Wonderfully chocolatey and fudgy brownies, decorated to look like Christmas trees – these Easy Christmas Tree Brownies taste delicious and are surprisingly simple to make! Perfect for Christmas parties, Christmas bake sales, a Christmas craft activity for kids… or even an alternative to Christmas pudding on Christmas day itself.
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Brownies – made Christmassy!
It’s no secret that I love brownies – there is just something utterly wonderful about their deep, dark, chocolatey, fudgy loveliness that IMHO makes them so much better than regular chocolate cake. Plus they are one of the easiest sweet treats to make! (Especially when you use my super simple recipe – so much easier than most brownie recipes and no less delicious – see below!)
You’ll find several of my favourite brownie recipes on this website, including:
- Easy Cocoa Powder Brownies (No Chocolate Required!)
- Triple Chocolate Brownies
- Easy Mincemeat Brownies
- Mini Egg Brownies
- Gluten Free and Dairy Free Brownies
But I’ve never had a truly ‘Christmas’ brownie recipe on this site… until now!
These super cute Christmas Tree Brownies are just about as Christmassy as you can get. Perfect for Christmas parties, Christmas bake sales, a Christmas craft activity for kids… or even an alternative to Christmas pudding, as a dessert on Christmas day itself!
How to make Christmas Tree Brownies
You won’t believe quite how easy these Christmas Tree Brownies are to make!
All you need to do is melt the butter in a saucepan. Meanwhile combine the plain flour and cocoa in a bowl, and whisk together the eggs and sugar in a jug. Add the (slightly cooled) melted butter to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk, then pour the egg/sugar/butter mixture into the flour/cocoa mixture and gently stir together until just combined.
Tip into a prepared brownie tray, then cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack, then cut into triangles and decorate. Easy peasy!
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
How to decorate Christmas Tree Brownies
Not only are these cute little Christmas Tree Brownies easy to make, they are also surprisingly easy to decorate.
All you need to do is make a simple green icing, using icing sugar, water and green food colouring. Then spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small-ish round piping nozzle. (If you don’t have a piping bag, just snip the corner off a clear plastic food bag – it works just as well for these brownies!)
Pipe the icing in a zigzag all the way up the Christmas trees until you reach the top. Then decorate the Christmas trees by adding mini smarties as ‘baubles’ and placing a star at the very top.
Finally, use candy canes to make the ‘trunks’ of your Christmas Tree Brownies.
(Full instructions given in the recipe card below.)
How to cut brownies into triangles to make Christmas trees
Wondering how to cut brownies into triangles to make Christmas tree shapes? It’s super easy…
You just download this template and place it on the top of your brownies, and use it as a guide to cut out 8 perfect triangles! (Choose ‘fit’ rather than ‘actual size’ when you print the template.)
Your trees should be 8cm along the base and 10cm high. You will end up with 4 small offcuts, which are chef’s perks obviously 😉
Recommended decorations for Christmas Tree Brownies
You can use any decorations you like to decorate these brownies! But here are my recommendations if you want to make them exactly like mine…
Green food colouring: I used Dr. Oetker Extra Strong Green Food Colour Gel
Baubles: I used Mini Smarties
Gold Stars: I used Sprinkly Glimmer Stars (Colour: Gold, Size: Jumbo)
Tree Trunks: I used Strawberry Candy Canes
Recommended equipment for decorating Christmas Tree Brownies
You know me, I don’t ‘do’ fancy equipment, so I am not going to tell you to go out and buy a bunch of expensive cake decoration equipment!
To achieve the ‘piped’ look of the icing, you can simply use a regular plastic food storage bag – e.g. these Food Storage Freezer Bags
Simply spoon the icing into the plastic food storage bag, then snip the very tip off and you have yourself an easy peasy way of piping the icing up the Christmas trees!
(Of course, if you already have a piping bag with a small round nozzle, by all means use them!)
No-chocolate brownies?
You’ll notice that these delicious Christmas Tree Brownies do not contain any chocolate – only cocoa powder. There are lots of good reasons for this, which you can read about in my regular brownie recipe!
How to store Christmas Tree Brownies
Once decorated, store these Christmas Tree Brownies in an airtight container, such as a cake tin.
How long will Christmas Tree Brownies last?
Although they will look and taste at their absolute best on the day they are made, these easy peasy brownies will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container… though you’d have to have the willpower of a saint (and no children / sweet-toothed other halves!) for them to last that long!
Can you freeze Christmas Tree Brownies?
Yes and no…
You can absolutely freeze the brownies BEFORE decorating. When they have cooled, pack them into an airtight and freezer-proof container, separating the layers with baking paper, then put them in the freezer where they will keep for up to 3 months. (Defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours, before decorating.)
