Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies
These Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies are so adorable and so easy to make! This festive holiday treat will impress everyone on your list, even if they are not vegan! These rich and fudgy vegan brownies take minimal effort to decorate like cute little Christmas trees!
If you're looking for more Christmas recipes, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like Tree Sugar Cookies Without Artificial Colors, Mint Meltaways, Christmas Eve Cake, Peppermint Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Easy Christmas Present Brownies.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies
- Ready In: 40 minutes
- Makes: 8 brownies
- Main Ingredients: canola oil, light brown sugar, Dutch cocoa, dark chocolate
- Flavor Profile: rich, fudgy chocolate with sweet frosting
- Dietary Info: vegan, eggless, gluten free swap available
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: proving that holiday treats can be both joyful and clean-ingredient friendly
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy and Festive: I love easy and festive recipes that don't take a ton of time (because you're just going to eat them)! These organic brownies are full of holiday cheer with minimal effort.
- Vegan Brownies: Even if you are not vegan, you will love these moist and fudgy vegan brownies!
- No Artificial Colors: I use plant based dyes so these have no artificial colors and are made with organic ingredients! You'll feel good about sharing and eating these Christmas brownies!
These organic brownies are rich, chocolatey, and fudgy — just like brownies should be! It's literally just a bonus that they are vegan. So, trust me, even if you are not vegan you will love these vegan brownies! I make them in a round cake pan, so it's super easy to cut them into triangles and turn them into trees for Christmas brownies!
If you are looking for more naturally colored holiday treats, try some of my other recipes. Try Eggnog Sheet Cake, Chocolate Peppermint Christmas Tree Cupcakes, Simple Christmas Shortbread Cookies, Peppermint Bark Snack Cake, Tree Sugar Cookies Without Artificial Colors, Christmas Lights Gingerbread Snack Cake, or Pink Peppermint Ice.
Ingredients
- Canola Oil: I use organic canola oil because it's the most neutral oil. But, you can use EVOO or avocado oil if you are avoiding seed oils.
- Light Brown Sugar: I use my Homemade Light Brown Sugar for this recipe, but store bought will also work!
- Coconut Milk: I use organic coconut milk, but you can use almond or oat as well.
- Vegetable Shortening: I use Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening for the frosting. You can use your favorite vegan butter too.
- Food Dyes & Sprinkles: I use plant based dyes, Suncore Foods Organic Pink Pitaya, Suncore Foods Organic Green Matcha Powder, and Suncore Foods Butterfly Pea Blue. I use all natural plant based sprinkles, India Tree Nature’s Colors Carnival Sprinkles, India Tree Nature's Colors Decorating Sugars, ColorKitchen Foods Nonpareils, India Tree Nature’s Colors Peppermint Crunch (or crushed candy canes), and India Tree Nature's Colors Snowflake Sprinkles. You can find all of these in my Amazon shop.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips for Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- You can use another kind of oil if you are avoiding seed oils, feel free to use avocado or EVOO.
- You can use vegan butter or shortening for the frosting. And if you are not vegan you can also use regular butter if you prefer.
- You don't have to color the frosting different colors, you can just do all green or all white if you prefer.
- Sprinkles are optional, feel free to leave off if you prefer.
- You can also use crushed up candy canes as a topper.
- Make sure to store brownies in an airtight container so they stay moist.
- Gluten Free — Replace the all purpose flour with 191 grams (scant 1 ¼ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
How to Make Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. To make the brownies: In a large mixing bowl, add the canola oil, brown sugar, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, coconut milk, and boiling water.
- Mix on low until combined, and there are no chunks of chocolate, and you have a smooth consistency.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla bean.
- Mix on low until combined, do not over mix.
- Transfer to the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the pan.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the shortening, powdered sugar, and water. Mix on low until combined, and then speed the mixer up to high and mix for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Divide the frosting into four separate bowls. To make the pink: Add in ⅛ teaspoon of the pink dye and stir to combine completely. To make the green: Add in a ¼ teaspoon of the green dye and stir to combine completely. To make the blue: Add in ⅛ teaspoon of the green dye and ⅛ teaspoon of the blue dye and stir to combine completely.
- Transfer the pink to a piping bag with Ateco tip #864. Transfer the green to a piping bag with Ateco tip #846. Transfer the blue to a piping bag with Ateco tip #898. Add the white frosting into a piping bag with Ateco tip #804.
