A funny thing happened when I went vegan. Before, I really was that person who could and would eat a pint of ice cream for dinner. If I couldn’t get my greedy, sugar-mad mitts on Graeter’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip, I’d make do with Haagen-Daz Chocolate or Mocha Chip. I had it bad. But then the vegan thing happened and at that time, there really were very few non-dairy ice cream options and since I’d also given up eating refined sugars, my taste for the cool, creamy stuff melted away.
Nevertheless…sometimes the only thing called for is something cold and chocolatey – without the fear of suddenly realizing you’ve reached the bottom of a pint of sugary ice cream. Enter these little bites made with cacao, white beans and other good stuff. One or two of these chocolatey mocha cuties will tame the wildest sweet tooth.
BTW, the silicon mold I used to make these is no longer available on Amazon, but this one looks close.
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk (canned)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp. sunflower lecithin, optional
- 1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
- 1/4 cup white beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 Tbsp. tahini
- 2Tbsp. cacao or cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. sunflower lecithin, optional
- Set a 15 mini-muffin silicon tray on a baking sheet or other sturdy surface (such as a cutting board). Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the chocolate ingredients - except for the nuts - and divide half of the chocolate between the muffin cups. Place the tray (that is on top of the board) into the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
- Combine all of the filling ingredients in a food processor and mix until silky smooth. Scrape down the sides a few times to make sure you've incorporated all of the bean and cacao bits.
- When the chocolate in the freezer has hardened, remove it from the freezer and divide the filling between the cups. Tap the board/silicon mold on the counter a few times to evenly distribute the filling. Place back in the freezer and let set until hardened. It goes pretty quick - should be less than an hour.
- If the remaining chocolate mixture has hardened, gently re-melt it. Stir in the chopped nuts. Remove the silicon form from the freezer and ladle on the remaining chocolate/nut mixture. Again, tap if necessary to evenly distribute the chocolate over the filling. Place back in the freezer to harden. This really goes fast since the filling itself is cold and will start to freeze up the chocolate topping.
- Once completely firm, they're ready to eat!
Wow these look delicious!
Thanks, Steve! They are pretty tasty if I may say so myself ;-)!
OMG! I want one right now (& it’s 5:00 a.m.)!
Then I’ve done my job as a food blogger ;-)!
I never had an ice cream dinner, my splurge was potato chips with ice cream along side but these look good enough to have for any meal ♥ Beans are so groovy aren’t they? I always feel a little sneaky using them in a recipe that no one would EVER believe has them in it.
Your ‘finely chopped nuts’ look like some of those tasty Oklahoma Pecans? I try to restrain using them because I eat so many straight from the jar before they make it into the recipe…..♥ I know Kel just hated having to help you eat these up 😉
Ha! Main dish of potato chips – sounds like my occasional meal of buttered popcorn! You got it, OK pecans! Still have some left. I hoard them a little, hehe :-).
I’ve never been an ice cream junkie, perhaps because I live in such a cool climate, but these look wonderful and I love the nuts on top. They’re a very tempting size, too.
Hard to resist anything that’s small and cute!
That filling sounds amazing! I love the beans and tahini!
They make for a very nice and creamy texture!
These look glorious Annie! So pretty! I actually had an idea to try white beans in ice cream but was wondering if it really would work in the texture without it making it taste beany or leave that off texture, since ice cream needs to be so smooth…can you taste them at all?
Seriously – not a hint of bean! And the texture isn’t icy as many non-dairy, low-fat ice creams can be.
Gosh they do look tasty….so going to have to add the ingredients to my shopping list
Hope you love ’em :-)!
oh my goodness, these look and sound great – well done:)
Thanks, Christine!
These look perfect. I would need to hide half of them to try to ensure I don’t eat all the bites at once! I’ve been known to eat far too much of the coconut milk pints.
These look so so wonderful!
Wow Annie, these little bites look delicious! I don’t miss much from my “pregan” days, but Graeter’s black raspberry chip? OH MAN! It’s probably a good thing that there is not a vegan version!
These look so cute and scrumptious! So unique the way you made them. I’m always skeptical on the whole bean in desserts thing but these sound delish!
I know, I know! I’m one of those who avoids black bean brownies! But the beans in these are undetectable, I swear :-)!
Ooh Annie! these look utterly divine,..even superb is the word!!!!
On my way to make tomorrow morning! ooh yes! YUUMMMM!!!!
<3
These look fabulous! Need silicon mold N-O-W. Thank you to those who admit having popcorn or potato chips or ice cream for a meal. I don’t feel quite so guilty. Still making the transition to vegan but with food like this, who needs dairy?
Sometimes I miss those “carefree” days of eating whatever I wanted – but truly, I feel so much better now than I did then! Progress, not perfection, right? 🙂