However I do not recommend freezing the brownies once decorated, as the icing decorations will not fare well in the freezer.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Easy Chocolate Christmas Biscuits
- Easy Peasy Christmas Star Biscuits
- Easy Puff Pastry Mince Pies (Only 3 ingredients!)
- Easy Christmas Rocky Road
- Christmas Cake Cheesecake (No Bake)
- All-In-One Christmas Cake
All-In-One Christmas Cake
Easy Christmas Tree Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies
- 150 g butter
- 150 g plain flour (AKA all purpose flour)
- 60 g cocoa (see Note 1)
- 2 medium eggs
- 300 g soft brown sugar (light or dark – whichever you prefer – see Note 2)
Decoration
- 200 g icing sugar sieved
- Cold water
- Green food colouring (Ideally gel-based food colouring - see Note 3 - I use THIS ONE.)
- 80 mini smarties (Or sprinkles of choice. I use THESE.)
- 8 gold stars (I use THESE - Colour: Gold, Size: Jumbo)
- 3 candy canes (I use THESE)
- NB: You will also need a piping bag and a small-ish round piping nozzle or a plastic food storage bag, for piping the icing. (see Note 4)
Instructions
Brownies
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. As soon as the butter is melted, take the pan off the heat and allow to cool – do not allow it to bubble.
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
- Grease and line a 23 x 23cm (9 x 9 inch) brownie pan. See tips in THIS POST for how to line a brownie pan.
- Combine the flour and cocoa in a large bowl.
- Crack the two eggs into a jug (or another bowl) and whisk lightly.
- Add the sugar to the eggs, and whisk lightly to combine the eggs and the sugar.
- Add the cooled melted butter to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk lightly to combine all the wet ingredients.
- Pour the egg/sugar/butter mixture into the flour/cocoa mixture and gently stir together until just combined.
- Tip the brownie batter into the prepared tray, spread the batter out to the corners and smooth the top.
- Place in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownies in the middle. (I recommend you make them a little less gooey than you would normally, so they look more attractive when decorated.)
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin – until cool enough to handle – then lift out and place on a wire rack. Leave to cool on the wire rack until completely cold.
- When completely cold, cut the brownies into 8 triangles, using THIS TEMPLATE (See Note 5 for a fuller explanation.)
- NB: some of the tree bases, will be the parts of the brownie that touched the sides of the pan. You will find it difficult to push the candy canes into these bases. So I recommend cutting the very bottom off these bases to make it easier to push the candy canes into.
Decoration
- Mix the sieved icing sugar with a very small amount of water to make a very thick icing. It should be as thick as you can make it, so add the cold water very slowly – one teaspoon at a time until it just comes together.
- Add the green food colouring a little at a time until you get the colour you want. (I found I had to add about half a tube to get the vivid green you see in the pictures!)
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small-ish round piping nozzle. (If you don’t have a piping bag, just snip the corner off a clear plastic food bag – it works nearly as well for these brownies! See Note 4.)
- Pipe the green icing along the bottom edge of the brownies, then zigzag your way up the Christmas trees until you reach the top. Ensure your piping goes to the very top, so you can stick the stars to the top.
- Decorate the Christmas trees by adding mini smarties as ‘baubles’ and placing a star at the very top.
- Finally, make the ‘trunks’ of your Christmas Tree Brownies. Cut your candy canes into 5cm (2inch) lengths and push one piece of candy cane into the base of each Christmas tree.
- Your Christmas Tree Brownies are now finished and ready to serve!
Notes
- I suggest 60g cocoa, but if you prefer a more milk chocolate style brownie, cut down to 30g… or if you prefer a super-dark brownie, bump up to 90g cocoa. Anywhere between 30g and 90g works just fine in this recipe, with no need to adjust the other ingredients.
- The type of sugar you use will affect the flavour of the brownies. Dark soft brown sugar will give you a richer flavour. If you prefer your brownies less rich, I recommend you use light brown sugar. (You can even use caster sugar, if you don’t have any brown sugar – but if you do the flavour will be even less rich, and slightly sweeter.)
- I recommend using gel food colouring as it will give you a more vibrant green colour. I use Dr. Oetker Extra Strong Green Food Colour Gel.
- If you have a piping bag and a small-ish round piping nozzle then do use that as it will give you the neatest piping. But if you don’t have a piping bag, there’s no need to buy one especially for this recipe! Simply spoon the icing into a clear plastic food storage bag and then snip the very tip off the bag – it will work nearly as well as a piping bag!
- To get make your Christmas Tree Brownies, you will need to cut your cooked brownies into 8 triangles. I have made a simple template HERE to help you. (Choose ‘fit’ rather than ‘actual size’ when you print the template.) Your trees should be 8cm along the base and 10cm high. You will end up with 4 small offcuts, which are chef’s perks obviously 😉
- Suitable for freezing. (Before decoration only.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
Pin Christmas Tree Brownies for later
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This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
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