My exam is finally over and it’s time to start cranking out the holiday sweets! Remember last year when I made Santa Hat Brownie Bites with strawberries? Well I came up with a new way to jazz up some strawberries for the holidays this year. This version takes a little more work with piping all over the strawberries, but certainly not much skill so I highly suggest you give them a try even if you’re nervous about piping.
I think it would be really cute to do a platter of Santa hats and Christmas trees mixed in together — less work piping a whole plate of trees too! I made my stars out of yellow fondant, decorated the tree with white peppermint pearls and red hots (it was what I had on hand), and sprinkled them generously with disco dust. Edible glitter is the perfect holiday accessory. You might even want to dust the brownie bites with some powdered sugar or sweetened coconut to imitate a thin layer of snow. Of course I don’t think of these ideas until days after I finished baking, but I’m here to not only give you recipes and ideas, but also suggestions on how to improve upon them. My brain has been too full of infectious diseases to allow for creativity, but now that the test is over, my brain is reeling with ideas!
There’s no specific recipe with this, but here’s what you need to make them like I did:
Your favorite brownie recipe, halved (This one’s my favorite)
Batch of pipeable frosting (I used cream cheese frosting because it’s delicious)
24 small-medium strawberries
Yellow fondant or star-shaped sprinkles
Small ball shaped candy decorations
Disco dust (if you have it)
– Bake your brownies in greased mini-muffin tins filled up 3/4 of the way. You’re going to have to shorten the baking time a bit, so just keep your eyes on them as they bake — they’re done when a cake tester comes out clean.
– Ask the brownies are baking and cooling, put together your frosting and dye it green.
– Once baked and cooled, secure the strawberries to the brownies with a dab of frosting
– Put frosting in a piping bag fit with a small star tip, and cover the entire strawberry by starting at the strawberry, applying a bit of pressure, and pulling away gently to a nice point.
Feel free to use boxed brownie mix, canned frosting, and whatever other shortcuts you can come up with during this busy time of year! I ended up with more brownie batter than I had strawberries, so I just baked off a few extra and decorated them with frosting without strawberries.
These are SO awesome! what a fun idea, and the frosting on the Christmas trees looks so perfect…the spiky effect is identical to how Christmas trees really are! yum..this is making me hungry!
Absolutely beautiful! :)
Gorgeous idea!!!
Minunat!Arata atit de bine!
thiose are the cutest cupcake I’ve ever seen :)))
Wow! So cute and festive!! So I might be a little intimidated by the piping, but I can at least admire them from afar. =)
oh my goodness how cute are these. I am loving your blog. I am your newest follower.
xo
Gorgeous and Yummy! Who could ask for more?!?
Those are so wonderful and love the use of strawberry! You’ve inspired me to make the trees and hats.
These are so cute. I’ll be doing some of these for sure!
Anne @ Domesblissity
Love it
if i make the frosting how long does it last? and do you use the gels to color the frosting?
I want to make the frosting ahead of time but don’t know how long ahead to make them.
thanks =]
What consistency does the frosting need to be? Thanks
Arturo – you can make the frosting a few days in advance and just store it covered in the fridge. And yes, I do use gel food coloring.
lbk806 – you want the icing to be pretty stiff (mine could have been a little stiffer)so that the piped design holds its shape. Good luck!
these are just great! Can we link to you on our Lunchbox World blog? http://www.lunchboxworldblog.blogspot.com
Caroline, you are welcome to link back here. Thanks!
I love these, what a great idea:)
We made these at Christmas. They were sooooo cute but we ran into a problem. The sugar in the icing made the strawberries weep and they ended up in a soupy mess. Did you have problems with that?
Hi just found your page through “Hike those Likes on Facebook”. Wanted to know who had made the cakes they had pictured found you. Great idea for xmasxx
Do you think these would freeze or would the strawberry mush?
Erica — October 23rd, 2012 @ 8:23 pm
I don’t think I would freeze them – when you thaw the strawberries they will most likely be mushy and probably won’t hold up with the frosting.
Wow! This is so lovely!
