Food and Recipes Recipes Christmas Tree Brownies Designed to hold their shape while maintaining a gooey center, these brownies are extra tender on the inside with a chewy bottom. For a homemade brownie recipe, this batter is exceptionally easy because it requires no melted chocolate or the creaming of butter and sugar; instead, it's a simple method of stirring together flour, sugar, and cocoa with melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Once the brownies bake and cool, they're perfect for cutting into adorable triangles that are easy to decorate with some cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. Feel free to either use store bought or homemade cream cheese frosting for decorating. Half of the frosting is colored with green food coloring while the other half is left white. Both are transferred to piping bags that make it a breeze to drape decorative strands across the Christmas trees. Lastly, red sprinkles and clear sanding sugar add the finishing touches to the holiday brownies, making them just as eye-catching as they are delicious. A treat loved by nearly everyone around the holidays, the decorating can be a fun family activity with little ones or an excuse for the adults to feel like kids again. Regardless of who puts them together, we can assure you that they will be eaten and assist everyone in feeling the holiday spirit. By Micah A Leal Micah A Leal Micah Leal is a chef and recipe developer with 5 years of professional experience in restaurants and bakeries such as Husk Restaurant and Harken Cafe & Bakery in Charleston, South Carolina. He has also developed nearly 200 recipes for SouthernLiving.com and Southern Living Magazine. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on October 2, 2020 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Micah A. Leal Active Time: 40 mins Cool Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins Servings: 18 Yield: 18 brownies Ingredients 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted 2 1/4 cups sugar 2/3 cup flour 1 cup unsalted butter, melted 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting Green food coloring Red sprinkles White sparkling sugar sprinkles Directions Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9- x- 13-inch metal baking dish with cooking spray. Line with two pieces of parchment paper fitting the length and width of the pan with two inches of overhang on each side (allowing for the easy lifting out of the brownies when they are finished baking). In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, sugar, and flour. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until no pockets of dry ingredients remain. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and use spatula to spread batter evenly into pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the center is slightly firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely in pan, 1 hour. Use the overhanging parchment paper to lift brownies out of pan and onto a cutting board. Cut into three long rows, 3 inches in height. Then cut each row into 6 equilateral triangles, wiping the knife clean with a wet paper towel in between cuts to make them cleaner. In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup frosting with green food coloring to reach desired color. Transfer to a piping bag. Transfer another 1/2 cup white frosting to another piping bag. Snip the ends of both piping bags and pipe swooping strands of green and white frosting across the brownies. Decorate with red sprinkles. Print