Monday 20 August 2012

Sugar-free and Vegan Raspberry Fudge


I'm trying my best to cut back on sugar these days. Not completely eradicate, just reduce my intake! It's tough because I have a habitual sweet tooth after dinner. Once I've finished eating my dinner my brain immediately switches to "right, what is for dessert". Normally that would be one of whatever batch of cupcakes I have recently made, but I'd like to kick that habit in favour of something without wheat and sugar! So I've been experimenting with sugar free and wheat free healthy treats - and this one is a winner!

It's a winner because it's easy, quick, delicious and both sugar and wheat free! You can watch this space for a lot more fudge too - because now that I have this basic recipe I'm going to be experimenting with a lot of different flavours! I'm thinking my next may be chocolate and pecan, or maybe chocolate peanut butter swirl, or maybe lime and coconut. Haha, I can't decide - what should I make? :)

This fudge is not super sweet - which is how I like it. But if you like your fudge sweet then you can add some sweetener to it, such as stevia or agave nectar. But try the original first, as all the people I gave it to commented that they liked the fact that it wasn't as sweet and sickly as regular fudge.



Finally, this post is part of the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop's "Berry Nice To Meet You" Hop, so click on all the thumbnails below the post to check out everyone else's inspiring berry desserts. Plus a thank you to the fabulous Christina at The Hungry Australian for hosting.


Ingredients
2 cups dessicated coconut, unsweetened
1 ripe banana (the more ripe the better), chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch cinnamon
3/4 cup whole fresh or frozen raspberries

To Make
1. Put the coconut in a food processor and churn to make coconut butter. The length will depend on your food processor. If you have a regular food processor it should take about 10-12 minutes. If you have one of those super fancy new-fangled type ones then I think it will take about 5 minutes (I only have a standard food processor - so mine took about 12 minutes). In any case just keep an eye on it, scrape down the sides regularly and then stop it when you have a mixture about the consistency of peanut butter. Note: if you do it for a bit longer it will turn runny - this is fine too, as it will set later the same consistency).
2. Add the vanilla, cinnamon and chopped banana and process again until it makes a thick but smooth paste.
3. Remove the blade and stir through the raspberries with a spoon - gently, so that they stay as whole as possible.
4. Take a smallish square container (plastic is fine - I hypothesise that silicone would be great as it will be easier to get the fudge out of) and spoon the fudge into it. Press it down with the back of a spoon as if it were a slice and smooth it over on the top.
5 Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Remove, slice and eat. 

A perfect after dinner snack!


18 comments:

  1. What a fantastic recipe! I love the sound of this and I can't wait to try it at home. Sugar-free fudge? Now that's clever!

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  2. Ohh I really love this recipe, I am going to give it a try for my next Mothers Group meeting. Well done. I just hope my little food processor doesnt blow up with 12 min. of use!

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    1. I was concerned about my little food processor as well! It is a very old and probably quite cheap one (I got it second hand for $10), but it managed the task quite well, despite getting a bit hot. So there is hope for your processor!

      Let me know how the recipe goes when you make it for your mothers group!

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  3. I'm allergic to bananas :(

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    1. :( That is sad! I will attempt to develop a banana free version just for you. Will post it as soon as I figure it out!

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  4. I've never heard of sugar free fudge before. Or coconut butter from dessicated coconut! Looks an absolute treat, especially for a mediocre sweet tooth like me.

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  5. So clever! I'm going to make that this week for sure. Very easy too!

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    1. Thanks! Let me know how it goes for you!

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  6. How many calories is there in portion? And can I make these without coconut, I have never liked it that much? Thanks

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    1. Hi, I don't count calories as I believe that eating everything in moderation and not stressing over numbers is the key to healthy eating.

      I don't think these would work particularly well without coconut - because the coconut oil is what gives the fudge its fudge-like consistency. I would suggest that if you don't like coconut then you could include something in this fudge which has a strong flavour that will mask the taste of coconut. Perhaps you could try using only 1 1/2 cups coconut and 2-3 big tablespoons of peanut butter to make peanut butter flavoured fudge? Just a thought, I haven't tried it so don't know it that will work.

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  7. Fantastic! I'll pass this on to my vegan colleague. Bet he never through he'd have fudge again :)

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  8. Fascinating - I didn't know coconut would do that if you blitzed it! I am DEFINITELY going to be giving this a try - I'm sure my five-year-old will love it - it's like healthy lollies! :)
    Do you have to freeze it? Or can you just pop it in the fridge and leave it there?

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    1. Yes absolutely! Just leave it in the fridge for 40 minutes or so or until it has set. I just put it in the freezer because I'm a touch impatient and I want it ready asap :)

      Let me know how it goes!

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  9. Hello Saffron Girl,

    You wanted some help with the Linky Tool. When you are writing your post, you will see 'compose' and 'html' on the top left hand side of the box you are typing in. You will need to click 'html' which will bring you to a screen of code. Scroll down the bottom and place the linky tool there. That's all I do...so if you are doing that too, then I am not sure what the problem is. But, I hope this is some help :)

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    1. Hey I think you have made a mistake :) I didn't ask for help with linky tools - as you can see I have the linky list on my post fine.

      Thanks for visiting anyway!

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  10. yum! going to do this in my thermomix!

    thanks
    Corrie:)

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  11. Any idea how what volume of coconut butter 2 cups of dessicated coconut makes? I have some coconut butter I have already made and am wondering how much of it I'd need to use for this recipe.

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    1. Hmm, tricky question. I haven't measured it so, honestly I don't know. I think you could probably get away with using maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup coconut butter? Don't hold me to it though! Let me know how you go :)

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