- Cut the brownies into 8 triangles.
- In a zig zag motion, starting at the top of the brownie triangle, pipe a zigzag with frosting going all the way down. You will use this same motion for the white, green, and blue, they will just look different because of the tips. For the pink trees, pipe dollops of frosting all the way down the triangle. Add sprinkles on top!
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, if you don’t have vanilla bean, you can substitute it for 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract. But, if you don’t usually bake with vanilla bean, then try it! It provides a different flavor profile than just vanilla extract and it is so good!
Yes, if you don’t want to use canola oil you can use avocado oil, coconut oil, or sunflower oil.
Yes! You can use any kind of milk here – anything from pistachio milk, almond milk, oat milk – or if you are not vegan you can even use traditional cow milk!
Yes, if you don’t need this recipe to be vegan, you can use butter in place of shortening in the frosting and it will work just the same. The vegan brownies are so good, you won’t even know they are vegan!
Brownies are moist and chewy, so they should be stored in an airtight container. You can also use a cake dome, which works great for these!
More Holiday Dessert Recipes
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Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Heatproof Mixing Bowl
- Hand Mixer
- 8-inch Cake Pan
- Parchment Paper Cake Rounds
- Piping Bags
- Ateco Tip #864
- Ateco Tip #846
- Ateco Tip #898
- AtecipTip #804
Ingredients
Brownies
- ½ cup canola oil
- 226 grams light brown sugar (packed)
- 57 grams Dutch cocoa powder
- 57 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- ½ cup boiling water
- 191 grams all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground vanilla bean
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Frosting
- 226 grams vegetable shortening (softened)
- 454 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water
For the Pink
- ⅛ teaspoon Suncore Foods Organic Pink Pitaya
For the Green
- ¼ teaspoon Suncore Foods Organic Green Matcha Powder
For the Blue
- ⅛ teaspoon Suncore Foods Butterfly Pea Blue
- ⅛ teaspoon Suncore Foods Organic Green Matcha Powder
Toppings
- Vegan natural rainbow sprinkles
- India Tree Nature’s Colors Blue Sugar
- India Tree Nature’s Colors Peppermint Crunch (or crushed candy canes)
- India Tree Nature’s Colors Snowflake Sprinkles
- ColorKitchen Foods Nonpareils
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
- To make the brownies: In a large mixing bowl, add the canola oil, brown sugar, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, coconut milk, and boiling water.
- Mix on low until combined, and there are no chunks of chocolate, and you have a smooth consistency.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla bean. Mix on low until combined, do not over mix.
- Transfer to the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the pan.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the shortening, powdered sugar, and water. Mix on low until combined, and then speed the mixer up to high and mix for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Divide the frosting into four separate bowls.
- To make the pink: Add in ⅛ teaspoon of the pink dye and stir to combine completely. Transfer to a piping bag with Ateco tip #864.
- To make the green: Add in a ¼ teaspoon of the green dye and stir to combine completely. Transfer to a piping bag with Ateco tip #846
- To make the blue: Add in ⅛ teaspoon of the green dye and ⅛ teaspoon of the blue dye and stir to combine completely. Transfer to a piping bag with Ateco tip #898.
- Add the white frosting into a piping bag with Ateco tip #804.
- Cut the brownies into 8 triangles.
- In a zig zag motion, starting at the top of the brownie triangle, pipe a zigzag with frosting going all the way down. You will use this same motion for the white, green, and blue, they will just look different because of the tips.
- For the pink trees, pipe dollops of frosting all the way down the triangle.
- On the pink trees, add blue sugar and snowflake sprinkles.
- On the white trees, add the rainbow sprinkles.
- On the green trees, add the nonpareils.
- On the blue trees, add the peppermint crunch.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- You can use another kind of oil if you are avoiding seed oils, feel free to use avocado or EVOO.
- You can use vegan butter or shortening for the frosting. And if you are not vegan you can also use regular butter if you prefer.
- You don't have to color the frosting different colors, you can just do all green or all white if you prefer.
- Sprinkles are optional, feel free to leave off if you prefer.
- You can also use crushed up candy canes as a topper.
- Make sure to store brownies in an airtight container so they stay moist.
- Gluten Free — Replace the all purpose flour with 191 grams (scant 1 ¼ cups) gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Nutrition
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So cute for the holidays!