Santa.Hat.Brownies

So it’s only 3 weeks till Christmas and if you are like me, the most important meal on the day is desert.  Last year my family (well…maybe just me, but they weren’t complaining!) went all out with Christmas sweets. I think we were still eating them two weeks after Christmas! The most popular sweets between the family were the Santa hat brownies.  My sister put me on to recipe, so we decided to take the challenge together.  Now I would be lying to say these aren’t fiddly to assemble, but they are extremely easy to bake. With a little bit of OCD, I was a little frustrated making these and I think my sister vouches to never bake with me again! However, if you are patient they really do turn out fantastic and simply delicious!

Santa Hat Brownies
12-16 brownies
Ingredients:

• 1 pan (8×8) of any brownie mix (you can use a packet mix to make it easier!) cooled and cut into a small round cylinder
• 12-16 small strawberries, cleaned and hulled
• Chocolate ganache (recipe below)
• vanilla mascarpone buttercream (recipe below)

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:

• 250g dark chocolate
• 1/3 cup cream

Mascarpone Buttercream
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 225g mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups pure icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Method:

Bake brownie to packet instructions.

Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a metal spoon until smooth. Remove bowl from heat. Set aside at room temperature to cool, stirring occasionally, until ganache is thick and spreadable.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and mascarpone cheese until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla extract and salt.  Add 2-1/2 cups of sugar, half a cup at a time and continue beating until smooth.  Buttercream should be nice a thick for easy assembling  If needed, add more sugar to get the right consistency. It is really important to get the right consistency as the piping on the brownies is the tricky part!

To assemble, spread the chocolate ganache on top of the brownie. Then pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream on top of each brownie.  Cut off the base of a strawberry so it is flat and place it upside down on each brownie, pushing down slightly to secure in place.  Top the tip of the strawberry with a dot of buttercream to complete the hat.

Adapted from Daisy’s World