Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate Bars

I keep seeing ads for delicious looking vegan chocolate bars, and it is so tempting to buy some. I saw some really good looking white chocolate ones with flavors.  But what I was really craving was something with a vegan strawberry white chocolate combined with dark chocolate so I decided to make my own. I had all of the ingredients on hand and they are easy to make so why not?!  What I made were these Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate bars!

For the vegan white chocolate I use a combination of cacao butter, raw cashew butter and coconut butter to give it a rich smooth texture, and sweeten it with maple syrup and a hint of vanilla.  It is so delicious on its own, but perfect for adding flavors to.  I added a strawberry powder, which I made by grinding freeze dried strawberries for loads of sweet strawberry flavor and it was perfect!  I poured this into the chocolate bar molds first, before adding the dark chocolate.

Then I melted some vegan dark chocolate and poured it over the white chocolate, also adding crushed freeze dried strawberries for crunch.  These are super easy to make.  I know I say to use a double boiler to melt the white chocolate and dark chocolate ingredients together but sometimes I use the microwave melting method as well.  Melting the dark chocolate in increments, stirring after heating for 30 seconds a couple of times, then 15 seconds stirring in between each time. For the white you can heat the cacao butter and coconut butter this way and then whisk it together with the other ingredients at room temperature if you do not want to do the double boiler method. 

These turned out so delicious and they were so easy to make!  They are the perfect balance of sweetness and richness with the white and dark chocolate, intense dark chocolate and flavorful berries!  If you are in the mood for something sweet, definitely give these Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate Bars a try!  They are also great for edible Valentine's Day gifts, provided you don't eat them all yourself first!

Vegan Strawberry Dark Chocolate Bars

Makes 4

Strawberry White Chocolate:

• 1/4 cup cacao butter
• 2 Tbsp coconut butter (warmed to liquid)
• 2 Tbsp raw cashew butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup (or to taste)
• pinch sea salt
• 3 Tbsp strawberry power (I took freeze dried strawberries and ground them up with a mortar and pestle)

  Dark Chocolate:

• 1 1/2 cups chopped good quality vegan dark chocolate
• 1 Tbsp crushed freeze dried strawberries

  Instructions:

1. Combine the cacao butter, cashew butter, and coconut butter, and  in the top of a double boiler, and melt until smooth.
2. Add the maple syrup, vanilla, and sea salt and whisk together until well blended.
3. Whisk the strawberry powder into it.
4. Pour the strawberry white chocolate into the bottoms of 4 standard sized chocolate bar molds set on a tray.
5. Place the tray with the molds in the freezer until the white chocolate has set.
6. Meanwhile, clean out the double boiler, and add the dark chocolate to it, melting it until smooth.
7. When the white chocolate has hardened, pour the dark chocolate over it to fill the molds, and smooth to the sides (working quickly because if you go too slow the white chocolate will start to melt and not look neat).  Then sprinkle the crushed strawberries over the dark chocolate.
8. Set the tray with the molds back into the freezer until set, about 20 minutes.
9. Un-mold and enjoy!

  Chocolate bars keep in a container in the refrigerator for up to a month.