Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies (Gluten-Free)
These Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies are rich and fudgy, packed with chocolate and decorated with green frosting Christmas tree and sprinkles for baubles to make a delicious, edible, Christmas activity or gift this festive season.
Christmas is very fast approaching and I am finally sharing with you the most amazing, festive and delicious brownies that are so fun to decorate. A thick, fudgy and rich chocolate brownie sliced into triangles and decorated as trees. They are easy but very impressive this wintertime.
How delicious are these Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies?
They are pretty special and I hope you will love them as much as we do. These brownies are:
- Thick, fudgy and chocolatey
- Rich and moreish
- Easy and quick to make
- Made with simple ingredients
- Naturally vegan and easily gluten-free
- Fun to decorate as Christmas trees
- A great family activity
- Coated in more chocolate
If you are already in love with these festive brownies, skip ahead to the recipe card, or let’s chat about the ingredients and method in more detail.
What ingredients go into these brownies?
The brownie recipe is easy but so delicious and uses basic ingredients:
- Dark chocolate: use your favourite chocolate and dairy-free milk chocolate will also work. This makes the brownies moist and fudgy.
- Plant-based milk: any milk will work here, just make sure it’s slightly warm so it doesn’t cause the chocolate to seize up when mixed together.
- Sunflower oil: keeps the brownies nice and soft and mixes in well with the other ingredients. Light olive oil or vegetable oil will also work.
- Caster sugar: I find this sugar is best for the shiny top and smooth texture but you can swap this for other sugars like golden caster, granulated or coconut sugar.
- Vanilla essence: for the flavour.
- Self-raising flour: this makes the brownies rise (they are quite deep!) and if you are using GF flour, make sure it has xantham gum to help bind the batter.
- Cocoa powder: for extra chocolatey goodness. You can also use cacao powder interchangeably.
- Coffee: this is optional but adds richness and depth to the chocolate flavour and you can easily use decaf.
- Salt: to bring together all the flavours
How do I make these brownies?
The method comes together easily and requires a few separate bowls. Most of the chocolate is melted, the milk is warmed and then stirred with the other wet ingredients before being added to the chocolate and flour-dry mix at the same time. Whisk until no specks of flour remain and then fold in some extra chocolate. Bake in a round cake tin until just cooked through.
How do I decorate these Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies?
Once cool, slice the brownie cake into triangles and then dip each triangle into melted chocolate. Allow the chocolate to set, insert pretzels sticks (or something similar) into the base to act as tree stumps. Then make some green icing to decorate the trees and on the sprinkles for baubles.
How long do these brownies bake for?
These brownies bake like regular brownies, only in a round tin. They cook quite evenly although the edges will cook more quickly, so take them out when the edges are done but the middle may be slightly wet when you insert a skewer. If the middle is cooked through it may result in drier, crumbly brownies (which still taste great, and you can still decorate!).
Are these brownies gluten-free and nut-free?
To make these gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour blend that contains xantham gum. Use the brand and blend you’d usually bake with as all brands vary somewhat. To keep these nut-free, just check your chocolate and dairy-free milk do not contain nuts.
How long do these festive brownies keep for?
These Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies are great to make ahead as they will last for 5 days in a sealed container although the pretzel sticks will soften so it is best to add those just before serving. You can also freeze un-covered brownies for up to 1 month in the freezer and de-frost at room temperature (make sure they are wrapped up tightly).
I love these brownies, what other festive recipes can I make?
I hope you will fall in love with these edible Christmas trees and if you are looking for more festive baking, how about my:
- Vegan Christmas Rocky Road
- Easy Vegan Christmas Cake 3 Ways
- Vegan Christmas Cookie Box
- Vegan Eggnog Cupcakes with Homemade Eggnog
- No-Bake Gingerbread Cheesecake
Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies (Gluten-Free)
These Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies are rich and fudgy, packed with chocolate and decorated with green frosting Christmas tree and sprinkles for baubles to make a delicious, edible, Christmas activity or gift this festive season.
Ingredients
- For the brownies:
- 200g dark chocolate, divided
- 240ml plant-based milk, warmed slightly
- 75ml sunflower oil
- 150g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 175g self-raising flour
- 30g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp coffee, optional
- A pinch of salt For the decoration:
- 90g dark chocolate
- 50g icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp water
- Green food gel or colouring
- Sprinkles
- Pretzel sticks
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line an 8-inch round tin with parchment paper (with fairly high sides as it rises).
- Melt 150g of the chocolate, allow to cool for 5 minutes. Chop the remaining 50g of chocolate small.
- Warm the milk slightly and add to a small bowl with the oil, sugar and vanilla essence.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and coffee into a second mixing bowl and add the salt. Pour in the melted chocolate and the milk mix and whisk to a smooth batter.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate and pour into the lined tin. Smooth over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes and cover the top if it’s browning too much and cook for another 5 minutes or until cooked round the edges but slightly soft in the middle.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes then lift out the tin to cool fully.
- Once cool, use a hot sharp knife to slice into 8 triangles (like you’d slice a cake).
- Melt the 90g of chocolate and dip each triangle into the chocolate to cover the top. Place onto a tray or plate and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
- Make the icing sugar by stirring together the icing sugar, water and green food gel to make a thick but pipeable frosting.
- Pipe the green frosting over the brownies as a tree and decorate with sprinkles and a pretzel stick as a tree stump. Allow the icing to set and enjoy.
- Store leftover brownies at room temperature for 5 days in a sealed container or freeze un-decorated brownies for 1 month in the freezer.
I look forward to hearing what you think of these Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies so please let me know in the comments below. If you do make them, I would love to see so please tag me in your Christmas trees, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – please say hello!
With Christmas tree brownie love x
