Santa Hat Brownie Bites!

Every year our family gets together to celebrate the holidays! My husband has three older sisters, so there are four families, and we each bring an appetizer and a dessert to share. When we’re all together there are 17 of us. That number has expanded as our older nephews and nieces are married and the younger ones are bringing significant others to dinner! (Side note: I’m not sure how I got to be this old! I know it was yesterday when the kids were little!) This year we’re taking Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers and Brownie Bite Santa Hats! Now together, those don’t sound like a great combination (unless you work for an antacid company!), but like any big gathering, there will be plenty of food on the table and somehow we’ll manage to eat a little of everything. My sister-in-laws are amazing cooks too, so there is no chance of not trying it all. Everything is always delicious!! Hmmm… maybe the antacid is a good idea! :-)

I’ve seen these Santa Hat Brownie Bites on several blogs this year, with several variations, but I thought these looked the best, so I made them! Plus, they are easy. Yep, I said it. They are EASY!

Here is what you do:
Bake a 13 x 9 pan of your favorite brownie recipe. Let it cool and cut the brownies into small circles with a biscuit cutter. I used a 1 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter!

While the brownies are baking, rinse and cut the tops of the strawberries. Don’t they look like Santa Hats already?

After the strawberries are cleaned and your brownie rounds are cool, mix the buttercream frosting! You’re going to pipe a ring on the top of the brownies to hold the strawberry in place.

Gently press a strawberry on top of each brownie bite. You may have to trim the edges of them a bit so they fit.

Dab a bit of frosting on the tips of the strawberries to make the ball of Santa’s hat!

TA-DA! Santa Hat Brownie Bites! Told you it was easy!

Here is the recipe so you can make your own!

Santa Hat Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

Two baskets of small strawberries, cleaned with the tops cut off!
1 13×9 in pan of your favorite brownie mix, cooled and cut into small circles
Vanilla Mascarpone Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)

Mascarpone Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
8 oz mascarpone cheese at room temperature
2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

NOTE: When I did this, I had a LOT of frosting left over. Next time I will cut the recipe in half (at least) although now, I have frosting for other cookies! SWEET!

Beat butter and cheese until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add vanilla and salt. Add sugar in half cup increments, beating each addition until smooth. Add more sugar to reach desired consistency and sweetness.

Assemble the Santa Hat Brownie Bites, by piping a ring of frosting around the top of each brownie. Press the strawberry, flat side down, onto the brownie, pressing gently to secure. Dot the tip of the strawberry with a spot of frosting to complete the hat!

My 13×9 pan produced over 30 round brownies. Be sure to have enough strawberries for each brownie bite. You may even end up with too many strawberries and too much frosting. Hey… we all need snacks while we’re baking. It’s called “quality control!”

Enjoy!