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Santa Hat Brownies

Santa Hat Brownies are the perfect healthy holiday treat! Just a few steps to make these vegan and gluten free brownie bites, then frosting and strawberries for the santa hats. A fun recipe to get the kids involved too. Vegan and gluten free friendly.

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Servings: 24 brownie bites
Course: Dessert

Ingredients

Brownies
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal + 1/3 cup water
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips melted
  • 3/4 cup creamy cashew butter make sure it's well mixed & smooth
  • 1/4 cup avocado oil or light olive oil
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar or granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose 1:1 gluten free baking flour
  • 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
Frosting
  • 1/2 cup unsalted plant-based butter vegan friendly
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar
Strawberry Hats
  • 2 16 ounce containers California Giant Strawberries

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat oven to 325ºF and lightly grease 24-cup mini muffin pan; set aside.
  2. Make Flax Egg: In a small bowl combine flaxseed meal with water and set aside for 5 minutes.
  3. Melt chocolate: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Or melt on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth. Set aside and let cool slightly.
  4. Mix wet ingredients: In a large bowl, mix together cashew butter with oil and sugar until fully combined. Add in melted chocolate and vanilla extract until smooth. Add in flaxseed "eggs" until combined – mixture will get thicker at this point.
  5. Add dry ingredients: Gently add in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, stirring until smooth, adding milk at the end until batter is thick and fudge-y.
  6. Scoop dough: Using small cookie scoop, evenly distribute batter into mini muffin pan, filling 3/4 way full (any more and you'll over flow the tops).
  7. Bake brownie bites for 8-10 minutes (mine took 9 – test for wet batter with toothpick). Allow brownies to cool completely before carefully removing from pan (I used a butter knife to gently lift).
  8. Prepare strawberries: While the brownies are cooling, wash and dry strawberries, then cut off green tops. You'll need 24 large strawberries.
  9. Make the frosting: In a medium bowl using electric mixer, cream butter until smooth then carefully add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until combined. Taste test for desired sweetness after 1 cup. 
  10. Assemble Santa Hat Brownies: Using piping bag, pipe the frosting around the edge of brownie (option to pipe the entire brownie). Place strawberry on top of frosting, top down, then pipe a dot of frosting on tip of strawberry to create the top of the hat. Continue this process until all of the santa hats have been created.

Notes

  • This recipe doesn't require a ton of frosting, especially if you only pipe the edge of the brownie, so feel free to use store-bought if you'd like!
  • Tip: While selecting strawberries, try to select medium-larger ones so they fill up more of the brownie bite.