Christmas gingerbread brownies are a lovely treat to serve for the Christmas holidays. They are packed with gingerbread spices, hazelnuts and cocoa. The lovely Santa Claus look-a-like topping is made only with sugar icing.
Christmas is almost here. Are you still looking for a delicious and cool dessert recipe? Check out these cute Christmas gingerbread brownies. Don’t they look amazing? Oh, and one more thing; I didn’t tell you that these brownies are also vegan. This brownie recipe is a perfect holiday treat for all of your friends.
There are days when I am craving something sweet. Do you also know days like that? And an upcoming birthday party, Christmas and festivity days were just a great reason or excuse for making these vegan Christmas gingerbread brownies.
This brownie recipe is an alternative to the traditional cake and a great base for a vegan brownie, which you can customize to different flavours. It is really simple to make; in fact, you only need a few of basic ingredients (I had most of them already at home) and mix everything in a bowl.
These gingerbread brownies not only are great for Christmas but are perfect for any other occasion as well. All you need to do is make the frosting fit the occasion. And who knows; maybe it will become a new Christmas tradition. Give it a try!
I used a round spring form (Ø 20cm) and one rectangular baking pan/form (30x40cm).
Ingredients for about 20 pieces of Christmas gingerbread brownies:
- 350 g flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 50 g cornstarch
- 3 tsp gingerbread spices (powder mix of coriander, cloves, ginger, cardamom, allspice and aniseed)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 200 g ground hazelnuts
- 100 g coconut oil (melted)
- 600 ml almond milk
- 100 g sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp apple vinegar
- 2 Tbsp vegan chestnut cream (optional)
For the frosting:
- 200 g icing sugar
- 4 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
- red food colouring gel (Wilton)
- ca 40 candy eyes
Start with preparing everything you are going to need; a springform, a baking pan (or use just one but bigger), a scale and two larger bowls. Place some parchment paper into the springform and baking pan. I lightly greased the paper.
In one bowl mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cocoa, cornstarch, gingerbread spices, cinnamon and hazelnuts). Furthermore, in a small pan, melt the coconut oil and then pour it into a bowl with almond milk, sugar, salt and vinegar. Mix well until you see bubbles forming on the top.
Preheat the oven to 180º C. Stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture by adding a couple of spoons at a time. Once you used all of it, add the chestnut cream (optional) and mix until well combined and smooth (it can’t be completely smooth because of the ground hazelnuts).
Pour the Christmas gingerbread brownies mixture into the two forms (or any form you are using) and put to bake for about 30-40 minutes. After 30 minutes of baking, check if the brownies are baked. Do the toothpick check (stick a wooden stick in the dough, if it gets out dry and not sticky then it is ready). In case the toothpick gets out sticky, bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Then turn off the oven, slightly open the oven door and keep it there for 10 minutes. Next, place the gingerbread brownies on a rack and leave to completely cool down (ca 1 hour). Only when cold, cut the dough into triangles. Cutting the round form is easy. You just need to do four cuts and you will get 8 triangles. Regarding the rectangular form, I cut lengthwise in half and then with alternating diagonals into triangles (something like this ▲▼▲▼▲▼).
How to make the frosting:
At this point, prepare the frosting. This is super fast and easy. In a bowl mix icing sugar with lemon juice. I suggest using a spoon. Stir until you get a smooth, soft but stiff consistency (if you drip a small amount of it on top of the rest of the frosting, it shouldn’t sink in). How to fix it; if too liquid, add the icing sugar; if too stiff, add lemon juice.
Moreover, take ¼ of the frosting and mix it with some red colouring gel in a small bowl. Transfer each frosting in a piping bag (separately); red frosting using a round nozzle tip, white frosting using a star nozzle tip.
With the red frosting form a hat (a small rectangle) and a small dot for the nose (like you see in the picture). Leave some space between the hat and the nose. You will need it to place the eyes. Continue with the white frosting piping the pom-pom and the hat band. Finish with the moustache and beard. At the end attach the candy eyes with a little frosting.
Ho Ho Ho, Santa is coming to town! Have fun creating these vegan Christmas gingerbread brownies. I find them fabulous and incredibly cute. Enjoy them together with your friends and family.
Merry Christmas!
