I want to send out a great big thank you to the folks over at Fatty Weight Loss. They had volunteered to send a box of Godiva chocolate truffles to the winner of the Best Food Blog award, but were kind and thoughtful enough to realize that a vegan probably wouldn't want Godiva truffles! Instead, they sent me this incredible Easter basket overflowing with vegan chocolates from Rose City Chocolatier.Even the smell of all this chocolate is enough to make me swoon. It's filled with seven chocolate bunnies and chickies and two boxes of mixed chocolates. We're saving it for Easter and calling in family reinforcements to help us eat it all.
Thanks again, Fatty Weight Loss! I bet I won't lose much fatty weight myself this Easter...
It's my first vegan Easter and I'm wondering what we can do instead of decorating eggs (and we also stay away from plastic). Wooden egg decoration? Other ideas?
ReplyDeleteRose City Chocolates are awesome! I discovered them a few years ago and am in chocolate heaven. My favorites are the hazelnut chocolates. You are a lucky woman indeed to be in possession of such yummy goodness. If you need more reinforcements, I'm your gal. :)
ReplyDeleteI expect you could make "eggs" out of something. Egg shaped cookies, maybe, and decorate the cookies.
ReplyDeleteI have egg shaped cookie cutters (and other Easter shapes) in various sizes, and at Easter, my kids and I make egg-shaped cookies, pancakes, etc. We also make paper mache eggs and decorate those...
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see your new post, Jennifer! I've been in lunchbox withdrawal this week ;) Enjoy the chocolates - you deserve it! Hope you and Shmoo are having a great spring break.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Congratulations, Jennifer - what a well deserved gift!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I am making several different kinds of vegan Easter eggs (chocolate ones, with peanut butter, mixed dried fruit, or chocolate ganache fillings). My husband found some vegan chocolate bunnies at a local drugstore that imports European chocolates. And, we will make little "nests" by mixing melted chocolate with shredded wheat or shredded coconut (or both), and using the mixture to line paper muffin cups. Chill until set. Fill the "nests" with a few vegan eggs or jelly beans, and hide these or just put them in your child's Easter basket.
PETA has some instructions on their website for clay "eggs" you can make and paint. HTH :)
Krista
Mmmm, what a treat!! I'm hoping for giant vegan truffle easter eggs from Chocolate Decadence for Easter! (you have to scroll down to get to them. Those truffles are ...... indescribable. =)
ReplyDeleteAnd to the person who asked about vegan chocolates, they are free of all the fillers used to reduce cost in other chocolates, like milk fat. This makes the chocolate taste more pure and SO so so so much better. YUM! And just FYI, Trader Joe's semisweet chips are vegan and are only 2 bucks where I live. Way to go, Trader Joe!
cee-- A lot of dark chocolate is vegan! (And 100 percent tasty)
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Jennifer, on your awesome prize! That looks delicious!
There's nothing "impure" about milk chocolate. The milk is to make a particular flavor of chocolate that many people prefer. Vegans just prefer not to eat the milk. If you are buying high quality(non-milk) chocolates they may very well be vegan. Conversely there are non vegan fillers that you might not want in your chocolates.
ReplyDeleteWhat awesome and vegan-conscience people! This looks so good, I would eat all of it myself!!!
ReplyDeleteIn Europe, nearly all dark chocolate seems to be naturally vegan. Those chocolates look delicious!
ReplyDeleteFor vegan 'eggs,' you can find 3D chocolate egg-shaped moulds, so maybe you could decorate your own chocolates.
These are more for eating than decorating, but you could try something like this 'angeled eggs' recipe I saw made on vegtv.. You probably don't want to use Emes gelatin since there's some controversy about whether that was actually vegan, but agar might work.
I made the PETA "chocolate eggs" recipe with Tofutti one year, although I ended up just rolling them into balls, not egg-shaped. But regardless, they were very good and truffle-like.
