (school aged) childrens classes.oh they'll only take an hour she said. she was wrong. 58 trees and 3.5 hours later, i was seriously regretting all my life decisions.

oh. my. word.

courtesy brownie recipe:

200g butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1. preheat oven to 160 deg celcius (fan forced)

2. line a 20 x 30cm pan

3. melt butter and brown sugar in a pan gently over low heat until combined. do not boil

4. add cocoa and vanilla essence and stir until combined

5. add flour and mix well

6. add eggs and stir until completely combined

7. pour into lined pan and bake for 20-25 mins (in our oven - 22 mins is perfect!)

i baked the 3 trays of brownies during the day, that was not the issue. they were easy as anything. it was the decorating and packaging that got me.

step 1. cut each tray into triangle pieces, which actually takes ages just in itself.

step 2. pipe icing onto each tree in a tinsel kind of motion 

(icing is simply a mix of icing sugar, just enough milk to make it pipe-able but not enough that it won't dry, and a little green food colouring.)

step 3. add "baubles and stars" from any random supermarket sprinkle mix

step 4. add candy cane trunks in the base of each tree 

step 5: wrap each tree in cellophane bag, add individual tags (created with canva then printed off at our local harvey norman) and tie off, then curl ribbon ties.

would you believe this process took me three and a half hours?! i nearly died - mostly of tiredness because by then it was 2:30 in the morning. augh. but they looked amaaaazing and i was so proud of them.

and it was all worth it in the morning, because joseph took one look at them and said: "oh mum they are amazing! my class will love them." day = made. that is why we mums do stupid things like this.

merry christmas school kiddies! ❤

p.s. maddie has two lovely girls in her class that don't celebrate christmas as they are jehovah witnesses. we chose to give them something else instead, a handmade school tartan scrunchie with a non christmas label. respect for others beliefs, in turn brings respect for ours. 

christmas tree brownies

i had my last appointment before christmas today, with my beautician, to have my waxing done. i have been going to rachel since we moved to aveley and i absolutely adore her, so i wanted to do something really cute for her. i had seen these brownie christmas trees online a few times, so i decided today was the day to make my own.

after finding this photo courtesy of google, which i used as a pattern to make sure i didn't waste too much when cutting, i baked my normal brownie recipe and threw them in the fridge to cool (i don't normally do this and probably wouldn't recommend it, they are a much better texture when they cool on their own) before cutting them up to decorate.

perfect brownie recipe 

(i call it this as they are literally perfect every single time and so so easy)

200g butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1. grease a 20 x 30cm tin, preheat oven to 180deg celcius (160 deg fan forced)

2. melt butter in a large saucepan on a very low heat, add brown sugar, mix until well combined, do not allow it to boil!

3. add cocoa and vanilla, stir well

4. take off heat, add flour and stir it in

5. add eggs and mix really well

6. spread mixture evenly in tin and bake for 22 minutes 

to make the trunks, break candy canes into pieces... (try for about an inch, but they are temperamental and you just need to work with where they break to be honest haha) and poke them into the base. for the icing, i combined icing sugar with a tiny bit of milk at a time and a few drops of green food colouring, until the icing was smooth enough to stir, but was starting to go stiff as it was left for a moment or two. i used a ziplock bag with the tip cut off to pipe it onto the trees into a zig zag, then added sprinkles to decorate.

honestly? they were delicious! but i will absolutely be adding a few drops of mint to the icing next year, cause the mint with the brownies was amaaaazing. so so yum. highly recommend you give them a go, they look nice, they are fun and delicious to boot! we are taking them to christmas eve dinner at the pinkers, so hopefully everyone else likes them too! 

 

birthday treat bake up

my friend elena had her birthday today so i told her i was baking her a treat. when i asked her what she wanted, her response was "surprise me" so i did...

with options.

first up, i made triple choc brownies. when i worked at chippers before madeline was born, one of the guys wives used to make these epic brownies like once a year. spoiler alert: it was the best day of the year. they were so good that i asked him if he could get me the recipe and he did!! amazingly madeline is now nine and this is the first time i have made them, only now i wonder why the heck i waited so long... this could be dangerous. they are just as good as i remember.

triple choc brownies

125g cold butter chopped

200g dark chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour

150g white chocolate, chopped

100g milk chocolate, chopped

grease deep 19cm square cake pan. line base and sides with baking paper. 

preheat oven to 160 deg celcius (fan forced)

combine butter and dark chocolate in medium pan, stir over low heat until melted. cool 10 minutes. stir in sugar and eggs, then sifted flour, mix in remaining chocolate. spread mixture into prepared pan.

bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes, or until mixture is firm to touch. cool in pan. sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

100% the best brownies i've ever had

next up, lemon pie bars. my friend lisa from america made these once and we were all obsessed with them afterwards... i love everything lemon and these are a winner! i've made them loads of times and they always deliver.

lemon pie bars

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

225g softened butter

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

preheat oven to 160 deg celcius fan forced

mix 2 cups of flour and icing sugar together. cut in the butter. mix well until the dough resembles pie dough consistency. press the dough into a 9x13" baking pan

bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown

beat together eggs, sugar, remaining flour, lemon juice and lemon rind for at least one minute. pour the mixture over the baked crust.

bake the bars another 20 minutes, or until the lemon topping has set. sprinkle with icing sugar when cool

topped it off with a batch of caramel fudge and sliced away...

caramel fudge

125g chopped butter

395g can sweetened condensed milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup (110g) white chocolate chips

grease and line 20x30cm metal dish

in a saucepan, stir butter, condensed milk, golden syrup and sugar together over a very low heat until simmering and sugar is completely melted. stir constantly for 10 minutes until slightly thickened and golden brown

remove from heat, add white choc chips and until mixture is smooth and the chocolate is completely melted

pour into dish and refrigerate until set. slice with a hot knife into small squares.

it was quite the bake up and she was stoked... so it was all worth it! 

happy birthday lanes ❤