Vegan Eats

So my friend, Chelsie, is an awesome graphic design artist and was kind enough to design both the header image for this website, as well as the background layout for the Twitter page. I told her that in appreciation of her fine work, I would make her a recipe and put it up on this little web space of mine. I asked her what types of food she likes and she was quick to inform me that any kind of dessert would do just fine. I instantly thought, “Shit. I never make desserts.” I had to put some thought into it, since I definitely wanted it to be at least half decent! Good thing is, this fudge turned turned out better than half-decent; I think it actually turned out pretty awesome. There’s one catch: you gotta keep the finished product in the fridge or freezer, because unfortunately, it became extremely soft after sitting at room temperature for about 2 hours or so. I was bummed about this, but hey, I’m no chocolatier, so whatever. It still tastes great. Enjoy!

A note on the ingredients: this is a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, so make sure you use good quality (vegan) dark chocolate. I chose the ‘Cocoa Camino‘ brand, more specifically, their bittersweet dark chocolate bar, which is made with a minimum of 71% cocoa. Good stuff. Oh, and it’s fair trade and organic, which is definitely the way to go. Also, the coconut milk I used was much thicker than usual, hopefully this doesn’t mean that coconut milk with a thinner consistency will result in the fudge not keeping its firmness.

Ingredients:
2 100 gram dark chocolate bars, chopped (or 7oz. of good quality vegan dark chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon organic cane sugar
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, chopped

Instructions:
1. We have to make a double boiler in order to melt the chocolate over indirect heat, so that it doesn’t burn. To do this, fill a small saucepan with about an inch or two of water and bring to a simmering boil over medium heat. Fit an aluminum bowl over the top of the pot with the simmering water.
2. Add the chopped chocolate pieces and the soy milk. Stir often for a few minutes until it starts to melt together, but still chunky. One of those flexible silicone spatulas is perfect for this, since you can really get the melting chocolate of the sides of bowl, ensuring that it doesn’t burn.
3. Stir in the coconut milk and the sugar. Turn heat down to medium-low and stir constantly until everything is melted together, about 4 minutes. Turn heat off and carefully remove the bowl off the steaming pot. Be careful, it’s hot.
4. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
5. Pour the fudge mixture into a small loaf pan (or a similar sized tray) lined with parchment paper. Chill in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove from loaf pan and peel off parchment paper. Cut into strips or squares. Store in the fridge or freezer to keep firm.