Four Ingredient Chocolate Covered Caramels (Vegan)

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“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get”…

chocolatesonplateUnless you make your own chocolates, and then you can be sure that every single one is caramel-filled.

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When given a box of chocolates growing up, and even as an adult, I always tried to pick out and eat all the caramel filled ones. I mean, let’s be real here, no other filling compares to rich, gooey caramel. In fact, according to a survey on Americans’ favorite flavor in a box of chocolates, caramel was number one. No big surprise there.

Speaking of surprises, you can also be sure they aren’t filled with un-romantic things like partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, corn syrup, sulfur dioxide, and polyglycitol. Yeah, I don’t know what that is either. Those are just a few of the ingredients in 50+ item ingredient list on a Russell Stover box of chocolates.

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I devised a plan to make the absolute easiest chocolate covered caramels with:

  • No weird ingredients
  • No refined sugar
  • No cooking or fuss
  • No kitchen gadgets needed
  • No animal products
  • And using simple, healthier, real food ingredients

Then I even made them heart shaped. Just for you.

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Add just one more ingredient, and you can make chocolate covered caramel peanut butter hearts.

See how much I love you guys??

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Four Ingredient Chocolate Covered Caramels (dairy free, refined sugar free, raw, vegan)

Makes about a dozen chocolates, depending on size of dates

  • 12 large medjool dates, pitted (Natural Delights are the only brand I use)
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup or coconut nectar (or to taste)
  • optional: sea salt to sprinkle on top (it’s so good!)

*For an even easier 3 ingredient treat, just melt 1/2 cup dairy free dark chocolate chips and a tablespoon of coconut oil in a double broiler and use this for coating your date hearts.

You’ll also need a tiny heart shaped cookie cutter, or you can free-style heart shapes with a knife

Instructions:

  1. Cut out your heart shapes. I carefully removed the pit, then flattened the date on my cutting board using the palm of my hand. Then I used my cookie cutter to cut out a heart. I got two hearts out of one date. If your dates are super soft and gooey, throw them in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up a bit to make cutting them out easier.FullSizeRender (29)
  2. Melt the coconut oil, and stir in the cacao powder and maple syrup.
  3. I stacked two hearts, for a thicker caramel center.  Then I dipped the stuck together hearts into the melted chocolate and rolled it around with a spoon to coat every side. Lay the chocolate covered hearts on a parchment lined plate.
  4. Place the plate of chocolate hearts in the freezer to firm up for about 10 minutes or so. You can repeat for a thicker shell of chocolate. Sprinkle with sea salt to make them even better.

 

 

 

 

23 thoughts on “Four Ingredient Chocolate Covered Caramels (Vegan)”

  5. eat2healthblog says:
    Reply

    Happy belated Valentine’s Day! These look delicious Larice! I’d have to say that caramel, (sometimes nougat) and/or nuts were my favourites growing up too; haha, it is terrible that we had to trek our way through so many artificial fruit flavours to find them! We’ve made a similar dessert chocolate before, but we didn’t use it like this- this is a great idea! I love the cutters too. I might have to get Alex on this little D.I.Y project (as my birthday’s coming up soon)! Thanks for sharing. x 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Ranjana@FlavorfulBakes says:
    Reply

    Those look delicious and so healthy! I seem to have deviated from the ‘healthy’ track (or ‘blogging’ track for that matter), thanks to my India visit! Lol… I hope you have been doing good Larice, and I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s day.. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Larice says:
      Reply

      Hi Pamela! So excited that you’d like to give them a try! The “caramel” is actually the date itself. So it’s really simple! I just pitted the medjool date (you’ll want to make sure they are large and soft), then flattened it out using the bottom of a jar (or your palm works too!) then I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to cut hearts out of the flattened date. I actually doubled up the hearts, stacking one atop another so it would be thicker. Then you dip it in the chocolate and let it firm in the fridge. Medjool dates taste remarkably like caramel, especially with a nice layer of chocolate over them. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions; thanks for stopping by!

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