Easy Christmas Tree Chocolate Brownies

With so many holiday baking options out there, it’s hard to decide what to try first. But whether you’re an expert baker or a cooking novice, I always recommend brownies for a couple of reasons. These Christmas tree versions are the perfect choice for the holiday season.

For starters, baking Christmas tree brownies takes very little time. If you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, or have other holiday tasks to tick off your list like decorating, this recipe is ideal. It took me about 30 minutes to bake them and 10 minutes to decorate once they cooled (although that time will obviously depend on the complexity of your decoration).

Brownies are also a great crowd-pleaser, whether you’re cooking for just your family or hosting a party. These fudgy, chocolatey treats are irresistible and have the ideal texture that balances a baked treat and a rich dessert.

Once your brownies are baked, turning them into their Christmas tree shapes doesn’t require any fancy tools or baking equipment. All you need is a knife to cut them into simple triangles. You can choose a more intricate shape if you prefer, but we’ll get into that later.

The decorating is as simple as the shaping and easy to customize to whatever designs you prefer. Choose your frosting colors or combine a few, topping with edible decorations that look just like Christmas tree ornaments. This is a great baking activity to do with kids—you do the baking, they do the decorating. 

Baking Brownies

There are a few ways to go about the brownie-baking process. The simplest option is to buy a box of brownie mix and bake according to the instructions on the packaging. If you’re mostly in it for the decorating or don’t have a lot of ingredients on hand, this is the route I would recommend.

If you’re serious about your brownies, it’s far better to make them from scratch. I don’t like to leave my brownies up to chance and have a recipe I stick to every time to ensure they come out fudgy, moist, and rich. My tried-and-tested recipe is below, but if you have one you use often, that will work too.

The only criterion here is that your brownies hold their shape. If your recipe is a little too cakey and crumbly, the Christmas trees will fall apart. But as long as they stick together, the recipe you choose is up to you.

For those who have never made brownies before, or don’t consider themselves bakers, I promise it’s not as tricky as it may seem. This is one of the easiest recipes to follow, with no fancy equipment required. As long as you have the right size tray (8″ x 8″), you should already have everything else you need in your kitchen.

Shaping the Brownies

Shaping the brownies into Christmas trees once they have cooled is the easiest part. In fact, I don’t even know if I can call it shaping because it’s just cutting them into triangles. That requires minor amounts of precision and maybe a ruler, but you certainly don’t need any specialized tools to do it.

If you want to add more detail to the shape of your Christmas tree brownies, you can also use large cookie cutters. They should be tall enough to cut to the brownie square, reaching the bottom. If not, you may need to go over the edges with a knife to remove the tree shape from the square.

For the creative bakers, you can also cut more detail into your tree shapes with a smaller knife once you’ve cut the triangles. This is far more technical and time-consuming but would be a fun baking experiment if you want to practice your sculpting.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. Using plain triangles, much of the Christmas tree effect comes from the decorations. If you don’t want to use many decorations (or any at all), I suggest using cookie cutters or cutting notches into the tree yourself.

What You’ll Need

Now onto the recipe itself. This is what I used for my recipe, but your shopping list may look different if you’re using a different recipe or a box mix.

Ingredients

There are so many brownie recipes out there, and each one of them is surprisingly different. Some use tons of sugar, others less so. Some call for a carton of eggs, others only a couple. It’s hard to know which route to take.

All of these recipes will deliver brownies but in a different way. Texture, flavor, sugariness, and richness differ, depending on the ingredients you use. The recipe I’ve used here is a synthesis of all the recipes I’ve tried over the years, creating the soft, fudgy texture I love with a delicious crust. As a bonus, this texture is also great for shaping.

