Crunchy Fudge Cups

Need to indulge your sweet tooth? These delightful Crunchy Vegan Fudge Cups will do the trick! They’re full of healthy ingredients, including our cancer-fighting Super Greens Powder.

My little sister-in-Christ, Kelcie Morgan Cantrell came up with this recipe. You’d never guess that this treat is free of dairy and sugar. Nourish your body from the inside out..and have fun doing it!

Benefits of Raw Cacao Powder

Swapping cocoa powder for raw organic cacao powder is one of the easiest swaps you can make. Cacao powder has a better flavor and has no additives. It’s also full of fantastic health benefits. Here are a few of my favorite things about this ingredient.

May Boost Your Mood

Chocolate is one of life’s simple joys! If you’ve ever savored a piece of dark chocolate, you know exactly how it can make you feel. Many diets eschew treats made with chocolate, but recent studies have shown that it’s okay to enjoy them in moderation.

Does this mean every candy bar is healthy? Definitely not! But the right kind of cacao has been proven to boost your mood and cognitive ability. (1)  What a great reason to treat yourself!!

Can Improve Cardiovascular Health

Chocolate is a common Valentine’s Day gift, so this benefit should be easy to remember. Cacao is great for heart health! It contains flavonols that can regulate blood pressure levels. (2)

Healthy blood pressure levels lead to improved cardiovascular health and less stress on your heart.  What excellent news, especially for those with hypertension! You should note that these benefits apply to dark chocolate, not sugar-filled milk chocolate.

Reduces Inflammation

Cacao is filled with potent antioxidants. (3)  These compounds are essential to your diet because they help fight oxidative stress caused by free radicals, thus lowering inflammation. Inflammation is linked to cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and cancer. (4) God has given us such excellent resources! Make it your mission to not only utilize them but enjoy them.

Healthy Candy Ingredients 101

Thanks to some amazing ingredients, these fun candies pack a lot of punch! You may already have some of them in your pantry. Here’s what you need to add to your shopping.

Organic Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is an excellent base for vegan fudge cups. It keeps homemade candies firm yet soft enough to eat. Raw coconut oil is full of medium-chain triglycerides that boost your body’s energy. (5)

When purchasing coconut oil, grab unrefined, as it’s minimally processed.

Organic Coconut Butter: The mighty coconut has many uses! Coconut butter is eaten similarly to peanut butter. It’s made by blending the inside of a coconut, oil, and all.

This ingredient contains all the benefits of coconut oil, including lauric acid. Lauric acid is antibacterial and effectively boosts the immune system. (6)

Organic Unsweetened Almond Butter: This delicious ingredient makes these vegan fudge cups taste just as good as any chocolate-peanut butter cup on the market! Almond butter contains omega-3s, which can benefit mental health when paired with a nutritious diet. (7)

Be sure to purchase unsweetened almond butter. You wouldn’t believe the sugar that hides in other varieties.

Raw Local Honey: Honey gives these treats a great, chewy texture. We recommend investing in raw local honey because it contains the most benefits. It goes through minimal processing to remove stray honeycomb pieces and other debris. Other than that, it’s exactly as God intended it!

Super Greens Powder: This amazing super greens powder is a recipe that contains cancer-fighting ingredients. It’s easy to put together and is a fantastic addition to any smoothie.

A few stand-out elements include:

• Cacao powder- Full of antioxidants that fight free radicals (8)
• Chlorella powder– A detoxing agent that binds to heavy metals (9)
• Ginkgo leaf powder– Can improve mental health (10)
• Guarana powder- Great for boosting cognitive function (11)

Liquid Stevia: I love adding liquid stevia to my treats because it blends beautifully with other ingredients. There are so many wonderful flavors of liquid stevia, but I recommend using vanilla-flavored sweetener for this recipe.

Sea Salt: Traditional table salt undergoes a rigorous harvesting process that leaves it stripped of essential nutrients. We recommend using Colima sea salt as it’s hand-harvested, which leaves the good stuff intact. Plus, it tastes great and adds a gourmet touch to any recipe. If you don’t have sea salt, you can use pink Himalayan salt.

Make Crunchy Vegan Fudge Cups

The best part about this recipe is making it in one bowl. It comes together within minutes and hardens within half an hour. You can’t beat that!

Step One: Mix Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened coconut oil, coconut butter, almond butter, honey, Super Greens Powder, cacao powder, stevia, vanilla, coconut flakes, and slivered almond.

Step Two: Divide Into Individual Portions

Immediately spoon into a muffin tin lined with muffin cups.

Step Three: Freeze Vegan Fudge Cups

Garnish with a light sprinkle of sea salt and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. When hard, remove from muffin tin and keep in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Enjoy!

References: