When it comes to Valentine's Day I like to keep it pretty low-key and go for a homemade gift, and there is nothing like giving the gift of freshly baked goods - especially when they are brownies. Here is my recipe for delicious heart-shaped vegan red velvet brownies, that are the ideal gift to show your affection.
With Valentine's day around the corner, I decided to make these brownies in the shape of a heart. They would make the perfect gift for your significant other, best friends, or just to munch on yourself. These brownies are delicious any time of year though, so feel free to make them classic square brownies or cut them into any shape desired, and enjoy!
To make the heart shaped brownies, I bake the batter as a full rectangle like I would for regular brownies and use a cookie cutter once cooled - however this will leave some excess brownie pieces left over. Most of the time I tend to munch on these as I am decorating, but occasionally I also like to make little truffle-like brownie bites to have for later (I have included this hack at the bottom of the recipe!)
Vegan Red Velvet Brownies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Total time: 60 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients
For the brownies:
4 tbsp ground flax
120ml water
150g vegan butter
200g granulated sugar
200g light brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2-4 tsp red food colouring
220g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
100g vegan white chocolate chips (or broken chocolate)
Topping (optional but recommended):
50g vegan white chocolate
Edible red glitter sprinkles
Freeze-dried raspberries
Instructions
Prepare the flax eggs by stirring the ground flax and water in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken (around 15 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (or 160 °C fan assisted, like mine) and line a 7 x 11 pan with parchment paper.
Melt the vegan butter by microwaving in a bowl until melted, making sure to check around every 20 seconds.
In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and both the granulated and brown sugars together. Then add the thickened flax eggs and vanilla, and mix until evenly combined and smooth.
Add in the red food colouring a little at a time until desired colour is reached, remember they will darken when cooked.
Sift in the flour and cocoa powder over the wet ingredients. Add the salt and stir until just combined, do not overmix!! (I find the batter is usually pretty thick at this stage, if needed you can add a little plant-based milk but they should turn out great without).
Gently fold in the chocolate chips, pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top.
Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until the top just starts to crack. You can adjust your cooking time based on how you like your brownies.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for around 15 minutes, then pull the brownies out of the pan and cool fully on a wire rack.
Once cooked use a cookie cutter to cut the brownies into heart shapes, put any remaining scraps to one side.
To decorate, I like melting some extra white chocolate and lightly drizzling over the cooled brownies, then adding some red glitter and freeze-dried raspberries.
For the brownie bites - Using the brownie scraps, crush them together and roll in your hands to form round balls, then dip in the glitter and raspberries.
Notes
Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days
These are amaaazing served warm (microwave for around 20 seconds) with some vegan whipped cream or ice cream
Shorter baking times = gooier brownies!
For more valentines themed recipes, check out my vegan valentines donughnuts.
For more brownie recipes check out my vegan biscoff brownies
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy these vegan red velvet brownies as much as I do. If you do try any of my recipes I'd love to know how they turn out - tag me on Instagram @josiewalshaw!
Josie xox
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