holidays | The Sweet Life

Raw Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

February 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

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Over the last two days I have been working on a raw Almond Strawberry Sandwich Cookie recipe. Want a sneak peak?

cookies This morning I was finishing the cookies off by drizzling dark chocolate over the tops when I found myself with extra chocolate and a few strawberries. I dipped a strawberry into the chocolate, excited by this potential discover, only to find the chocolate too thin. But the wheels in my cluttered head were turning, so before the chocolate had dried I was layering up Eden and heading out the door for more strawberries.

My second attempt was delicious. And just in time for Valentines Days, these deliciously raw strawberries will win over just about anybody’s heart.

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Raw Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
makes about 16

Dark Chocolate

3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1 1/2 – 2 tbsp raw agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

White Chocolate

2 tbsp cashews, soaked 2-4 hours
1/4 cup raw cacao or coconut butter, melted
2 tbsp raw agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 16oz container of strawberries

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Wash and rinse the strawberries and set aside to dry. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients for the dark chocolate until thick and smooth. Pour chocolate into a narrow, deep dish or glass. Dip strawberries into the chocolate allowing excess chocolate to drip off before placing on parchment paper. Repeat with all the strawberries.

Place strawberries in refrigerator and allow chocolate to set up for at least 1 hour.

To make the white chocolate, blend together cashews, agave, and vanilla in a food processor or high-powered blender until completely smooth. With the motor running, add cocoa buter to cashew mixture. Blend until combined.

Fill a paper piping cone (or a ziplock bag with the tip cut off) with white chocolate and drizzle over the chilled strawberries. Return to refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.

Store in refrigerator for up 3 days.

* depending on your blender you may need to double the white chocolate batch to process fully
* there will be left over dark chocolate, but is that really a problem?

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Have you started any Valentine’s Day baking? Do you have any special traditions for the holiday?

I have worked every Valentine’s Day since I can remember (a very busy holiday for bakeries) and thus have a front row seat into other people’s traditions.

Perhaps this year I will start a tradition of my own…

You might also like:

Raw Chocolate Almond Fudge

Easy Raw Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Creamsicle

Raw Chocolate Orange Truffles

Filed Under: Raw/Mostly Raw, snacks, sweets Tagged With: candy, desserts, gluten-free meals, holidays, raw

Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Truffles

December 17, 2012 7 Comments

Happy Merry Monday! This morning I have something very special for you…

But first, I want to make sure you all check out the new navigation bar on my website’s homepage. I spent a good chunk of the weekend reorganizing my blog, categorizing my recipes, and ultimately making sense of what became of this fast growing project. I hope the new menu makes things easier to find as you browse through my recipes. Please let me know what you think. I really do love your feedback.

Okay back to why I’m really here: Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Truffles. I have been making these truffles or similar ones since my first vegan Christmas. Unable to imagine Christmas without chocolatey chocolate candy, I went to work to find a solution. And what a solution I found!

Most years I have a wider variety including: peppermint patties, peanut butter cups, turtles, and chocolate dipped salted caramels, etc. but with a freezer all ready full of cookies and candies, I limited myself to the classic chocolate truffle…with 3 flavor options.

Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Truffle
with Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Peppermint, & Turkish Coffee flavors
makes about 24 truffles

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy creamer or coconut milk

12 ounces dark chocolate for dipping
2 tbsp coconut oil

Add-ins:
Chocolate Orange: 1 tsp orange extract
Chocolate Peppermint: 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
Turkish Coffee: 1 tbsp + 1 tsp instant coffee or finely ground regular coffe + 1/4 tsp cardamom

Procedure

Place 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in a medium bowl with desired add-in flavor and set aside.

In a small sauce pan heat the creamer to a scald (just before boiling point). A skin will form over the top and the sides will begin to simmer. Remove hot cream and pour immediately over the chocolate chips. Cover for 3 minutes. Remove stir together with a spatula until the chocolate and cream come together to create a homogeneous thick sauce. Do not over mix.

Allow ganache to set up at least six hours or overnight.

When ganache is hard, roll mounded teaspoon size balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Freeze for at least four hours.

In a double boiler or the microwave, gently melt the chocolate and coconut oil until smooth. Insert a toothpick into a frozen truffle and dip into the chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off then place truffle back on parchment-covered baking sheet to harden. Repeat until all the truffles are dipped. If desired, top each truffle to indicate flavor: orange zest, crushed peppermint candy, or coffee bean.

Once chocolate is hardened, they are ready to eat. Store in the freezer.

Is there any foods you haven’t been able to have since going vegan?

If so, perhaps I can help you find a solution!

Filed Under: sweets Tagged With: candy, chocolate, ganache, holidays

Eggnog Cheesecake Thumbprints

December 10, 2012 10 Comments

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had wonderful and festive weekends.

I spent the weekend continuing my search for the perfect Christmas cookie. I also stayed the night at a beautiful lodge in the Columbia River Gorge with my mom and sisters, enjoying spa treatments and my first night away from Eden. But what’s that compared to a Christmas Cookie?

I’m kidding, of course. It was a fantastic weekend getaway where I hardly thought about baking and blogging at all. Eden, however, I thought about a lot.

But now, back to work. Today I offer my Eggnog Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies. These little cookies pack in so much holiday flavor, they may just become essential for the Christmas season. With hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and eggnog, you could bite into these anytime of year and with your eyes closed you might just believe it’s Christmas time.

