Christmas Tree Brownies
These Christmas Tree Brownies are minty, fudgy and an utterly epic Christmas Treat.
Brownies are one of my favourite treats and I am in full festive mode. To these brownies, I added some peppermint extract as well as chocolate chips.
I wanted to keep the bake quite simple and focus more on the decoration. The brownies are decorated with coloured buttercream and sprinkles.
Christmas Tree Brownies
The base of these brownies is made by melting together dark chocolate and butter. You can use either unsalted butter or a baking spread like Stork.
You MUST use dark chocolate. If you’re not a huge fan of dark chocolate and are worried about the brownies tasting too dark or bitter don’t worry, they don’t. Using dark chocolate will give you the classic brownie taste.
In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar, until doubled in volume. Whenever I make brownies I always use light brown sugar. I find it gives the brownies a lovely, delicious fudgy texture.
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Whisking together the eggs and sugar together is the only time you should use a mixer when making brownies. Once the egg mixture has doubled in volume, all the other ingredients should be folded into the mixture.
Everyone has their own way to fold the mixture through. My way? I use a spatula and go around the side of the bowl folding the mixture inwards. I then cut through the centre of the mixture folding it outwards. Repeat until all the chocolate mixture is fully incorporated.
Repeat the folding process with each ingredient. I used peppermint extract for these brownies and added some chocolate chips.
You can leave these brownies plain and not add any ingredients but the great thing is you can literally add any flavour or chocolate bars you fancy.
I split the mixture between the two 8” round tins. Using round tins instead of square tin makes it so much easier to cut the brownies into triangles.
How Do I Know the Brownies are Baked?
So it can be quite difficult to tell when the brownies are baked. You can’t use a skewer to test the brownies. If you do test the centre of the brownies the skewer will come out with batter on. You want the brownies to be gooey in the centre.
Brownies that are baked should look dry on the top and have a very slight wobble to them.
Decorating the Brownies
I decorated the brownies using a simple vanilla buttercream. While you can use either unsalted butter or a baking spread like Stork to make the brownies you MUST use unsalted butter in the buttercream.
If you use a baking spread like Stork in the buttercream it won’t be thick enough to hold its own shape when you pipe it onto the brownies and it will just run off.
Once the icing sugar and butter have been beaten together I added some green food colouring. When you are using food colouring it is best to add it a little at a time and slowly build the colour up.
If you add too much, to begin with then you are stuck with that colour, but adding a little, mixing and repeating until you reach the desired colour means you have more control over the final colour of the buttercream.
To pipe the buttercream I use this piping tip, I decorated them with some Small Chocolate Balls and topped them with Gold Crispy Balls.
Updates
This recipe was updated in November 2022. I made a few changes, including removing the cocoa powder from the brownies.
Instead of using a brownie tin, I baked these in a round 8″ tin as it makes it so much easier to cut into triangles than using a square tin.
I completely changed the decoration and instead of drizzling over chocolate, I decided to pipe on some coloured vanilla buttercream and add different sprinkles.
Alternatives
As I said above the beauty of this recipe is you can add any flavouring or chocolates to the brownies depending on your own preference.
Instead of using gold crispy balls for the top of the brownies, you could use chocolate stars instead.
Equipment
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Christmas Tree Brownies
Ingredients
For the Brownies
- 225 g Unsalted Butter
- 225 g Dark Chocolate
- 4 Large Eggs
- 300 g Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Peppermint Extract
- 125 g Plain Flour
- 300 g Chocolate Chips
For the Decoration
- 400 g Icing Sugar
- 200 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Peppermint Extract (optional)
- 3-4 tbsp Whole Milk (optional)
- Green Food Colouring
- Sprinkles
Instructions
To Make the Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan) and line 2 8" round cake tins parchment paper.
- Melt together the chocolate and butter in 20-second bursts, stirring in between, until they are both completely melted and combined.
- Whisk the sugar and eggs together until they have doubled in volume.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and fold them together. You need to be gentle during the stage because you don’t want to knock all the air out of your eggs.
- Add in the peppermint extract and flour and fold until they are completely combined.
- Finally, add in the chocolate chips and fold these through until they are evenly distributed.
- Split the mixture between your two tins and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. You will know they are ready because they will have a slight wobble and look dry on top.
