Intro + Dark Chocolate Raspberry Fudgsicles

Welcome to Adventuring Vegan!  I've been anxious to get this website running for a couple months now, and finally, the first post!  I'll start off with a little introduction.  I'm Krisan, a 27-year-old vegan living in Bloomington, Indiana.  I'm crazy about cooking, baking, summer roadtrips, camping, hiking, and my adorable (you guessed it) cats.  I wanted to start a vegan food blog heavily inspired by my love for the outdoors, so, Adventuring Vegan was born!  Don't you just love how the A and V form a mountain?  Swoon.  Anyway, this blog will feature recipes intended to prepare in your kitchen, along with plenty of camping specific recipes too.  I'll be trying out a lot of new things on the trips I have planned for the summer and can't wait to share them with you!  To kick things off, a super satisfying, super easy dark chocolate raspberry fudgsicle recipe.  These fudgsicles will hit the spot when you want a creamy, chocolatey, decadent dessert to cool you down.

I just bought a popsicle maker on Amazon (this one, if you're interested).  I highly encourage you to get one for yourself (trust me, you'll use it all summer long), but you are welcome to use a regular old ice cube tray too!  This recipe made 8 fudgsicles in my maker, but you can stretch it a little further by adding some extra non-dairy milk to the mixture.

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
1 full sized dark chocolate bar (I used a 3.25 oz 54% cocoa Newman's Own bar)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 tsp vanilla
6 oz raspberries

Method:
Heat coconut milk in a saucepan over medium heat.  Break your chocolate bar into pieces and add to the coconut milk, stirring until completely melted.  Mix in maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and vanilla.  Add the raspberries and mash with a potato masher or the tip of a whisk until there are no full raspberries left, but making sure there are still some chunks.  Let cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, so the raspberries can break down a bit, and remove from heat.  Taste mixture, adjusting sweetness if necessary.  At this point I poured my mixture into a glass measuring cup to make it easier to pour into my popsicle mold.  (Be careful not to splash yourself, it's hot!)  Pour mixture into popsicle mold (or ice cube tray) and place in freezer.  Let your fudgsicles firm up for about an hour before you place your popsicle sticks in them, that way they'll stand up straight.  If using an ice cube tray, cover tightly with foil and stick popsicle sticks into cubes, letting the foil hold them in place.

When you're ready to eat your fudgsicles, run popsicle mold under hot water until you can slide them out.  If you're having trouble, you may not have let them freeze completely first.  To avoid having to do this every time you want a fudgsicle, you can remove all of them at once, wrap individually in parchment paper, and place in a sealed container in your freezer for easy enjoying.

Notes:
-Not in a raspberry mood?  Substitute another type of berry, or throw in a handful of chocolate chips instead to make double chocolate fudgsicles.
-Agave nectar can be substituted for either of the syrups.

Hope you try them, hope you like them!