A few weeks ago, I interviewed vegan maven/raw foodist/restaurateur Sarma MeIngailis. Shortly after we spoke, she sent me a recipe for her favorite at-home vegan indulgence: freezer fudge. Now, those who know me know that I dislike nothing more than a picky eater, and I have been known to indulge in a good (or bad) cheeseburger fairly often. But I like Sarma, and my aunt (married to a meat-loving Italian) raves about Pure Food & Wine, so I thought this snack deserved a chance. Plus, we don’t have too many vegan-friendly recipes on here and we’re all about being inclusive at SKC.

I had everything on hand except coconut butter, which I found tucked away in a Whole Foods aisle I would never otherwise have entered. I have to say, coconut butter is pretty cool. I’m definitely filing it under “super unnecessary indulgent purchase I’m happy to have around.”

In any case, I did like these morsels of fudge, despite their lack of meat, dairy, or heating element.

Word of warning, though: you have to really, really like almond butter to enjoy ‘em. Likewise, if you see an ingredient on this list that you think you don’t like, you probably won’t like the end result: no cooking or animal products stand in to mask the flavor. I did find the squares of this fudge to be oddly addictive snacks, mostly because of their chewy consistency. That said, my boyfriend didn’t take to them quite as readily. So…maybe don’t feed this to a man. Sarma’s recipe and write-up is below!

**Recipe**

Photo Courtesy Sarma MeIngailis

Chewy Chocolate Vegan Freezer “Fudge”
From Raw Food Real World
Makes about 64 1” square pieces (about ¾ thick)

Ingredients
2 cups almond butter (one 16-ounce jar)
¼ cup raw cocoa powder, or raw carob powder sifted to remove any lumps
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 heaping tablespoon coconut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, stirring well. You can also use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, but it’s more fun to do it by hand.

Spoon the mixture into little candy molds, flatten with a spoon, and cover with parchment or wax paper. Or line a square baking pan with parchment or plastic. Place the fudge into the pan and cover the surface with parchment or wax paper, pressing down evenly to flatten.

Place in the freezer to chill. If using the pan, remove from the freezer after an hour or so, flip it out of the pan onto a flat surface and cut into squares or rectangles. These should be stored, covered in the freezer (otherwise they will get too soft and mushy) where they would keep quite well for a long time if they didn’t always get eaten so fast.

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