Santa Hat Mini Brownie Bites #BakeInTheFun

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I love baking during the holidays! I grew up baking with my mom and siblings 

and we especially loved making treats to share with friends and family. My mom 

learned from her mom how to make delicious treats and I love that she passed it 

on to me. Now it's my turn to make delicious treats during the holidays and we 

can share with friends and family. It is so fun to get my kids in on the baking 

and creating. They really love helping and delivering the goodies to their friends.

 My Isabella loves to do the grocery shopping with me for the ingredients for our

holiday treats. So, we headed to Walmart to do some shopping and find the
perfect ingredients for our Santa Hat Mini Brownie Bites! We found the
Pillsbury™ Family Size Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix, 
Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Vanilla Flavored Frosting
and M&M’S® Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Baking Bits on baking 

aisle. We grabbed all three and headed home to bake.

First, we mixed up the Pillsbury™ Family Size Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
and used our mini ice cream scoop to spoon it into the mini muffin pan. I used
cupcake liners on half of them and the other we didn't use liners. I wanted liners
and Isabella didn't, so we compromised and it worked perfectly. After we baked
them we let them cool on the cooling rack and then got to decorating.

Next, we used a decorating tip to pipe the red hats onto the mini brownie bites.
My baking hack for filling a frosting bag is to use a tall glass to hold the bag.
This leaves your hands free to fill the bag with frosting and makes it easier to load.

I used a medium sized tip for piping the red portion of the Santa Hat, but you
can use whatever you have on hand. If you don't have any decorating tips, you
can just cut a little hole in the corner of your plastic baggie and use it to pipe
instead. I've done this in a pinch and it works fine, especially if you you're not
looking for a fancy frosting shape.

Look at my cute little hats all ready for the white icing. This time I use a pretty
small decorator's tip for the white frosting. It all depends on what look you want.
Isabella had a great time helping me turn the little brownie bites to get the white
on them just right.

We decided to embellish our little Santa Hat brownies a bit and used the 

M&M’S® Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Baking Bits to add a little bling. This
was Isabella's favorite part and it was fun to give her a job that she could do all
by herself. If you think your hats are looking a little droopy, then pop them in the
refrigerator and they will stiffen up nicely.

I can't take a treat to a friend without a cute little printable note to go with it. So
I whipped up these cute cards that you can pair with your treats when you share
them with friends, family, co-workers or neighbors. I think baking as a family
really brings us together and helps makes the holidays extra sweet. I especially
love that my kids are so excited to share what they make with others. It helps to
spread the holiday spirit and cheer and helps us to get a boost from giving
those around us.

Do you bake with your family at the holidays? What's your favorite treat to make
with one another? Do you keep them all for yourself or share with others? I'd
love to hear about your baking holiday traditions! Share in the comments below!