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Eggnog Cheesecake Thumbprints

Makes about 30

Spiced Cookie

2 sticks (1 cup) non-hydrogenated vegan buter (I use Earth Balance)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp applesauce
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

Eggnog Cheesecake Filling

6 ounces vegan cream cheese (I use Tofutti)
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup soy nog
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg + more for sprinkling on top

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In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add powdered sugar and spices and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. With mixer running, slowly pour in soy nog. Beat until smooth. Transfer to small bowl and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line to baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.

Cream together vegan butter and granulated sugar in the electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add applesauce and beat until smooth. Add the flour mixture in three batches, scraping down the sides in between. Mix until all flour is hydrated and the dough is uniform.

Using a level tablespoon, scoop cookies and roll them into balls. Make a teaspoon-sized indentation in the center with your thumb. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and make indentations again. Bake for another 7-9 minutes, until edges turn slightly golden and are firm to the touch. Transfer to wire racks and allow cookies to cool completely.

Fill the center of each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon of cream cheese filling so that it’s slightly mounded Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cheesecake filling has firmed. Remove from oven, transfer cookies back to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Filed Under: Eating in Season, sweets, Winter Tagged With: cheesecake, christmas, cookie, desserts, holidays, sweets

Raw Chocolate Orange Truffles

October 30, 2012 7 Comments

With Halloween Eve upon us, my mind is on the candy. Last week, in preparation for this sweet holiday, I shared a Halloween Candy Round-up with some truly amazing candy recipes from around the blogosphere and refurbished my Salted Caramel Corn post from many months ago. But yesterday I was motivated to make a healthy Halloween candy to be enjoyed without risking cavities and stomach aches. These raw truffles are so delicious AND healthy that I feel okay about sharing little bits with Eden as she experiences her first Halloween.

Raw Chocolate Orange Truffles
makes about 24

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup walnuts
up to 2 tbsp water, if necessary
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder (plus more for dusting)
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp orange extract
pinch of salt

In a medium bowl soak dates and walnuts for at least 30 minutes. Drain and transfer to a food processor. Blend until mostly smooth. Depending on the strength of your food processor/blender, you may need to add water at this point to blend fully. Add slowly and do not exceed 2 tbsp.

Add remaining ingredients and blend again until well combined. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and place in refrigerator for 1 hour until truffle “dough” has hardened enough to mold.

Roll into rounded teaspoons. Toss in extra cocoa powder and return to refrigerator to harden for at least 1 hour.

Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Happy Halloween everyone! What are your sweet and scary plans?

Filed Under: gluten-free desserts, sweets Tagged With: candy, chocolate, dessert, gluten-free meals, holidays, raw, refined sugar-free, soy-free, sweets, truffles

Salted Caramel Corn

October 25, 2012 13 Comments

This is a revision to one of my first recipes I wrote for The Sweet Life, long before I knew how to make good food photography. So when I whipped up a batch of caramel corn this morning in preparation for a very special baby shower this weekend, I figured it would be a good time to take some pictures and update this old post.

Salted Caramel Corn
gluten-free

12 cups popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup kernels)

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

1/4-1/2 tsp good sea salt

*the second time around I subbed maple syrup for brown rice syrup and it worked great (if not better).

I only recently discovered how easy it is to make popcorn with just a stove and a pot. Upon this discovery my mind started racing with all the wonderful flavors I could make. Naturally salted caramel was the first on my list.

So if you’re like me and are unlearned in the ways of air popping popcorn, fear not! It’s incredible fast and easy. Place the kernels in a large pot over medium high heat with tight fitting lid. For 1/2 cup kernels, I used a 6 qt pot and it just fit. Keep the pot moving around the burner to avoid burning the kernel, hold down the lid, and wait for the kernels to pop. Remove from heat as the popping slows down, keeping the lid on for any remaining kernels to finish.

Pour the popcorn in a large bowl and set aside while making the caramel sauce.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F and lightly oil two baking sheets.
In a medium sized pot combine sugar, brown rice syrup, and margarine over medium heat.

Stir together and bring to a boil. Let boil for five minutes, stirring once.

Remove from heat and add baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Immediately pour over the popcorn slowly while mixing it in with a spatula. Once well combined spread out into single layer onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of good sea salt and bake for 30 minutes, stirring once. Remove from oven and stir once more. Let sit for 10 minutes and enjoy!

When completely cool store in an airtight container. Popcorn will last for a week (if you have more self control than I do).

Filed Under: Eating in Season, Fall, gluten-free desserts, snacks, sweets Tagged With: gluten-free meals, holidays, popcorn, snacks

A Vegan Halloween Candy Round-Up

October 23, 2012 8 Comments

Halloween: the most magical time of the year. That’s what they say, right? Scary movies, dressing up in costume, haunted houses, corn mazes, caramel apples, Rocky Horror Picture Show, trick-or-treating…truly magical.

I have many good memories od Halloween as a young kid, dressing up in homemade costumes and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. I loved coming back home, emptying the contents of my bag onto my bed and sorting my sweet treats, dividing the candy into piles of great, okay, and gross and then eating them in that order.

This is Eden’s first Halloween. This year I have little to worry about, but as the holiday approaches I find myself questioning how I will handle future Halloween’s with a vegan child. I want her to share in the same memories as I did as a young child but recognize the challenges of vegan trick-or-treating.

I have prepared myself for future years by scouring the web, looking through some of my favorite blogs, and compiling a Vegan Homemade Candy Round-up. And if you, like me, are looking for solutions for vegan trick-or-treating, check out this article I found at vegfamily.com.

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