This video features my favorite vegan chocolates! Many of these are organic, fair trade, and all are free from artificial colors and flavors. I hope this video is helpful to anyone looking or interested in vegan, natural, and slightly healthier alternatives to the classic chocolate candies we grew up with.

Luckily, vegan products and options can easily be found at many retailers these days. I have had found these chocolates and many other vegan products at natural food stores and grocers including Sprouts, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Lidl, Aldi, and even Walgreens... Except for No Whey! Foods, which I ordered online. 

 

 Enjoy!

 

Dates are like nature's caramel candy except with nutritional value!





INGREDIENTS
Dates and Coconut Sugar.
You could also add any other fruits or seeds (hemp, chia, flaxseeds)
to this recipe if you don't want to use sugar.


METHOD
Pulse dates in blender or food processor until it becomes a paste. You can also cut the dates with a knife or fork if you don't have or don't want to use a blender/processor. I find that using my knife to blend the dates is less time consuming and makes less of a mess.

After dates are turned into a paste, roll it into a ball. Then add an ample amount of coconut sugar to a container and roll the date-ball-paste around in the coconut sugar. Set into another freezable container and put date-spheres into the freezer for anywhere to 20 minutes to an hour.
Quick and easy!

Vegan candy that is super easy to make it only takes two ingredients.





Ingredients

• Peanut Butter
• Vegan chocolate

Step 1: Melt vegan chocolate and pour layer onto wax/parchment paper.



Step 2: Melt or slightly heat nut butter, and spread onto first layer of melted chocolate. Might be best to let chocolate harden a bit (by setting out, in refrigerator, or freezer) before adding the nut butter.




Step 3: Add another layer of melted vegan chocolate to the top of nut butter. Best to let nut butter set before adding chocolate.



Step 4: Put mixture into refrigerator or freezer for 30 mins to an hour and let whole bar harden.

I think it's become apparent that I've constantly talked about Go Max Go Foods on this blog perhaps a bit more than I need to. But what can I say, except that the candy is good to Flashback to a previous post or two.

 

Cleo's

In earlier posts, I've discussed the Snap, Jokerz, and Mahalo, but I didn't mention the Cleo's - A chocolate candy that will make the mouth feel as if it's swimming in a sea of chocolatey deliciousness. With it's light, slightly crisp sides and smooth delicious peanut buttery center. It is the best peanut butter chocolate cup candy!

 

  In an earlier post, I discussed one of my current favorite vegan candy bars, the Mahalo Bar - filled with coconut, topped with almonds, completely coated in chocolate - Delicious.  But moving to a different candy bar, if Mahalos don't 'coat your fancy' then perhaps the "SNAP!" or "Jokerz" will.
  

Oh, Snap! = the nice, healthier, crunchy and light alternative to the mainstream candy I used to eat prior to becoming vegan. Here, the SNAP! vegan candy bar resembles the crunch chocolate candy bars, but in vegan version nicely excluding the animal products.

 "Jokerz"

This chocolate bar might not have you bursting out, laughing in ha-ha-ha's but it will definitely have you wanting more with its sweet chocolatey coating that surrounds a creamy, thick caramel layer without forgetting to add the peanuts, as well as it's bottom layer of nougaty nougat.  
This isn't your average vegan candy bar- it's better than the average with it's vegan-tastic ingredients and a name that even has a 'z' in it so you know it's "serious." 

I think this is the vegan version of the snickers candy bar. 

 

And the Twilight bar..

Chocolate, nougat, gooey goodness!

 

 


To end this post, I will say "Mahalo" which means thank you in Hawaiian. These awesome vegan chocolate candy bars are made by a company called Go Max, Go Foods.

Photo: Allied Artist Pictures Corporation. Juran. (1958). Found on Art.com

 Attack of the 50ft Woman

This is may not be one of the best movies you will ever see, but it is definitely a film you won't forget.  This 1958 cult classic is a must-see for anyone, like myself, who loves certain classic films. It's only about 65 minutes long, but really, quite interesting as the story follows female protagonist who discovers her sleezy, conning husband has been cheating on her AND plotting to kill her for her money. But she surely gets her fifty-foot, much deserved revenge on him. It is a fun woman-versus-man, and woman wins sort of film, however, that doesn't mean that it completely ends well.

Now for the vegan snacks..

Photo: Probar.com

Quick Snack Mash!
Whenever I'm out, and looking for a snack, I'm always looking for bars! Some of my favorites include Larabars, Probars, and Raw Revolution. They're a nice, somewhat healthier option and delightfully portable vegan snack.

I really enjoy the Halo selection of Probar bars, which feature S'mores, Nutty Marshmallow and, Rocky Road flavors that are all so good and taste so much like the candy they attempt to resemble. If looking for a nutritional, vegan snack-bar, that tastes like candy OR a complete substitute for severely unhealthy candies and candy bars, I recommend to give these Probar Halos a try instead. The bars are relative low in fat, while high in nutrients and carbohydrate calories, which is what you want in a vegan snack. 
#801010-ish = low fat, low sodium, high carb, high nutrient.

These snacks may not make you grow to be 50 feet tall, but they're still like a nicely portable, tasty vegan sugar-rush candy!


Update: Probar very much unfortuantely no longer carries the Halo bar line, which sucks because the Halos tasted like really delicious candy bars. They were actually also considerably low in fat and sodium in comparison to other bars.