Vegan Salted Caramel White Chocolates
Everyone always thinks to pair dark chocolate with salt, but why not white chocolate? At least that was what I was pondering last weekend when I decided to make some vegan salted caramel white chocolates. The idea sounded absolutely heavenly! For most of my life, I have thought of myself as mainly a vanilla favoring girl. Always vanilla cake over chocolate, and blondies over brownies or white chocolate over dark when I was little. I have come to appreciate dark chocolate more, but anything vanilla or vanilla caramel always has a special place in my heart. Raw Guru recently sent me some Raw Guru Raw Organic Cacao Butter and Raw Guru Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt and they were the inspiration for the salted caramel white chocolates. These are two ingredients that I always have to have on hand, and the Raw Guru products are some of the best quality I have tried. Salt belongs in everything as far as I am concerned. I use it to bring out flavors in everything from sweet to savory and I prefer Himalayan salt, because it contains the most minerals. Cacao butter is something I use a lot to make things like chocolate (white or dark), to thicken things like cheesecake (giving it a white chocolate flavor), or to make body care products. So, I was excited about receiving both!
For the caramel, I used dates to make a sweet gooey filling. Dates are nature's caramel after all. They are about as natural as you can get when it comes to sweeteners too. I have always loved caramel. But what I don't love is the refined sugar content. So when I found out about date caramel years ago I was super excited. It is my go-to caramel now in recipes. In this one, I combined the dates with the cacao butter to give the caramel a white chocolate flavor, and added in some vanilla and the Himalayan salt and it was sooo good! Like the sort of thing you want to eat with a spoon, or pour over your ice cream. Once it chilled for a while, it became mold-able soft caramel. I decided to dip it in some of my vegan home made white chocolate.
The whole process was fun, because it was a little messy, and I could eat the extra white chocolate and leftover chocolate chunks that were left on the parchment paper from dipping the chocolate. Sooo good! What was even better was the finished product with the sweet slightly salty caramel and rich decadent dark chocolate. If you are a white chocolate person, give these babies a try! Also, if you want to try out any of the Raw Guru products on their website, use the coupon code FRAGRANTVANILLA to get 10% off your order, typed in at your checkout. I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your week!
Vegan Salted Caramel White Chocolates
Makes 12
Ingredients:
Caramel Filling:
- 1 cup packed pitted soft medjool dates (if they are not soft, soak them in filtered water 30 minutes and drain before using)
- 1/2 cup melted Raw Guru Raw Organic Cacao Butter (2 oz)
- 1/4 cup filtered water
- 1/4 tsp Raw Guru Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
White Chocolate:
- 1/2 cup Raw Guru Raw Organic Cacao Butter (2 oz)
- 1/2 cup raw cashew butter
- 1/2 cup Dastony Raw Coconut Butter
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Decoration:
- about 1/2 cup chopped vegan dark chocolate or chocolate chips
- Raw Guru Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt
Instructions:
- To make the filling, combine all ingredients in a high speed blender, and blend until smooth like caramel.
- Pour into a bowl, and place the bowl in the freezer for about 45 minutes until it is firm enough to scoop.
- Scoop the filling out and roll into 12 balls. Place on a parchment lined tray and freeze until firm, about an hour.
- Meanwhile, to make the white chocolate, combine all ingredients in a double boiler, and whisk until combined and melted.
- Once the filling has firmed up, dip each ball into the white chocolate, being sure to let the excess drain off, and place back onto the tray (I like to set mine on a fork to allow it to drain better). Once they are all dipped, set them in the freezer until hardened. If you want a thicker layer of white chocolate, you will have to repeat this process several times. I dipped mine 3 times. Allow to harden in the freezer.
- Melt the dark chocolate in the top of a double boiler, then drizzle it over the truffles, then sprinkle with the salt. Allow the chocolate to harden, then enjoy!
- Store any leftover truffles in the refrigerator.
