Candy Cane Brownies

The ultimate festive chocolatey brownie studded with vibrant sugar candy canes and minty chocolate. They are naturally vegan, delicious and indulgent while being easy to make with less than 10 ingredients in 30 minutes.

I love chocolate brownies and I love Christmas, so it only seemed right to combine the two. These Candy Cane Brownies with mint chocolate were born after a little thinking about how to jazz up the classic festive flavours. I always love how fun and enticing candy canes look but I don’t often eat them on their own, but I knew they’d be the perfect showstopping addition to these minty chocolate brownies.

Candy Cane Brownies

The base of the brownies is lots of luscious minty dark chocolate meaning these brownies taste indulgent and rich – and the candy canes cut through that richness really well. I’ve used ordinary self-raising flour to make sure these Candy Cane Brownies are light and fluffy while still being quite dense and chocolate-y. If you have a trusted GF self-raising blend, I’m sure that would work well, too. The binder here is chia seeds and water which forms a sticky gel and then add in extra cacao powder for the depth of flavour, some coconut sugar, plant-based milk and neutral liquid oil (like sunflower, olive or cooled melted coconut oil). Simply stir together all the ingredients, add some extra chocolate chunks and pour into a lined tin and top with the candy canes! The candy canes will melt slightly in the oven, but they do retain their shape although the colour will dull and blur. You can add the candy canes on top of the brownie once baked to keep the shape and colour better, but the minty sticky sweetness won’t infuse into the top.

Candy Cane Brownies

Candy Cane Brownies

These brownies are perhaps the best thing I’ve baked all year – according to my dad and he is my number one cake taste-tester, so I hope you’ll agree… I first made these using Divine Chocolate which I love as the minty taste is so great while the dark chocolate is super creamy. These Candy Cane Brownies are sticky and sweet, rich and indulgent, chocolatey and very festive. They are naturally vegan, full of delicious flavours and easy to make. They manage to be moist, fluffy, airy, rich and dense all at the same time!

If you are looking for more brownie recipes, how about my Date and Oat Coconut Brownies, Fudgy Chocolate Avocado Brownies or Double Chocolate Banana Bread Brownies with Dark Chocolate Tahini Ganache.

Candy Cane Brownies

• Servings: 12
• Time: 30 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
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The ultimate festive chocolatey brownie studded with vibrant sugar candy canes and minty chocolate. They are naturally vegan, delicious and indulgent while being easy to make with less than 10 ingredients in 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 150g + 30g Mint Dark chocolate, or other dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 110g (¾ cup) self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 50g (1/2 cup) coconut sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 250ml (1 cup) almond milk (room temperature)
• 50g (5 tbsp) oil (e.g. sunflower, olive, cooled melted coconut)
• 12 candy canes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Melt 150g of chocolate over a bain-marie until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Stir together the chia seeds with 6 tbsp water and leave to set for 10 minutes. Add in the milk, oil and vanilla and stir well.
4. Add the flour, cacao powder, coconut sugar and a pinch of salt to a large mixing bowl and pour over the flaxseed mixture and then the melted chocolate. Stir until thick and combined.
5. Chop 30g chocolate and stir into the brownie batter. Pour into the lined tray and press the candy canes into the top. *
6. Bake for 20 minutes until firm on top but still slightly squidgy. Allow to cool before slicing.
*to make sure the candy canes look “perfect” still, bake the brownies without the candy canes and press them into the baked brownie once out of the oven.

Candy Cane Brownies

I hope you enjoy these Candy Cane Brownies this Christmastime and throughout the year.  Let me know what you think below and tag me in your bakes – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

This post is not sponsored although it was originally made for Divine Chocolate, who I love!