Get some brownie points with these tasty treats Homemade Holidays
By: Eva Wasney Posted: 2:00 AM CST Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

Karn Sandy’s brownies — adapted from an aunt’s recipe — are a point of familial pride.

“I’m sort of an indifferent cook and baker and I have a sister who’s very much a baker, but she has been unable to replicate the success of my brownies,” Karn says. “She still holds that these are the best brownies ever.”

So good, in fact, that her sister entered the recipe in a country fair bakeoff.

“She won first prize, for which I took all the credit,” Karn says with a smile.

The brownies have also been a minor hit with husband Joe, who has the opposite of a sweet tooth.

“He can’t be bothered with dessert most of the time, but he likes the crusts off my brownies,” she says.

Despite his ambivalence, Joe encouraged his wife to submit her beloved brownies to the Free Press’ Homemade Holiday series. To make the recipe more festive, Karn decided to add a peppermint-infused cream cheese icing to the mix. Joe’s verdict?

“It has not impressed him — he just wants the crusts, no icing please,” she says.

While Joe may still need some convincing, brownie enthusiasts will enjoy this moist, chocolatey dessert.

Our Family Favourite Yuletide Brownies

250 ml (1 cup) butter, melted

750 ml (3 cups) demerara sugar

3 eggs

135 ml (9 tbsp) cocoa powder

5 ml (1 tsp) salt

375 ml (1 1/2 cups) flour

15 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla

1 (200 g) pkg cream cheese Chipits

Icing

113 g (4 oz) cream cheese

30 ml (2 tbsp) butter, softened

250 ml (1 cup) icing sugar

1 drop peppermint extract (or preferred yuletide flavour)

Preheat the oven to 325 F and line a 9×12-inch baking pan with parchment paper or grease with butter.

To make the batter, mix the melted butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs and add to the sugar mixture, stirring well to combine.

Stir the cocoa powder, salt and flour together in a separate bowl before adding to the wet ingredients. Stir in the vanilla, followed by the cream cheese chips.

Bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Let cool slightly.

To make icing, beat cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and peppermint extract together until the mixture is spreadable. Spread over brownie while still warm.

Can be made ahead and frozen.

— Joe and Karn Sandy

This is the 12th and final instalment of Homemade Holidays. Visit winnipegfreepress.com/homemade to find this year’s batch of reader-submitted recipes. You can also visit wfp.to/recipecards to purchase a digital download of the cookie recipe cards to print your own recipe booklet at home.

winnipegfreepress.com/evawasney

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.