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These Gingerbread Christmas Brownies take just minutes to put together! Add a seasonal spin to classic fudgy brownies with an easy semi-from-scratch recipe for Christmas Tree Brownies made with gingerbread spice and decorated with lots of sprinkles.
This easy festive dessert leaves you more time to do what matters most during the busy holiday season – spending time with your loved ones!
The holidays are my favorite time of the year! When Halloween is over and the shelves in the supermarkets are getting filled up with sparkly Christmas stuff I get pretty excited and can’t wait to start my holiday baking. To be honest I already made the first batch of Christmas cookies because I needed new photos of my German Gingerbread recipe.
But just because I love to bake doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the ease of a good box mix now and then. Especially when time is short!
I doctored this box mix up with some festive add-ins and decorated it to make these simple but super cute Christmas brownies. Wouldn’t they be a great Christmas dinner dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?!
Something delicious but easy to whip up and perfect to decorate together with your little ones! Because let’s be honest, the decorating is the best part of making Christmas treats. I’m obsessed with all the beautiful Christmas sprinkles you can get at the store! You don’t want to see my decorating drawer in the kitchen.
This easy Christmas brownie recipe is inspired by my husband’s grandmother’s recipe for spice cake. Her spice cake is made with flavorful gingerbread-inspired spices and topped with a rum glaze and sprinkles. It’s so delicious and one of my husband’s favorite holiday treats. These brownies are a more indulgent version of her original recipe but much more easy to whip up. I think she would definitely approve!
To make my Gingerbread Brownies you don’t have to really measure anything. That’s the beauty of box mixes! It’s already measured out and you just have to add eggs, melted butter, a little bit of water and, to give the brownies a festive twist, some spices and orange zest. Mix everything together and you’re done! Seriously, it only takes 10 minutes including clean up!
When the brownies are done, let them cool and cut them into triangle shapes (like you see below). The leftover pieces are perfect for testing your decorating skills (and to eat while you decorate the trees). I used a standard 9×9-inch square baking pan (this one is my favorite) and got 10 brownie Christmas trees which were the perfect dessert portion.
Now it’s time for my favorite part of Christmas baking: decorating! These brownie Christmas Trees are so easy to make but they look beautiful and festive. You only need three simple ingredients: Confectioners’ sugar, water (or rum for the adults), and lots of your favorite Christmas sprinkles (I like these ones because they’re made without artificial colors).
Nobody will know that you cheated a bit and used a boxed brownie mix to make them! In fact, I don’t think anyone would believe you if you told them these were not made from scratch, they taste like homemade.
Gingerbread Christmas Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 package Immaculate Baking Organic Fudge Brownie Scratch Mix
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup stick butter, melted, 1/2
- 3 tbsp water, instead of 2
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
For the decoration:
- 1/2 cup Confectioners' sugar
- 2-3 tsp water or rum
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F and line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides to easily lift the brownies out of the pan. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine Brownie Mix, spices, orange zest, eggs, melted butter, and water. Beat on medium speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
- Bake for about 32-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Once cool, lift them out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into 10 triangles (trees) like shown in the picture above.
- Transfer the Christmas trees to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, combine Confectioners' sugar and 2 tsp water or rum. Add a little bit more water if needed. The glaze should be thick.
- Transfer the glaze into a piping bag (or ziplock bag) and starting at the top of the tree, gently squeeze the glaze out of the bag moving in a zigzag pattern as you go down the tree. Immediately add your favorite sprinkles after piping the zigzags. (The glaze will dry quickly!)
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
I made these today using a milk chocolate brownie mix for a 9′ X 13″ pan. Used all the spices you listed going a bit more with the ginger and added 2 tablespoons molasses and 2 tablespoons water. They are wonderful So moist and delicious.
These are so cute – I love those perfect little frosting squiggles. I haven’t tried the Immaculate brownie mix, but it sounds like it must be delicious. I love the spice combination you added to them.