You’ll need:

• Sugar: I use a combination of granulated sugar and powdered sugar, which impacts shape and sweetness. It is a lot of sugar, but less than a few other recipes I have seen.
• Cocoa powder: There is a lot of cocoa powder in this recipe, and it dominates the flavor. If there is any ingredient you spend on to get better quality, this should be the one. Cheap cocoa powder will deliver a disappointing flavor.
• All-purpose flour: Don’t use any flour with rising agents. Regular flour is perfect.
• Chocolate chips: These triple-chocolate brownies have a mix of milk, dark, and white chocolate chips. Stick with this or use more of the one you prefer.
• Liquids: The wet ingredients include eggs, vegetable oil, and melted butter. The combination of vegetable oil and butter gives you the benefits of both, while the eggs add structure. While you can use olive oil instead, it will affect the taste of the brownies significantly.
• Vanilla essence: The perfect complement to the chocolate flavor. Plus, it makes your house smell amazing.

Materials

To bake, grab a mixing bowl, a whisk, a spatula, and an 8″ x 8″ baking tray. The size of the tray is important as it impacts the thickness of the brownies and their cooking time. A larger tray will give you thinner brownies that don’t hold their shape as well, while a smaller tray will give you thicker brownies that don’t cook evenly.

Toppings

When it comes to toppings to turn simple triangles into ornate Christmas tree treats, you can get creative. I’ve chosen buttercream as I prefer the combination with brownies, but any frosting or colorful topping that will hold its shape is great.

For the true tree effect, I colored the buttercream green. But you can achieve the same look with any color, or stick to white frosting for a more minimalist look. How you decorate will make it clear that it’s a Christmas tree—not necessarily the color itself.

You can also use other decorations like sprinkles or glitter to look like Christmas ornaments. Pick contrasting colors or toppings that match your Christmas color scheme so the brownies stand out.

Make Christmas Tree Brownies

When you’re ready to start baking, gather two mixing bowls, your baking dish, a whisk, and a spatula. You can follow these steps for detailed instructions and tips or use the recipe below for the basics.

Step 1: Mix the Ingredients

Before you start measuring, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). You should also grease your baking dish with butter or cooking spray to stop it from sticking. Line it with parchment paper instead if you want to make it easier to remove, spraying the paper with cooking spray.

For the dry ingredients, measure out and mix:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a separate bowl, whisk together:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing gently as you go. Keep going until the mixture has just combined—you don’t want to overmix. Once combined, the mixture is quite thick and difficult to move around. That’s normal. As long as all the ingredients are incorporated and it’s not too stiff or dry, you’re on the right track.

Step 2: Bake the Brownies

Fill your greased 8×8 dish with the mixture and spread it to the edges. It should have an even thickness throughout. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 22 to 30 minutes, depending on how crumbly you want them to be.

Don’t worry if the inside is still a little gooey as you pull it out of the oven, it will set over time as the brownies cool. The top should be crispy and slightly shiny without any burnt sections. If it looks like the edges are starting to burn, pull the tray out of the oven.

Step 3: Make Buttercream

The brownies need to cool completely before you can cut them. While you’re waiting, use the time to make the buttercream topping. If you’re using store-bought frosting, or not using any toppings at all, you can skip to the next step.

In a large bowl, beat together:

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Once you’ve got the right buttercream texture, mix in a few drops of green food coloring. You can also add a dash of cream to thin out the mixture, or other flavorings (like peppermint) that match a Christmas theme. Set the buttercream aside until the brownies have cooled.

Step 4: Shape the Brownies

After a couple of hours, your brownies should be completely cooled. I left the dish in the refrigerator for a few extra hours to make the brownies easier to cut.

Remove the brownie square from the dish. You can cut the tree shapes inside the dish too, but it’s tricky to get the right angles to cut. Flip them over and cut the entire block in half. Using your knife, mark out triangle shapes to form trees. If you’re struggling to eye it, use a ruler, some string, or skewers to get the perfect shapes.

Cut slowly into the brownie sections to form tree-shaped triangles. The top and bottom are quite crumbly so take your time to keep the whole tree intact.

Step 5: Decorate

Now the exciting part—decorating! Fill a piping bag with your buttercream and cover the tops of your Christmas tree brownies with any shapes or patterns you like. Cover them with sprinkles or place small edible balls as individual ornaments. Finally, dust with a fine layer of powdered sugar for a snowy finish. These will last around 3 days at room temperature and slightly longer in the fridge, although that will impact texture.