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Transform brownies into Christmas tree brownies by cutting them into triangles and decorating them with green frosting, sprinkles, and colored candies! Celebrate the holiday season with your family by decorating Christmas brownies!
Christmas Brownies Recipe at a Glance
- kid friendly – get the whole family involved!
- make homemade or box mix brownies
- decoration options are endless
- the brownies can be made in advance and stored until ready to decorate
Host a Christmas decorating party to celebrate the holiday season! Along with these Christmas tree brownies, bake our cut out sugar cookies ahead of time so they are ready to decorate! Serve homemade hot chocolate bombs for a very merry holiday party!
Total Time Required
- 10 minutes to make the brownie batter
- 35-40 minutes to bake the brownies
- 30-60 minutes to cool the brownies
- 5 minutes to make the frosting
- 10 minutes to assemble the Christmas tree brownies
How to Properly Measure Flour
- Fluff the flour with a fork
- Use a spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cup
- Use a butter knife to level off the flour in the measuring cup
If you stick the measuring cup straight into the bag of flour, that will result in too much flour being packed into the cup, which can result in dry brownies.
Add Nuts or Other Add-Ins
Add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of add-ins. You could add any variety of chopped nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, mint pieces, caramel bits, reese’s pieces, etc.
How to Flavor Buttercream Frosting
Add a tablespoon or 2 of flavored coffee creamer to the frosting when beating in the powdered sugar. Flavored creamer easily adds flavor to frosting and makes Christmas tree brownies extra delicious! Try adding in peppermint or eggnog creamer!
No Piping Bags or Tips?
If you don’t have any piping bags or tips you can use a ziploc bag with the end snipped off. The frosting pattern will look a little different, but it serves the same purpose!
Tips
- If you don’t have a 9 inch circle springform pan, you can bake these Christmas brownies in a 8 or 9 inch square pan and still cut them into triangles. The bake time will be similar, around 30-40 minutes.
- The brownies can be made ahead of time, up to 2 days in advance, and stored in an air tight container on the counter until ready to decorate.
- Use gel food coloring for vibrant frosting.
More Christmas Treats
- Sticky Paws Williams Sonoma Copycat
- Stained Glass Church Window Cookies
- Candy Cane Oreo Balls
- Christmas Wreath Cookies
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Christmas Tree Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 stick unsalted butter (½ cup), melted
- 1 ⅓ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Frosting
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), room temperature
- 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk, as needed
- Green food coloring
- Mini M&Ms
- Holiday sprinkles
- Optional: candy canes or pretzel sticks for the tree trunk
Instructions
Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Spray a 9 inch circle springform pan with non-stick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, whole eggs and yolks with an electric mixer until combined, about 1 minute. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter and chocolate together in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth.
- Whisk in the vegetable oil. Pour the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and mix with electric mixer until fully combined.
- Add in the flour and cocoa, mixing on low speed just until incorporated.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edge and let cool for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the springform edge and continue to let the brownies cool completely.
Frosting
- Once cooled, start making the buttercream frosting. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and green food coloring, beat until fully combined and fluffy. If the frosting becomes too thick, add in 1 tablespoon of milk and beat again until it’s pipeable. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fit with a star tip, like the Wilton 1M or similar.
- Use a large knife to cut the cooled brownies into 8 triangle slices.
- Begin to frost the brownies, use a press and release pattern to pipe the frosting, covering the entire brownie with frosting.
- Decorate the trees with mini M&Ms, sprinkles, or similar colorful candies. I topped each one with a yellow candy. Optional: press a candy cane or pretzel stick into the brownie where the trunk of the tree would be.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Can you explain how to make the green parts of the icing, How to make all the small green tips.?
Thanks.
I used a Wilton 1M piping tip to create the textured green frosting.
These were Die-li-cious! Everyone loved them at Christmas and for Valentine’s Day. (different shape and colour frosting). I baked them in a 8inx8in glass pan at 325 F for about an hour. Any tips to avoid the brownies to be crumbly when cutting them?
Hi Christelle! Did you cut them when they were cool?
Great recipe