Quantum Mechanic
Dec 5th, 2008, 02:31 AM
I improvised this recipe for vegan chocolate fudge (well, it's not as specific as a recipe really - just more of my experience, what I came up with, and it turned out to be like fudge, and here's how I arrived at there). It got good comments from my omni classmates I made it for in a potluck (I made about 15-20 pieces; only 4 remained). Maybe it doesn't technically qualify as fudge because it doesn't have a butter-analogue, but taste-wise and texture-wise it did fine (though I didn't have measuring cups or anything and my batches did vary in consistency, so if you make it you should find out what works best for the consistency you want)
Ingredients:
-Dark, bitter or bittersweet chocolate (make sure to check that they didn't add milkfat or something like that)
-non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
-dried fruit bits (optional)
-finely chopped nuts (optional)
-agave nectar (can probably be substituted with maple syrup or other sugar, but I don't have the cooking knowledge or experience to offer advice, though usually fudge has sugar used in it)
For melting chocolate, you'll want some set-up where there's a bowl underneath that contains hot water and there's a smaller bowl suspended above it that will contain the chocolate to be melted. More info on melting chocolate can be found elsewhere I'm sure, and you can buy tools for melting chocolate - I didn't have this or a stove or microwave, so I got some very hot water (near boiling) from the tap and put it in a cup at a level where the buoyancy can suspend the ceramic dish, but not overflow the water.
Once the chocolate is in the smaller bowl and the water beneath it is heated, I added a small amount of almond milk (most of the chocolate is still standing on top of it, just getting the feet wet a bit), and a drizzle of agave nectar.
Once seeing that the edges of the chocolate pieces are starting to melt, turning them over so that the sides that aren't melting touch the sides and bottom of the bowl that are hotter.
In the meantime as this happens, I chopped the nuts using a nut chopper which I got for about $10.00 US (though some are about $20.00 US), and cutting the dried pineapple (which was my fruit of choice to put inside) into bits. My dried pineapple pieces, I tore the hard centers out and ate them separately, as while they taste good they are a bit tough and not the best thing perhaps to find in your fudge candy delights.
As the chocolate melted more completely, stirred it more, added a bit more almond milk and agave nectar. Don't be shy with the agave nectar, even though it adds calories (we're making fudge!).
Keep stirring and make sure there aren't lumps of unmelted chocolate, and see that it's the consistency that you want. Remember, if it's liquidy and thin now, then that's how the fudge would be.
I made fudgy cubes by putting the mixture into the ice cube tray. I put the finely chopped nuts into the bottoms of the spaces of the tray (which will become the top of each fudgy cube).
Then with a spoon I used approximately a teaspoon or half teaspoon of the fudge mixture.
Then I spinkled in the dried pineapple pieces.
Then I put in another bit of the fudge mixture on top, and if there's room more dried pineapple and then more fudge mixture until reaching the top of the space of the cube.
Proceed until running out of fudge mixture.
I put this in the freezer, and a few hours later used a butter knife on the edges to gently carve out each cube. Most displayed nicely, except for those in the batch I made that was too watery, which tasted great but were mishapen blobs on the plate, and difficult to get out of the tray. This version (more liquidy) would probably be better if used as, say, on topping of brownies or something, whereas a thicker version is what you want if you want standalone cubes for people to eat as finger-food type dessert.
Ingredients:
-Dark, bitter or bittersweet chocolate (make sure to check that they didn't add milkfat or something like that)
-non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
-dried fruit bits (optional)
-finely chopped nuts (optional)
-agave nectar (can probably be substituted with maple syrup or other sugar, but I don't have the cooking knowledge or experience to offer advice, though usually fudge has sugar used in it)
For melting chocolate, you'll want some set-up where there's a bowl underneath that contains hot water and there's a smaller bowl suspended above it that will contain the chocolate to be melted. More info on melting chocolate can be found elsewhere I'm sure, and you can buy tools for melting chocolate - I didn't have this or a stove or microwave, so I got some very hot water (near boiling) from the tap and put it in a cup at a level where the buoyancy can suspend the ceramic dish, but not overflow the water.
Once the chocolate is in the smaller bowl and the water beneath it is heated, I added a small amount of almond milk (most of the chocolate is still standing on top of it, just getting the feet wet a bit), and a drizzle of agave nectar.
Once seeing that the edges of the chocolate pieces are starting to melt, turning them over so that the sides that aren't melting touch the sides and bottom of the bowl that are hotter.
In the meantime as this happens, I chopped the nuts using a nut chopper which I got for about $10.00 US (though some are about $20.00 US), and cutting the dried pineapple (which was my fruit of choice to put inside) into bits. My dried pineapple pieces, I tore the hard centers out and ate them separately, as while they taste good they are a bit tough and not the best thing perhaps to find in your fudge candy delights.
As the chocolate melted more completely, stirred it more, added a bit more almond milk and agave nectar. Don't be shy with the agave nectar, even though it adds calories (we're making fudge!).
Keep stirring and make sure there aren't lumps of unmelted chocolate, and see that it's the consistency that you want. Remember, if it's liquidy and thin now, then that's how the fudge would be.
I made fudgy cubes by putting the mixture into the ice cube tray. I put the finely chopped nuts into the bottoms of the spaces of the tray (which will become the top of each fudgy cube).
Then with a spoon I used approximately a teaspoon or half teaspoon of the fudge mixture.
Then I spinkled in the dried pineapple pieces.
Then I put in another bit of the fudge mixture on top, and if there's room more dried pineapple and then more fudge mixture until reaching the top of the space of the cube.
Proceed until running out of fudge mixture.
I put this in the freezer, and a few hours later used a butter knife on the edges to gently carve out each cube. Most displayed nicely, except for those in the batch I made that was too watery, which tasted great but were mishapen blobs on the plate, and difficult to get out of the tray. This version (more liquidy) would probably be better if used as, say, on topping of brownies or something, whereas a thicker version is what you want if you want standalone cubes for people to eat as finger-food type dessert.