Vanilla Christmas Tree Brownies

These adorable Christmas brownies are easy enough for the kids to help decorate, pretty enough for a Christmas cookie tray, and just different enough to stand out among the usual chocolate desserts. Plus, handing the kids a bowl of frosting and some sprinkles might buy you 20 minutes of peace. No guarantees.

Table of Contents

• 🥰 Is this Christmas tree brownie recipe for you?
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Recipe
• 🔪 How to make vanilla Christmas tree brownies
• 😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 More holiday bar cookies
• 💬 Comments

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🥰 Is this Christmas tree brownie recipe for you?

• You love chewy brownies but sometimes want vanilla instead of chocolate.
• You need an easy Christmas dessert that looks ridiculously festive without requiring a 36 hour commitment and carpal tunnel surgery afterward.
• You want something cute for cookie trays, holiday parties, or Christmas cookie exchanges.
• You have kids, grandkids, or enthusiastic sprinkle enthusiasts who'd love to help decorate the trees.
• You appreciate a make-ahead Christmas treat that freezes beautifully before frosting.
• You firmly believe December already has enough complicated nonsense, thank you very much. 🎄

🧾 Ingredients

Nothing fancy lurking in the pantry here. These Christmas tree brownies are made with basic baking ingredients, a scandalous quantity of vanilla goodness, and enough sprinkles to ensure you'll still be finding them under the toaster in March.

• Flour - Regular all-purpose flour is all you need. The Yeast Kingdom has no jurisdiction here.
• Sugar - Granulated sugar adds sweetness and helps give the brownies their chewy texture.
• Salt - Just enough to keep all that sweetness from becoming obnoxious.
• Eggs - Give the brownies structure, richness, and that dense, delicious bite we're after.
• Vanilla - This is not the moment for restraint. Vanilla is the main character here, not chocolate's understudy.
• Pecans - Toast them first for extra buttery, nutty flavor. Or don't. I am not coming to your house to check.
• Butter - Because we're making Christmas brownies, not performing acts of sadness.
• Powdered sugar - The sweet foundation for that creamy vanilla frosting.
• White chocolate chips - Melt into the batter for richness and that dense, fudgy-brownie texture without the chocolate flavor.
• Heavy cream - Just enough to make the frosting smooth, creamy, and easily spreadable.
• Sprinkles - Here's where dignity leaves the building. Stars, jimmies, nonpareils, sparkly things... decorate those little trees like you've been given an unlimited budget by the North Pole.

📖 Recipe

🔪 How to make vanilla Christmas tree brownies

These Christmas tree brownies are easy enough that nobody needs to summon the Spirit of Betty Crocker. Make the batter, bake until just right, slather the cooled brownies with vanilla frosting, then cut them into trees and unleash the sprinkles.

1. Melt butter and white chocolate chips together as directed in recipe below.
2. Stir until smooth.
3. Add the pecans and flour mixture to the white chocolate mixture.
4. Pour into prepared pans and bake. They're done when a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean with maybe a few moist crumbs sticking to it.

1. Make the frosting in a mixing bowl and spread on the cooled brownies.
2. Cut horizontally in 3 parts.
3. Cut triangles to resemble Christmas trees.
4. Decorate.

😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)

🎄 The white chocolate seizes. White chocolate is a temperamental little diva. Melt it over low heat, or microwave at 50%, and stir every 30 seconds. Even a tiny bit of water can make it clump up and ruin everybody's Christmas.

🎄 The brownies turn out cakey or hard. They've baked too long, unless cakey was what you were after. Start checking early and pull them when the center is set but still moist. We're making brownies, not vanilla roofing tiles.

🎄 The frosting melts into a sad little puddle. The brownies weren't completely cool. Completely means completely, not "I touched the corner and it seemed fine."

🎄 Your Christmas trees look like festive geometry homework. Use a sharp knife and wipe it clean between cuts. And remember, trees in nature aren't perfectly symmetrical either. Mother Nature has been getting away with that nonsense for millennia.

🎄 The sprinkles won't stick. Decorate while the frosting is still soft. Once it sets, those sprinkles will bounce off and flee across the kitchen like tiny edible ball bearings.

🎄 The trees crumble when you cut them. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting, and don't saw at them with a dull knife like you're clearing brush on the back forty. Clean, confident cuts.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 More holiday bar cookies

🏡 These Christmas brownies are ridiculously easy for something that looks like you spent all afternoon being festive and accomplished. Nobody needs to know the truth.

Put the kids in charge of frosting and sprinkles while you handle the other 47 things December has added to your list. They're perfect for Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, and holiday cookie trays, and every tree can be decorated differently because apparently even brownies deserve creative freedom.

And when Christmas is over? Cut the vanilla brownies into hearts for Valentine's Day, squares for everyday emergencies, or whatever shape suits the occasion. These brownies do not recognize seasonal boundaries.