Hey friends, I haven’t meant to neglect you in the dessert department, but I see that it’s been a savoury 3 months since I’ve given you anything sweet. Perhaps I felt guilty for posting 2 desserts in a row that time in September? Nahhh!!!
Those of you who know me, know that I love dessert. I eat something sweet every day because if I don’t, I feel kind of cranky, and nobody likes that! But it’s gotta be healthy or I won’t waste my calories on it. Wasting my calories makes me even more cranky. Anybody relate?
Most of my sweet intake involves chocolate of some sort. If I don’t have anything baked on hand, I’ll always resort to my 70% dark chocolate bar. But sometimes I want something creamy and dreamy and dip-able… but without the saturated fat of butter and cream, of course.
This is where the cashew comes in. Cashews are the vegan’s best friend when it comes to making things creamy without using cream. Or butter. Or sour cream. Or cream cheese. Or any of those other heart-clogging fats. Raw soaked cashews blend up like magic into a perfectly smooth, silky consistency that just melts on your tongue. And not only that, cashews are also high in mono-unsaturated fats, which lower your LDL (read, bad) cholesterol, while raising your HDL (good) cholesterol. You also get a decent amount of protein, copper, and magnesium from these little babies. So let’s blend away without guilt, people!
This fudge sauce contains only 5 ingredients and takes only 5 minutes to make. That could be dangerous! But as healthy as it is, I’m gonna give you the go-ahead on it. Especially because it’s soooo good with fruit! But it would also be delicious on vegan peppermint ice cream (I’ll give you a recipe soon, I promise!), smeared on banana oat cookies, or, I’ll be honest… just right off the spoon.
You can vary the amount of coconut milk to alter the consistency of your sauce. With the amount in the recipe, it’ll be like thick hot fudge right out of the blender. But after it’s refrigerated for several hours, it firms up to more like a soft Nutella. You really can’t go wrong!
I used just enough sweetener to make it very “70% dark-chocolate-like.” So if you prefer a lighter chocolate flavour, increase the maple syrup by 1 Tablespoon and reduce the cocoa powder by 1 Tablespoon. And I promise you that you do NOT taste the coconut milk… however, if someone is not a fan, just sub almond milk. You know I love it when you personalise your recipes!
But however you choose to make this fudge sauce, definitely make it. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
5-Ingredient Vegan Fudge Sauce
Notes
If you haven't soaked your cashews ahead of time, you can soak them in hot water for 30 minutes and they'll be good to go. Don't forget to drain them!
Ingredients
- ½ cup cashews, soaked for 3 hours & drained
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut milk (I used regular)
- 1 t. vanilla
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until silky-smooth.
- Serve as a fruit dip, on cookies or muffins, or just eat it right off your spoon!