- Leave to cool completely in the tin.
To Decorate
- Once the brownies are completely cooled cut them into triangles. Leave to one side.
- In a bowl beat together the icing sugar and butter until it forms a thick and creamy buttercream. If you are using the peppermint extract add it now and beat again until it is fully incorporated.
- If it is too thick add 1tbsp of milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency.
- Add in the green food colouring a little at a time, mixing in between each addition until you reach your preferred colour.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the brownies and decorated with some sprinkles.
Notes
- These Christmas Tree Brownies will last 5+ days in the fridge.
These look amazing. I love brownies!
Thank you!
These look delicious! I’ve been making brownies quite a lot recently so I need to try making them Christmas Tree shaped as they look fab!
Tash – A Girl with a View
Brownies are one of my absolute favourites so I had to make a festive version.
I have just decided to do a festive afternoon tea at the weekend for us all so I am going to make these as they look adorable! I have been practicing my brownies recently so I think I could manage this x
A festive afternoon tea sounds absolutley deliciuos! I hope you enjoy them!
A festive afternoon tea sounds absolutely deliciuos! I hope you enjoy them!
A festive afternoon tea sounds absolutely delicious! I hope you enjoy them!
I love Christmas tree brownies! These are so cute xx
http://www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk/
Thank you!
Wow these look delicious! Thank you for sharing. Definitely going to make these during Christmas.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them. If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla so I can see them!
Can you send me a batch of these Christmas tree brownies please?! These look delicious and I could a plateful of them right now! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
If I could post them to you I would!
I’ve tried to make these in the past but without a recipe (risky, I know!) and unsurprisingly they didn’t work very well but I will deffo try them again this Christmas with your recipe. These Christmas tree brownies are just so cute <3
Oh no! I’m sorry they didn’t work before. I hope you enjoy them. If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla so I can see them!
I absolutely love brownies and if they’re even Christmassy, it’s a win-win! Will have to try this ASAP! Thanks for sharing xx
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them. If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla so I can see them!
These will definitely be a hit at my house! thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thank you!
What a cleaver and creative idea!
Thank you!
What a great post! Very well written. Thanks for sharing!! This recipe looks so tasty. Will definitely try!
MagicandBliss | https://magicandbliss.com/
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them. If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla so I can see them!
Thanks for sharing, these look lovely, like the tree design 🙂
Thank you!
I love brownies but I have ever made them in Christmas tree shapes before. Love these designs. Tempted to make these for Christmas.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them. If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla so I can see them!
I am a sucker for a good brownie! My mouth is watering just looking at these. They look like they belong in Starbucks this time of year!
Aww thank you so much lovely! They would be perfect with a good cup of tea or coffee
These are so cute!! I love the green icing and the star sprinkle on top just makes them even better!
Thank you!
Yum! I love brownies so I’ll have to give this one a go! x
Sophie | http://www.loveandliterature.co.uk
I hope you enjoy them! If you do make them please tag me on social media or use #aspoonofvanilla I would love to see them.
Oh, these look amazing! I bet they taste wonderful with the peppermint extract in them! Perfect for a sweet treat this Christmas…I bet they would go down great as gifts too!
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Aimsy xoxo
https://www.aimsysantics.co.uk
Thank you! These would make such cute gifts either individually wrapped or as part of a hamper
These look absolutely delicious! Thank you for this.
Thank you!
Those are the cutest little brownies. Perfect for Christmas too!
Thank you!
I very nearly made something like this last year, but I realised my brownie tray wasn’t the right size. I really want to give them a go, as they look so cute!xx
Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
Awww! You could make them using any size or shaped tin really, although maybe not a round tin, if it is bigger than mine then the brownies just wouldn’t be as thick and would bake quicker and if was smaller your brownies would be thicker and take longer too cook. You might also get extra Christmas trees depending on the size of the tin.
They look so cute and fun, sounds like a great option to bake with kids too 😊
Thank you! These would be so much fun for baking with kids!
These look really delicious and very easy to make. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! They are super easy to make
I think my bf’s all-time favorite dessert is brownies & this is such a fun festive twist on them so I should maybe make them haha
Aw, I hope you both enjoy them if you do make them.