Hello friends,
This is a new feature on my blog, I’m hoping it will be a monthly recipe with a little bit of blogging mixed in. I don’t want to become one of those recipe blogs where you scroll for 2 minutes to get to the “meat” of it, so striking that balance will be interesting but really fun all together. I’m vegan, so everything featured here will be as well, but feel free to use the things you want and eat in your versions. With that said, on to the recipe:
Vegan Date Caramel Cups
8-10 medjool dates, softened*
8 ounces of coconut milk or oat milk
a pinch of sea or pink salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract (i used non alcoholic)
*the dates need to be softened so they blend well. This can be done by setting them out on the countertop in a warm room for a few minutes, or set them in hot water for anywhere from 5-20 minutes.
Steps:
remove the pits from your dates and let soften
add your milk of choice to a blender with the vanilla extract
add dates and puree on low setting for ~ 5 minutes
switch to high and continue to blend until all lumps have been removed (add extra milk if needed)
Once your caramel has reached the right consistency, add it into a sauce pan and cook on medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
Pour the caramel into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and let set over night.
THE NEXT DAY
Melt a bar of semi sweet chocolate over a double boiler.
Using a muffin pan w/ paper liners or a chocolate mold, add about 1/2 tbs of chocolate to the bottom and spread it evenly
add a dollop of caramel to the center, spread it evenly
top with 1 tbs of melted chocolate
sprinkle top with cracked sea salt, pink salt, or crushed red pepper flakes
Let set in the freezer until chocolate is solid
I made about 7 caramels with this, but they are about the size of Reeses cups, so if you used a smaller chocolate mold you could probably get a lot more chocolates out of this. If you have left over caramel you can add it to ice cream, make a vegan caramel frappucino, use it as cake filling, etc.
Enjoy!