Wow!! Congrats again on your well deserved victory!!! That was so thoughtful of them to do that especially for you! :-)
ReplyDeleteI've got another idea on decorating "eggs" for Easter. On a recent trip to the ocean, a friend of mine started collecting egg-shaped flat beach rocks for her and her kids to paint and bedazzle. But of course, this plan rules out a great deal of land-locked Vegan Lunch Box readers... (or those lucky enough to live near sandy beaches!)
ReplyDeleteThat is so thoughtful of those people.
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand why you need reinforcement to eat those goodies- I'd gladly keep them to myself!
Yum. I absolutely love Rose City chocolates. My husband bought me a Valentine box of them and they're SO good. I eat one every day - well, until I run out :)
ReplyDeleteI make my veganized version of cadbury creme eggs and call it a day. I don't have kids who would want to egg hunt. But if they did, I would probably use plastic eggs filled with jellybeans and stuff for them.
ReplyDeleteI made those chocolate/shredded wheat nests once. They're ADORABLE but the shredded wheat in a candy tasted strange to me. Maybe I'll do a batch with coconut this year.
mallory! - can we have your recipe for vegan cadbury creme eggs?! pretty pretty please?
ReplyDeletei miss cadbury creme eggs!
Sure! It's adapted from http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=41105 which is a non-vegan recipe. All of the substitutions were really simple, though - basically replace butter with Earth Balance and use semi-sweet or soy-milk chocolate instead of dairy-milk chocolate.
ReplyDelete---
You will need:
1/2 c. light caro syrup (or other corn syrup)
1/4 c. Earth Balance (or equiv), softened
1 tsp. natural vanilla extract (use the REAL stuff - not the immitation - or it'll be REALLY sweet)
1/4 tsp. salt (optional, IMO)
3 cups powdered sugar (get unbleached if you avoid refined sugar, or use powdered Florida Crystals)
1 bag semi-sweet or soy-milk chocolate chips (I use Tropical Source)
2 tbs. vegetable shortening
**OPTIONAL**
yellow food coloring
red food coloring
(this has more appeal if you want the egg "yolk" but can be omitted as a time saver/for adults)
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STEP 1:
Combine Caro Syrup, Earth Balance, and (salt) in a large bowl and beat well until smooth. Cream in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until smooth.
STEP 2:
(OPTIONAL)
Set aside 1/3 of the mixture and place it in a bowl. Add yellow and red food coloring to desired "yolk" color. Cover both mixtures and refridgerate ~2 hours, or until firm.
STEP 3:
Roll a small, marble sized ball of the orange filling. Wrap the white filling around it.
(OR just use all white)
Form into the shape of a small egg (pinch the top to flatten slightly) and place onto a cookie sheet that has been brushed with shortening. Refridgerate these for 3-4 hours or until very firm. I like to leave them overnight (saves on mess, too!)
STEP 4:
Heat chocolate and shortening in a double boil until completely melted and blended.
STEP 5:
Use a toothpick, skewer or fork to dip each egg into the chocolate. Tap off excess, place on wax paper and chill.
STEP 6:
Once candies have hardened completely, repeat step 5.
STEP 7:
Repeat step 6.
(this is not in the original recipe but I like my chocolate so I prefer a thicker coating)
STEP 8:
Refridgerate until hard. Wrap in colored saran wrap or foil if serving individually.
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I like to make these over a span of 3 days leading up to easter (starting on Holy Thursday or Good Friday, depending!). I make the insides the first night (late in the day), do the chocolates mid-day the second day, and let sit until the third day when they are ready to eat.
This year I will be making them Tuesday and Wednesday, since I will be traveling Thursday to my boyfriend's parents house in Portland for the holiday weekend, and I want to bring them with me.
Oh yum! My mouth started drooling at even the mention of chocolate! Add a cadbury egg into the mix and Im in trouble! LOL
ReplyDeleteWTG again on the award :)