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United Kingdom-based candy brand Freedom Confectionery just launched its newest product: a chocolate-covered vegan gummy bar made in partnership with international cartoon star Pusheen The Cat. The Vegumi chocolate bars are filled with gelatin-free strawberry gummy candy and feature a wrapper with a Pusheen design. Pusheen was created in 2010 by Claire Belton and Andrew Duff for a comic strip on their website, Everyday Cute, and is now a popular sticker available on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. The Freedom Confectionary partnership is the first time that Pusheen has signed a confectionary licensing agreement since its inception.
“After being in the business for five years, this is by far the most exciting launch Freedom Confectionery has been a part of,” Freedom Confectionery Sales Director Elvin Willgrass said. “To have a brand licensing partnership with Pusheen is an amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to hear what our customers think
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Matthew Ravenscroft, Chef de Cuisine at Toronto-based Rosalinda Restaurant, created a vegan cheese chalet as part of Violife Foods’ 2020 campaign #SantaButVegan. Inspired by this year’s holiday trend of creating charcuterie gingerbread houses and other creative snacks for Santa, Ravenscroft constructed a vegan house using five of Violife’s cheeses. The chalet was built to support the brand’s effort of encouraging Canadians to make vegan snacks for Santa who in 2020, Violife says, “is more compassionate and more planet-conscious than ever, and he values sustainability as part of his joy-making impact.”
Building the chalet
To make the chalet, Ravenscroft used Violife creamy original spread as “mortar” to hold the roof and walls together and to create icicles on the roofline. The chef made the front door from Violife smoked provolone and grated Violife parmesan-style wedge to create snow. For the snow person outside, Ravenscroft used a combination of Violife
1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 batch caramel sauce
What you do:
For the caramel sauce, in a large pot over high heat, bring coconut cream to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add coconut sugar, vegan butter, and vanilla extract. Stir until coconut sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir for 10 minutes, until mixture begins to thicken.
Remove pot from heat and allow sauce to cool for 5 minutes before pouring into an airtight container. Let cool completely before placing in refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.
For the bars, line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
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A group of more than 100 international celebrities, athletes, activists, politicians, and business leaders have signed an open letter urging everyone to go vegan in January and beyond. Published by global campaign Veganuary, the letter includes signatories such as actors Edie Falco, Alan Cumming, and Evanna Lynch; comedians Ricky Gervais, Tig Notaro, and John Bishop; athletes Dotsie Bausch (Olympic cyclist), Patrik Baboumian (strongman), and Kuntal Joisher (mountaineer); environmental activists and organizations Jane Goodall, Chris Packham, Greenpeace UK, and Friends of the Earth; musicians Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, and Bryan Adams; and many others.
“Trashing the planet does none of us any good, as the coronavirus pandemic shows all too clearly,” Packham, letter signatory and Veganuary Ambassador, said. “But we can emerge from this stronger and wiser, with a renewed commitment to protecting the environment, its inhabitants and our own futures. Being vegan is a
It starts with chocolate
Let’s get the hard part over with by creating the chocolate shell that will contain your cocoa mix and marshmallows. This involves tempering chocolate a culinary term for the process of melting and cooling chocolate so that it eventually hardens into a glossy finish with a crisp snap. Tempering also stabilizes the chocolate and makes it easier to work with. This tutorial provides a thorough step-by-step to tempering. Alternatively, you could throw caution to the wind and melt the chocolate over a double broiler, but do so at your own risk.
Once your chocolate is tempered (or melted), use a food-grade brush to evenly line the inside of a silicone dome mold with the chocolate. Allow this to harden in the fridge up to 10 minutes. Once set, ever so carefully pop out your chocolate molds and fill half with about one tablespoon each of cocoa mix and vegan mini marshmallows (try Dandies).