Hello I made these cupcakes and they were a lot easier than I expected. They turned out great and tasted amazing.
I did leaves instead of star dollops and used sparkly sugar baubles instead of the red and white sweets and made my own white chocolate stars.
Great recipe and idea…thanks heaps for sharing… :)
They did not last long enough to worry about the strawberries weeping…
Making the santa hats next…
Is there anyway I can share a pic of mine with you?
Jacqueline
Erica — November 12th, 2012 @ 1:26 pm
So glad you made them and they came out well! I would LOVE to see a pic – either share it with me on the FB page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Tooth/320358485808) or email me erica at ericas-sweet-tooth dot com !
These are adorable. Wonder if you could use whipped cream or cool whip instead of frosting? Looks like maybe you could. Anyone tried it? Thanks.
Great Idea. Id love to make these for Christmas this year….but any tips on transporting them? They look very delicate.
Erica — December 11th, 2012 @ 7:59 pm
Hmm that’s a tough one, if you use frosting to secure the trees to the brownies, they should be good. Maybe load them back into the mini muffin tin for transportation. Good luck!
I love fresh produce & I love what you have done here – this was shared by one of my favourite fresh produce grower groups Seasonal Berries.
Brilliant and well done!
Best wishes, and Merry Christmas,
Carol x
WOW … These are gorgeous!!!
I wonder if colored coolwhip would be thick enough to use for the frosting on the trees if you used gel coloring and put it in the freezer to thicken back up before frosting?
Hi,
I was just wondering if I could keep them in the fridge until I transport them to a party?? I always have trouble with my cream cheese icing melting/drooping when I keep it out?? These are so adorable, thanks so much!
Lisa
Erica — December 17th, 2012 @ 3:09 pm
Yup, keeping them in the fridge is definitely your best bet!
Erica, Thank you for such a perfect idea for my holiday baking! I love these trees!!! I wanted to bake brownies this year and wanted to do something creative, so thank you so much, and have a wonderful holiday from Kentucky to Conneticut
Very nice! Where can I purchase the star on top of the tree?
Erica — December 26th, 2012 @ 1:51 am
It was a star I made out of fondant, not purchased. Good luck!
i wonder if you could melt white chocolate and add coloring for frosting instead this way its like chocolate covered strawberries
Hello Erica,! Great work you do! I was wondering, did anyone else try it (besides you :))? I just finished them but they are a sugar bomb!!!!! I only did 10 of them and I think I should visit my dentist just by smelling the sweetness :)). Is it the way it should be? I have to admit that I had to convert everything into grams, maybe I made a mistake?
Thank you! Happy New Year!
Just wanted to let you know that this private group on facebook shared your recipe as their own: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NaturalWeightLossFriends/
Looks lovely though!
Disco dust is not edible. It’s plastic craft glitter and is not for use on food. Doesn’t matter that it’s non toxic, it’s still plastic and should not be eaten.
For food, edible glitter is made from gum arabic, sanding sugar, or gelatin.
I made these for our Christmas party this past weekend, and they were a hit! Thanks for the awesome recipe :)
Erica, I made these prior to my Christmas party at work and they came out great. Thanks for this recipe. You’re a life saver -Joe
I really like this post.
it’s too lovely
you do great work dear
It is very beautiful, I want to ask if it is difficult to make a green pine tree, I have not figured out how to do it
These are such a cute idea! I can’t wait to make these for the family to see how good these are for myself, if the taste half as good as they look it would still be great!
WOW
fun candy canes with cute ribbon, or create this fun hot cocoa ornament to place inside of the mug (https://com-me.com/health/top-10-steps-to-that-can-help-to-reduce-stretch-marks-on-stomach/). Another option is buying a variety pack of hot chocolate mixes, and adding a few different ones
I like it please share it on (http://besticeshavers.com/best-ice-shaver-machines-reviews-2019/)
Wow creative one. Looks lovely. Thanks for sharing with us
You can easily ice up your Christmas Brownies and create all sorts of characters like those shown above. We love the Snowman and Reindeer particularly. Let your imagination run wild!