Christmas Present Brownies

There’s something about the holiday season that really gets me into the decorating mood, and I’m not just talking about setting up our Christmas tree or putting our menorah into the window (we’re a proud Christmukkah household). For the past few years, we’ve also made it a tradition to host a cookie-decorating party utilizing whatever cookie cutters, sprinkles, and food coloring we’ve amassed throughout the seasons. This year, I’m going to add to the fun and make these brownies too—they’re even easier to make than sugar cookies (thanks boxed mix!), and are just as fun to decorate. It practically goes without saying, but these also make for an excellent last-minute food gift, and not just for Christmas either. These semi-homemade present brownies are truly the “gift” that keeps on giving for occasions of all kinds, all year round.

We kept these extremely simple for photos, but just like Christmas presents themselves, there're many ways to get creative with your “wrapping.” Cut them into different size “boxes,” then pipe diagonal ribbon, different shapes of bows (a pom pom or flower bow would be easy enough), or just draw a festive squiggle. You can also change up your colors! A mix of red and green, pink and teal, white and blue (for Hanukkah), etc., would all be so cute. A wide variety of strange and non-holiday-appropriate sprinkles and icing colors usually makes it into our decoration options every year (we’re talking edible eyeballs or pastel Easter eggs), so feel free to do the same and mix them up into the ultimate abundant weird and wild present pile.

Made these? Let us know how it went (and how you decorated them!) in the comments below.