Christmas Tree Brownies are a cute holiday dessert perfect for your Christmas dessert table. They are easy to make and fun for kids to decorate. This recipe uses a packaged brownie mix for simplicity, but can be made with your favorite from-scratch brownie recipe too.
If you've made cookie cutter sugar cookies before, this will be a breeze. And if you haven't, there's no better time to start than the holidays!
Christmas Tree Brownies are a super cute and super fun dessert. They are the perfect compliment to traditional Christmas sugar cookies. We also love our Christmas snack board as an appetizer on Christmas night and reindeer cupcakes, snowman cupcakes and chocolate covered pretzels for dessert.
Your kids (and you!) will have a ton of fun decorating these adorable little brownie cut-outs. I'm not sure if my daughter had more fun decorating her gingerbread man or eating it. I hadn't even looked up from my Christmas tree and she had already decorated and eaten hers. And she doesn't even like chocolate!
Ingredients
All you need to make Christmas tree brownies is:
- One package of brownie mix (or use a homemade brownie recipe like this mint chocolate chip brownie one)
- Christmas tree or gingerbread men cookie cutters
- Christmas sprinkles
- Icing (optional)
You are obviously not limited to Christmas tree cookie cutters, as you can see that I've also made ornaments and gingerbread men. I like Christmas trees because the pearls look like ornaments, and if I use icing, I can make it look like garland.
Snowmen and stocking cookie cutters are cute too.
Tips
While making Christmas tree brownies is a breeze, here are some suggestions for making them the best that they can be:
- Use fudge brownie mix so that the inside is more moist and gooey and therefore will hold together better than cake-like brownies when cut into.
- Allow the brownies to cool before removing from the pan to avoid cracking (you can put them in the fridge to speed this up).
- Use cookie cutters that are at least ½ inch deep and don't have small crevices (the brownie will get stuck in small parts or crumble in that space).
- Grease the inside of the cookie cutters so the brownies come out easily.
You can freeze them and use those them as a brownie crumble topping on ice cream or cake. You can also line a the bottom of a muffin cup with the leftover brownies before making cupcakes or muffins. Or snack on them while your decorating your Christmas cookies!
Step-By-Step Directions
First, bake the brownie batter according to the package, but line the pan with a greased sheet of parchment paper.
Let them cool for at least 30 minutes. You can put them in the fridge to speed this up, but keep them in the pan. If you remove them right away they will be too soft and will crack when using the cookie cutters.
Once cooled, lift the parchment paper out of the pan and gently transfer the brownies to your working surface.Now not only do you have a clean pan, but you have an already prepared surface to work on without getting the counter dirty.
Before cutting, grease the inside of the cookie cutters with butter or oil so the brownies easily pop out.
Using cookie cutters of your choice, cut them out as you would cookies. If any pieces crack or break apart, just squish them back together and they should stick.
Once the brownies are cut out, it's time to decorate. The funnest part of holiday baking is always decorating and putting on the finishing touches.
Decorating Tips
Once you have the Christmas tree brownies cut out, it's time to decorate. I let my daughter do most of the decorating since she doesn't do any of the cutting.
Decorate them any way you want using Christmas-colored pearls or Christmas-themed sprinkles, or both. Make sure to press the sprinkles into the brownie so they don't fall off. Do this gently, yet firmly.
A little bit of icing is neat too, to give them even more definition. With the icing, you can give the brownies garland or the gingerbread person clothing. Icing can also be used to create line patterns on the ornaments or stocking brownies.
To decorate with icing, use a piping bag.
Enjoy!
Recipe
Easy Christmas Tree Brownies
Equipment
- Christmas cookie cutters
- 13 x 9 inch pan
Ingredients
- 1 box brownie mix
- Christmas-themed sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a 13x9 inch pan with parchment paper and spray with oil. Mix and bake brownies according to package instructions. Let cool for 30 minutes.
- Remove brownies by lifting the parchment paper out of the pan. Grease the inside of holiday shaped cookie cutters and cut brownies into shapes.
- Decorate as desired with holiday colored or shaped sprinkles. Press the sprinkles into the brownies gently but firmly so they stick.
Notes
Nutrition
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