Despite the fact that I am neither vegan nor a follower of the raw diet, I love raw vegan desserts. They not only taste amazing and satisfy the sweetest of sweet cravings but are actually good for you. Common raw vegan dessert ingredients like fruit, nuts, seeds and cacao provide your body with natural sugars, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.

In contrast, standard desserts are composed of processed ingredients that are often high in sugar, fat and carbohydrate. If like me, you have food allergies or a sensitive digestive tract, then these sorts of ingredients are likely to leave you bloated, lethargic, in pain and regretting your life decisions; I thought a few white chocolate buttons would be ok, I thought wrong.

But no such thing happens with these chocolate caramely tahini cup bites.

There are many recipes for peanut butter cups but I personally find peanut butter overpoweringly salty; it’s like the sea has been enveloped in chocolate. Since we don’t have any other nut butter in the cupboard at the moment, I thought I’d try substituting the nut butter for tahini (sesame seed paste). And I am glad I did, although it then became very hard to resist eating them all.

Ingredients

Makes 3 tahini cups

For the chocolate

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp cacao powder

2 -4 tsp syrup/honey (depending on your sweet tooth)

¼ tsp cinnamon (optional: I add it to help balance blood sugar levels)

pinch of salt

For the tahini caramel

1 tbsp tahini

½ tbsp honey/syrup

¼ tsp vanilla

1 tsp maca (optional)

Note: It’s hard for me to write down an exact recipe because when I cook or make raw snacks and desserts I generally just wing it. I go with my instinct, taste it and adjust accordingly.

Method

I suggest making the chocolate in two batches to avoid it setting whilst each layer sets.

Melt the oil either in the microwave for 30 seconds or using a bain marie (dish over a pan of hot water).

Once melted, add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Drizzle it into the cupcake cases to form the tahini cup base and pop them in the freezer to set.

Meanwhile…

Mix all the tahini caramel ingredients together. Taste, and adjust to your preference: maybe it needs more sweetner or more tahini etc.

After around 15 minutes in the freezer the chocolate base should be set enough for the tahini layer to be added. Spread a layer of the mixture over the chocolate, i’ll let you decide how thick you want your caramel layer to be, I’d say about 1cm.

Pop it back into the freezer for another 15 minutes or so whilst you make the second chocolate batch.

Once the tahini layer has set, take it out of the freezer and pour the chocolate over top. Allow the whole thing to set in the fridge for a few hours, or if you are super impatient (as I am) return it to the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Store them in the fridge and consume them guilt free. FYI they go perfectly with a mid afternoon cuppa.

I hope you like them a chocolot x