Six chocolatey vegan treats I can't get enough of

The other day, Mr Flicking the Vs came over and presented me with this little gem:


It is one of my favourite things in the world: a previously unknown vegan treat. It is an Eat Chic peanut butter cup - whose virtues I have waxed lyrical about on more than one occasion - but it's not just any Eat Chic peanut butter cup. It is an Eat Chic raspberry jam and peanut butter cup, and that is an even better thing.

It's better because it's got all the lovely richness of dark chocolate and nuts, but there's now a sharpness that cuts through that richness. You couldn't eat two of them, but you'll be so full of joy by the end of the first one, you won't need a second one.

It wasn't the only raspberry and chocolate combination that went in my face recently. There was also this:


There's raspberry jelly on the bottom, chocolate pudding on the top, and chocolate shavings to try and make it look like I actually did something in the kitchen. This was a cheat's treat - the jelly just involved adding water, the pudding similarly only needed some non-dairy milk. If I could have got someone to grate the chocolate for me, I would have done that too.

In other news of things I've been loving recently, here's the last of my Choices caramels. I love those guys. Sadly, they've stopped stocking them at my local supermarket, so let's just have a minute's silence for the disappearing chocolate caramels. Long may they live in my memory.


Another very pleasing box of chocolates that I've been shovelling in my gob recently is Beech's dark chocolate brazils. 

I came across Beech's at VegFest in London this year, where they were selling some of their lovely vegan wares for - if my choc-addled memory serves right - three boxes for £10. Clearly, if you don't take anyone selling three boxes of chocolate loveliness for less than a round in most pubs, you're in need of some professional help. I availed myself of said offer, picking up these brazils, because 1) I love chocolate brazils better than some members of my own family and 2) I don't think I've seen any other vegan brands. 

Beech's full name is Beech's fine chocolates, and yes, I can confirm they are fiiiiiiiiiiiiine. If you want to see Beech's full vegan range, get yourself over to the vegan page on their website.


And because I need to pretend that I don't just eat sweets and chocolate, I sort of tried to get some raw chocolate to counterbalance the less virtuous goodies.

Here's the raw chocolate brownie I tried wth Himalayan rose salt. I love salt in my cakes - salted caramel and the like - so I was a sucker for these. It was a bit of a jaw work out to get it eaten, but I couldn't complain about the dark, grownup chocolaty flavour going on.


These little beauties were something of a revelation to me - Délice de Chanvre. Now, my French is a bit rusty these days, and I'd always translated délice de chanvre to mean goat's milk, and mentally filed these under the non-vegan section. Only chanvre is hemp (it's chèvre that's goat!) On browsing my local health food store, I spotted the Sojade label, went for a second look, and was really pleased to see these bad boys are vegan.

I don't eat a lot of hemp, but I would if it all tasted like this...


As you can probably guess from this post raving woozily about the joys of vegan chocolate goods, I've kind of lost my cooking mojo. I just can't get into cooking these days - I can barely warm over some soup, or maybe something on toast. This is a most distressing state of affairs. Any tips on how to restore the cooking love?

Comments

  1. I think you've just spoiled my appetite for dinner. By the time I got to the third chocolate treat I was reaching into the special drawer by my desk where I stash a chocolate bar or two. Usually just a small piece suffices, but the more I read, the more I reached, and now the whole thing is gone. I must say, the raspberry peanut butter cup is hard to forget!

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  2. my cooking mojo is pretty low lately but I think looking through magazines and my cookbooks helps though then it is a matter of finding some time and energy and I wish I could just put some time and energy in my shopping trolley at the supermarket! so I am enjoying all your chocolates too and regret to say I had jelly envy as I have not managed to make decent veg*n jelly

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  3. Those Choices Caramels are delicious, I really hope they're not being phased out. I think Vego is still my favourite chocolate treat though.

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    1. Vego is so good! I usually buy in bulk via mail order over the winter, but it's been awfully warm for that.

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  4. How I wish we could get any of those chocolate treats out here in the states! You could donly some brisk business opening up an online black market for those illicit goods. ;)

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  5. If there's ever a way to get my attention, this is it! Sorry to hear you won't be able to get your favorite caramel; I recommend the chocolate-covered cocomels if you can get your hands on them. They're fabulous!

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  6. I'm in a cooking rut, too. I feel life I'm stuck in a time vacuum, so quick and uninspired meals are the norm right now. Maybe I should just go buy some chocolate... Everything here has me in the mood! :)

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  7. Ooh, I've not seen those hemp desserts before, they sound interesting! I love finding new chocolate to try. Those chocolate brazils are a big favourite of mine and sometimes turn up in the Pound shops and other bargain shops where I live.

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  8. Oh gosh, I need those peanut butter cups! Where did Mr F t V find them? You've also got me worried about Choices caramels disappearing as I love them too - ditto the raw brownies (Denmark Hill FCB?!) :)

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  9. You had me at raspberry jam and peanut butter cup. Oh no, you lost your cooking mojo. I don't know if this will help, whenever I don't know what to cook or I'm always cooking the same dishes, I usually go out to eat. Somewhere good so I'm inspired to cook that way at home, kinda like a change of scenery. :-)

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