The love for this fudge is real. So real. It still amazes me that sometimes (often) the simplest things are best. These chocolatey nuggets will blow you away with how good they taste, despite only needing 5 ingredients and 5 minutes to make. Think everything you love about fudge, without the refined and added sugar, butter, heat-treated cocoa powder, or dairy milk. All you need is your food processor/blender and an old ice cube tray (I borrowed mum’s from the 80’s), and you’re ready to make these bountiful bites.

Yes this fabulous 5-Ingredient Chocolate Fudge is…

• Made with 5 ingredients (of course),
• 5 minutes to make and just 30 to set,
• Completely caffeine free (great if you’re caffeine sensitive, or wanting kid-friendly fodder),
• Low in overall sugars with no refined or added sugar, and
• Exactly what you need to satisfy those 3pm chocolate cravings.

Come make this fudge with me! I promise you will love it. Don’t tell my Healthy Russian Fudge, but I think this little lass is even better. Let's dive in...

Chocolate without caffeine? Enter Carob

If you’ve tried my Carob Coconut Rough or “Zero Sugar” Carob Logs before, you’ll be familiar with some of the key benefits of carob. Or perhaps you used to buy the carob buttons from the supermarket as a child, and are keen to rekindle that romance (I am, they were delicious). Either way, today I wanted to go a bit deeper into the benefits of this beautiful bean.

Carob, otherwise known as Ceratonia siliqua in Latin, is a species of tree in the pea, legume or Fabaceae family. They grow in lovely warm climates, like the Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe. Their pods, which look very similar to regular bean pods, are then cracked open, and their beans dried (or roasted) and ground into the carob powder we know and use in our kitchens. The endosperm of the bean is also often made into locust bean gum, which you may have seen on the side of your yoghurts as a thickener and stabiliser.

Carob is a fabulous food for you to include in your diet for a number of reasons…

• It’s caffeine free, making it great if you have a caffeine sensitivity (chocolate/coffee gives you a headache), or for making chocolatey recipes for children.
• It’s a natural whole food sweetener, meaning when you add it to recipes it gives natural sweetness, so you don’t have to add much else to sweeten things up.
• It has a lovely creamy malty flavour, meaning it's perfect for making chocolate-based treats,
• It's a great source of calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium, at 34%, 23%, 16% and 13% of it's weight respectively, and
• It’s cheap,even if you buy organic 

This delicious fudge takes our carob powder and blends it with silky smooth almond butter to give it richness, creamy coconut oil to help it set, a handful of medjoul dates to bring out the sweetness, and a pinch of sea salt. That’s it! No other flavour enhancers needed.

Simply blend together, pour into ice cube trays, and pop in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to set. If you want to get fancy, you can add in extra chopped almonds or anything else you like, but honestly I love the smooth simplicity of it on its own. As I said, simple is often best.

Have a blast with this fudge. If you’ve got the ice cube trays for it, I highly recommend making double. They’ll be gone in a fudge-tastic flash.

5-INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE FUDGE

Makes 14 pieces

Takes 5 minutes + 30 minutes to set

MAKE WITH

Always use certified organic, local and fairly traded ingredients wherever possible

3/4 c carob powder
1/2 c almond butter
1/3 c coconut oil
1/2 c medjoul dates (pitted)
pinch sea salt

Optional
1/3 c almonds (chopped)

c = 250ml cup, tbsp = 15ml tablespoon, tsp = 5ml teaspoon

HOW TO

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor until completely smooth.
2. Pour into an ice cube tray, and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until set.
3. Store in the freezer in a sealed container for up to 2 months.

NOTES

• If you’d like a nut-free version of this fudge, simply swap the almond butter for hulled tahini.

PS - the plates, linen and tableware I’ve used are from Citta Design and Father Rabbit.

BUFFY ELLEN

Author

Buffy is the founder of Be Good Organics, and loves creating delicious yet simple plant-based whole foods recipes. Buffy also oversees our Be Good Organics online store, full of plant based goodies that she personally uses and loves.