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Christmas Tree Brownies are a festive and delicious treat for the holiday season. They make great gifts or a sweet and delicious dessert to enjoy with friends and family. Start baking and get ready to celebrate the holidays with these Christmas Tree Brownies!
Are you ready for the most festive treat in town? If there was an award for “most festive dessert” these Christmas Tree Brownies would certainly be at the top of the list. Can you think of anything more festive than a brownie in an actual Christmas Tree shape?! I don’t think so!
These brownies are the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! With an easy boxed brownie mix and some festive toppings, you can create this delicious treat in no time. Kids love decorating them and adults love eating them too! Get creative with your topping ideas and make it a fun activity for all ages to enjoy.
Why You’ll Love These
Out of the box. The brownies start with an easy boxed mix so right out of the box, you’re already winning by being able to quickly whip up a batch of these delightful treats. My favorite is Ghirardelli’s double chocolate or dark chocolate.
Kid-friendly activity. Get the kids involved in decorating the tops of these Christmas Tree Brownies! Change it up with various kinds of sprinkles and/or different frosting colors.
What You’ll Need
- Boxed brownie mix – the base for this recipe, as it provides an easy way to make brownies without a whole lot of dishes.
- Egg yolk – an extra egg yolk will yield a fudgier and chewier brownie.
- White frosting
- Green food coloring
- Sprinkles
How to Make Christmas Tree Brownies
Set the oven and prepare baking sheet. Preheat oven to the temperature that the boxed brownie mix states. Prepare a 9×9″ baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.
Make the brownies. Whisk together the ingredients needed for the brownie mix according to the box and the additional egg yolk. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake.
Let the brownies cool. Leave the brownies in the baking pan to cool on the counter then place in the fridge to cool completely.
Make the frosting. While the brownies are cooling, make the frosting by combining the white frosting with green food coloring.
Make the tree shape. Cut the brownies into triangles to create the tree shape.
Decorate! You decide how you want to decorate your tree. You can pipe on the frosting like in the photos and then add sprinkles or you can spread on the frosting then add sprinkles.
Tips and Tricks
If you want small trees, cut the brownies into 3 long strips. Then cut the strips into triangles – this will make 3 rows with 6 triangles each. (Cut 3 equal squares from each strip, then cut the squares in half on the diagonal.) If you want large trees, cut the brownies in half down the middle. You will be able to cut 4 equal size triangles from each half. (It is like a zig-zag pattern.) It will only work if you trim a little off of each end, at an angle.
Have an assembly line for frosting and decorating to make it quick!
Common questions
How can I make sure that my brownies are fudgy instead of cakey? Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature. If you have a recipe that calls for butter, that should be room temperature as well. Only stir the batter the bare minimum. And don’t over-bake!
I’m finding the brownies hard to cut neatly – any advice? Yes, you want to make sure that the brownies are very well cooled. You may even want to put them in the freezer for a bit, depending on the denseness of your brownies.
I don’t have parchment paper – can I just spray the baking pan? For this recipe it is really important that the whole pan of brownies removes well. If you don’t have parchment paper, you could use tin foil.
Can I use my electric mixer to mix the brownie batter? To keep these brownies as dense as possible we really don’t want to over-mix the batter. It is better to mix the batter by hand using a whisk and then a spatula if needed, just until the flour disappears.
Could I use a glass baking dish? I recommend a light metal dish for these brownies because that will produce chewier brownies, but I’m sure it will be fine to use a glass baking dish.
Storage instructions
These brownies will keep for 1 week in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer.
More holiday recipes
- Chocolate Peppermint Lofthouse Cookies
- Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cookies
- Frosted Holiday Sugar Cookies
- Creating a Holiday Cookie Box
Christmas Tree Brownies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 boxed brownie mix and ingredients recommended, usually oil, eggs and water
- 1 extra egg yolk
- Jar of white frosting
- Green Food Coloring
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on the box of brownies mix.
- Prepare a 9X9 inch baking pan (preferably a light metal pan) by lining it with parchment paper. You want to leave extra parchment paper over the edges so that you may easily remove the whole pan of brownies later.
- Use a whisk to stir together the ingredients recommended on the box of brownies and 1 egg yolk. You don’t want to over-mix, so mix just until the flour disappears.
- Bake the brownies on the middle rack in your oven.
- Check the brownies a few minutes before the minimum time recommended on the box. You do not want to over bake them. Insert a toothpick to test doneness. There should be some streaks of batter on the toothpick. If they are not at this point yet, give them just a few more minutes at a time.
- Leave the brownies in the pan and place it on a cooling rack. After a few minutes, move the pan into the fridge.
- While the brownies are cooling, mix together the white frosting and green food coloring.
- Remove the brownies from the pan. Trim off outer edges.
- Do not cut the brownies unless they are completely cooled – if they are not – return them to the fridge and wait until they are completely cooled.
- There are 2 different ways to cut these depending on how large you want the trees to be.If you want small trees, you can get 18. Cut the brownies into 3 long strips. Then cut the strips into triangles – this will make 3 rows with 6 triangles each. (Cut 3 equal squares from each strip, then cut the squares in half on the diagonal.)If you want large trees, you can get 8. Cut the brownies in half down the middle. You will be able to cut 4 equal size triangles from each half. (It is like a zig-zag pattern.) It will only work if you trim a little off of each end, at an angle.
- Decorate with green icing and sprinkles. Stick a cut candy cane in the bottom of the triangle to be the stem of your Christmas tree.
