Christmas Tree Brownie Baking - BLOGMAS DAY 8

Hello everyone! As you can tell from the title I took on some Christmas baking. I got a recipe from Sainsburys here after looking on my trusty Pinterest. Usually I'm a decent baker, the same applies here but my opinion on the finished product may be slightly different... 

Ingredients

• 150g cook’s Belgian dark chocolate (76% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• 150g unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of 1 clementine (I USED A SATSUMA, CAUSE THEY'RE JUST THE FUCKING SAME TO BE HONEST)
• 3 tbsp port (I USED RED WINE AS AN ALTERNATIVE) 
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• a good pinch of ground cloves
• several gratings of nutmeg
• 100g plain flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder

To decorate 

• 75g royal icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp gold and silver sprinkles – we used star sprinkles
• 12 x Cadbury chocolate fingers

Ingredients taken straight from the Sainsburys website 

I love baking at the best of times but at Christmas time it's even better to have fun and experiment with recipes you've never tried before. Dan and I are planning to make Terry's Chocolate Orange brownies again soon, they ruled last time and Dan definitely got a lot of credit with his work friends. 

I cannot wait for Christmas time in the future when I have my own home and can freely bake whenever the fudge I want, and be a mum who bakes cookies for their kids when they get home from school. Or the mum who makes gingerbread men as little presents for people, I want to be THAT extra. 

They turned out looking fairly decent, so pat on the back to me. A great way to spend only a couple of hours on a day off! 

I'd say the following out of ten: 

Taste - 5/10 (personal preference) Dan said 5/10

Ease of baking - 8/10

Disaster level on my part - 6/10 (they look OKAY) 

Just to remind you the entire recipe is here so let me know if you're trying these out for Christmas! (I'd advise you to avoid using ground cloves however, they made them taste WEIRD. What else do you have planned to bake or cook this Christmas season, let me know! 

Shannon x