Christmas Tree Brownies with Buttercream Frosting

Can you believe it's December!? I love December. It's such a fun exciting month because Christmas is on its way. I love all the Christmas parties and of course Christmas treats. They are so cute and yummy! And of course I am loving December this month because my cute baby Asher is here!  I am loving him so much and can't get enough of his cute little face.

I made these brownies a month ago with my friends for an early Christmas party. I have 3 best friends from high school.  We used to get together all the time but it's more difficult now that we are older and live farther apart. One friend lives a few hours away so it's harder to find a time to all get together. They all kindly agreed to have our yearly Christmas party almost 2 months before Christmas!  That way we could be sure to do it and I wouldn't have to worry about being in labor or having a brand new baby for our party.

We had fun making yummy pizza together, sharing presents and dcecorating these cute and yummy brownie Christmas trees.  It was a lot of fun and super easy and tasty. The next week I also made these brownies as a little demonstration at a church activity. I got a lot of compliments for it.  People loved they could still decorate something Christmasy with their children without the hassle of making sugar cookies. (Plus, who doesn't love a good brownie!)

The buttercream frosting goes perfectly with these brownies. It's so yummy!  And you can decorate your trees however you like but I love using m&m's and sprinkles.

Christmas Tree Brownies with Buttercream Frosting 

Ingredients:

Brownie Mix

Buttercream frosting

Green food coloring

Decoration candies (m&m’s, sprinkles etc.)

Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from Glorious Treats

1 stick of butter (salted, or unsalted), softened
1/8 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
2 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2  tablespoons milk, heavy cream or half and half.

 Directions:

*Bake brownies in a 9x13 inch pan lined with parchment paper. Bake according to directions. 

*Let brownies cool.

* In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute).  Or you can place ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix ingredients using a hand mixer.
* Add salt (if needed).  Add one cup of powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and beat to combine.  Add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream and continue beating.  Add the remaining cup of powdered sugar and mix in.  Add an additional tablespoon of milk or cream if needed to reach desired consistency.  The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy. Add enough food coloring to reach desired color of green. Add only a little at first and slowly add more if needed.

*Remove parchment paper/brownies from pan and place on countertop.

*Using your Christmas tree cookie cutter cut out as many trees as possible.

*Let each person frost their Christmas tree brownie and decorate as desired.