Raw buttery cookie dough, soft fluffy peppermint mallow, all enrobed in a crisp raw white chocolate shell with an arctic blast of shredded coconut, making these Raw Vegan Snowball Teacakes the most mindblowing treat ever!
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
1.5 cup cashews
½ cup ground almonds
4.5 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp lucuma powder
1 tbsp mesquite powder (or maca if strict Paleo)
½ tsp vanilla powder or 2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt
For the raw white chocolate layer:
67.5g cashews
45g raw cane sugar (powdered)
37.5g erythritol/xylitol (powdered)
½ tsp vanilla powder
375g cacao butter
3ml Mint Medicine Flower Extract/15-20 drops organic peppermint essential oil/1½ tsp peppermint extract (preferably oil based)
For the vegan 'mallow':
1¼ cup raw cane sugar (powdered)
⅔ cup aquafaba (juice from 1 can of organic chickpeas)
¾ -1 tsp xanthan gum
½ tsp vanilla powder or 2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp cream of tartar
1ml Mint Medicine Flower Extract/5-7 drops organic peppermint essential oil/1/2 tsp peppermint extract (preferably oil based)
To decorate:
2 cups desiccated coconut
Instructions
Firstly start by making your raw cookies. Place your cashews and ground almonds into the bowl of your food processor. Process until a flour-like consistency is achieved. Add in your remaining cookie dough ingredients and process until your mixture starts to come together into a dough. It doesn't have to instantly 'ball' together but if you pinch it between your fingers it should be quite oily and sticky. Remove the mix from your food processor, roll into a ball, cover with cling film, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Once your dough has firmed up remove from the fridge and place onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Roll out gently using a rolling pin until about 0.5cm thick. Using a large (around 7cm diameter or slightly above), upturned cookie cutter (crinkly side up) cut out 6 rounds, placing on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Place the cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
It's now time to make your tempered raw white chocolate. Start by powdering your cashews, cane sugar, erythritol, and vanilla powder into a really fine flour. A Vitamix/Blendtec would work wonders but a Nutribullet style blender with a milling blade will also work fine too.
Next, place your cacao butter over a bain marie and melt until liquid. Using a stem thermometer ensure that you don't go over 39°C/102°F. Pour your melted cacao butter into the blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Keep checking the temperature as you go along. When making raw chocolate you do not want to exceed 42°C/107°F otherwise it will no longer be raw.
It's now time to temper your chocolate. Pour the chocolate into a large mixing bowl and stir around to encourage the chocolate to cool. Drop the temperature to 29°C/84°F and then heat the chocolate back up to 31.5°C/88.7°F. You can do this by either placing your bowl over freshly boiled water taken off the heat or you can place back into your blender and blend until you reach the right temperature. If you go over 33°C/91.4°F you will have to start the tempering process again. Stir in your peppermint flavouring of choice and leave to thicken.
Once your chocolate has thickened enough to spread, coat the inside of your silicone moulds making the thickness of the chocolate roughly 0.5cm. I used the back of a spoon and ran the chocolate around the moulds. If the chocolate is too runny it will pool into the top of the dome making it too thick and the sides too thin and fragile. I found that the best temperature was about 25°C/77°F. Place your mould into the refrigerator to set.
Remove your cookie dough rounds and dip in the remaining chocolate, allow the excess to drip before placing back onto a lined tray.
It's now time to make your mallow. Divide your raw cane sugar into 2 equal halves, transfer one half into a high powered blender and using a milling blade, process until it begins to turn into an icing sugar like consistency. Place your aquafaba, xanthan gum, and cream of tartar into your stand mixer and whisk on max speed until doubled in size and fluffy. Be sure to periodically scrape down the sides to incorporate all of the ingredients. Spoon in your powdered sugar first, spoon by spoon, followed by your granular cane sugar following the same method. Whisk until smooth and fluffy with stiff peaks. You shouldn't be able to feel any grittiness of the sugar when rubbing the mixture between your fingers. If you don't have a stand mixer then a handheld electric whisk will suffice.
Remove your silicone chocolate mould from the fridge and spoon in your mallow mix until ⅔ full. Place back into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Remove both your chocolate dipped raw cookies and your chocolate mould from the refrigerator and carefully de-mould the domes. Heat a non-stick or cast iron pan until warm then place the top of one raw cookie onto the pan for a second to melt the chocolate and do the same with the bottom rim of the domes. Place the 2 together and hold gently to fuse. Place on to a wire rack and place a sheet of non-stick paper underneath. Repeat until you have made each dome.
Heat your remaining chocolate back up to 28°C/82°F using the methods from before and pour over a dome. Immediately sprinkle over a handful of desiccated coconut until covered. Repeat for each dome. Leave to set and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
If you own a Vitamix or Blendtec you will not need to melt your cacao butter first - you can actually throw all of your ingredients in and use the tamper stick until evenly melted.
*All cup measurements used are UK cup measurements and so 1 cup = 250ml.
Recipe by Greens of the Stone Age at https://greensofthestoneage.com/raw-vegan-snowball-teacakes-gluten-free-paleo/