Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate:

1 1/3 cups chocolate chips

1 tbsp shortening

Peanut Butter Filling:

2 tsp earth balance butter

3/4 tsp non-dairy milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp graham cracker crumbs

1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt the chocolate and shortening. Using your finger, a spoon, or my preference – an unused large paintbrush, paint the bottom and sides of 24 mini cupcake liners. My advice – don’t paint all the way up the wall because it will be difficult to remove them. Leave a little gap of space at the top.

Microwave the butter, milk, and brown sugar until syrupy. Stir. Add in the remaining ingredients and combine. This mixture should be thick, and shouldn’t really stick to the walls or bottom of the vessel it is in. If yours is too thin, add a bit of powdered sugar to absorb the moisture. Ball up about tsp-sized balls of this mixture and place in each cooled chocolate cup (still in liner). Squash the filling lightly so it is flat on top and fills the cup. Paint a chocolate topping on each cup. You will probably need to reheat the chocolate to do so. Let cool completely.

Credit: The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza

Candy Corn

Homemade candy corn! Powdered soymilk is not terribly easy to find. Call your local health food store or try ordering online. Now that I own it, I use it in smoothies to make them creamy.

 

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup corn syrup
5 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup powdered soy milk
a pinch of salt
Red & yellow food coloring

In a large pan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, and butter, to a light boil over high heat. Reduce to medium heat and boil the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. DO NOT let the mixture overheat, or it will become rock hard and useless. Sift in the powdered sugar, powdered soy milk, and salt. Mix well. Let the mixture stand until just warm to the touch (20 minutes). Knead until smooth and then divide into 3 equal sections. Knead in the food coloring to each section: one orange, one yellow, and one gets nothing for white. Divide up the dough into manageable sections (you will discover what that is for you…) and roll into thin, long ropes. Place ropes side by side, with orange always in the middle of the three ropes. Squish together and flatten a bit. Use a knife to cut triangles from the dough (half with white tips, half with yellow), then use your hands to painstakingly shape each individual corn. Most people leave them as they are, without shaping each one, but I think that’s ugly.

Impress your family and friends!