Non-dairy Hershey Kisses
Remember this post when I made you guess what was peculiar about the picture; if you could find the item that didn’t belong in a gluten-free/vegan diet? Some of you guessed correctly: I ended up making homemade Hershey Kisses. What, did you forget about it already? I hope not because today is the day I am spilling the beans on how I did it.
Homemade Smooches Recipe
Yield: 12 smooches
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. Enjoy Life non-dairy chocolate chips
- 12 almonds
- mini funnels *see note
- silver foil candy wrappers
- “Happy Valentine’s Day” printed strips
Directions
- Melt the chocolate chips in a double broiler or in a large metal bowl over top a saucepan filled with water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Alternatively, place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second increments. Stirring at each stop. This should take about 90 seconds total.
- Fill the funnel half way with melted chocolate, making sure the chocolate fills a little into the narrowest part. Place almond in middle, making sure that the chocolate is covering it entirely.
- Standing upright, freeze for 10 minutes. Remove smooches from funnel by gently squeezing the chocolate mold out. This should easily slip out. If not, freeze for another minute.
- After you cut out Happy Valentine’s Day paper strips (I printed mine out from the computer at size 8 Typewriter font), fold 1/4″ inch of the paper under the smooch, making it stand upright. Proceed to wrap with silver candy foil (you will need to cut the wrap to fit each individual kiss).
And that is all, folks. See you tomorrow…
Okay, okay, so maybe there is a SPECIAL announcement that I need to be making, eh? First of all, again, a big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who entered the contest and for all of their hardwork in the kitchen. This was such a difficult decision for Laurel, Jenn, and myself–I mean, you saw all of the contenders right?! So without further ado, I present to you the 3 winners from the First Annual Fork and Beans Valentine’s Day Bake-Off:
Best Allergen-Free goes to:
Red Velvet Truffles!
by Sunny @ And Love It Too
If you haven’t checked this recipe out, you must! Sunny managed to actually create a red velvet fudgy center and white chocolate coating from all raw ingredients!
***Honorable mention goes to Danielle @ Fresh 4 Five for her Chocolate Orange Ganache Tartlets.
Most Creative goes to:
Panna Cotta with Orange-Pomegranate Pearls
by Nora @ Natural Noshing
Not only the flavor combinations, but the fact that Nora could create these awesome agar pearls made the judges gasp.
***Honorable mention goes to Kris @ Spa Bettie for her Saffron Donuts.
And the Best Tasting goes to:
Salted Caramel Pecan Fudge Pie!
Kelly @ Kelly Klepfer Blogspot
Rich, fudgy, incredibly sinful! The caramelized pecan topping is enough of a reason to make this; as well as the filling would be simply delicious served as a parfait. But combining all of these flavors together? Sheer chocolate heaven!
Congratulations, ladies! Email me at myforkandbeans@gmail.com to tell me which store of choice you want for your gift card prize.
Fork and Beans 
Congratulations to all of the winners! All of the winning entries look phenomenal. I hope we’ll get to find out which stores the winners choose for their prizes. Inquiring minds want to know! One question loosely about Nora’s dessert – am I the only person who has to sing, “It can congeal like agar” to the tune of “You’ve got the moves like Jagger”?
Thanks for all the congrats. I’m totally shocked to have won… And cadryskitchen, I haven’t totally decided yet, but I’m thinking I’m going to use my prize money to buy some of the crazy ingredients I have yet to experiment with in Vegan cooking. I have never touched Miso, but want to conquer it. Agar flakes, another slightly scary ingredient. (Clearly it should not be feared…ha.ha.) And I just got an Excalibur (a slightly used one at a great discount YES!!!! Score!!!) and I needed some of the sheets for the trays so I can make roll-ups. Oh. then there’s a tofu press. Would love one of those bad boys. So. Going to do some shopping around..
Kelly, those are all such fun ideas! I highly approve! Plus, what better excuse to gift yourself all kinds of fun things for the kitchen than winning a cooking contest. White miso is the bee’s knees for dips, spreads, and cheesy fillings. I fell in love with it last fall. A Tofu Xpress is also incredibly handy. How lucky for you finding an Excalibur dehydrator at a great discount! You’re going to have fun deciding!
Where did you buy your Excalibur, Kelly?
I’ve been wanting one for like two years. My daughter, husband and I decided that would be our Christmas gift to each other and we were going to shell out the 219.00 bucks. But I get the Raw World newsletter and they sent out a clearance email and there were some slightly used ones (like used two or three times) for $165.00. We got it three weeks ago and have been experimenting with a few things. Mostly granolas etc. Strawberries and kiwi. YUM. The plan is to make our own non-dairy yogurts etc. And farmer’s market season. Oh joy!
I have been salivating over one myself. Waiting to find a killer deal like that now 😉
Call them and see if you can’t score one that way. I think it was just a month ago that I ordered it. http://www.therawfoodworld.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us They seem super, super nice and accommodating. And if they are still holding on to a few, they probably still want to get rid of them.
BAHA. Yes, I think it is safe to say that you are the only person, Cadry 🙂
Maybe I’ll start a trend? Hmm, maybe not. 😉
Congrats to all the Winners; everyone did such a fantastic job!
Thank you Cara for hosting the first ever Fork & Beans Valentines Bake Off- SO much FUN!
And thank YOU so much for entering one of the most beautiful entries, Heather!! Those tartletts made the competition SO hard, if you only knew…
Congratulations everyone and thanks for the extra 20 lbs. The creativity and variety of the entries was truly amazing. Each and every one of you deserve a standard ovation. Plus my husband thanks you for not having to provide me with any kind of sweets this Valentine’s Day as we have the best Smorgasbord in town. 🙂
You guys certainly celebrated early this year 🙂 Yes, I completely echo everything you said, Laurel. An impressive bunch of talented people, indeed!
oooh. kisses.. congratulations to all the winners! did you guys actually make everything and try it?
We pretty much made the majority of them, Richa. And we have the extra padding to prove it 🙂
wow.. thats a lot of trying out for the week. i am guessing you are on a sugar break for a few days!:)
We ended up dividing it out so we didn’t each have to all make it. Since we all have similar ideas of what we like, it worked out perfectly. As for me, I ended up just taking a bite or two of what I made and that is about it. Thankfully my system hasn’t been sugar overloaded but I cannot speak for the other 2 ladies 🙂
We also ended up double and triple teaming some of the recipes and I’m eating every single thing I made, a few at a time. I think I need to go on a juice fast. It could be worse though, I could have turned into Augustus Gluck if Al hadn’t won the arm wrestling competition.
The secret is revealed! But, adorable, how creative and they look great! Fantastic post!
I am terrible at keeping secrets anyway 🙂
What an amazing group of bloggers. I am honored, Cara! Thank you so much.
xoxo
You totally deserve it, Sunny! Fabulous job goes to you 🙂
Yum! I thought those truffles looked fantastic, too. Love it when someone makes something that’s raw and healthy and still so insanely good. 🙂
Absolutely! We were impressed completely by them. Thank YOU Deanna for enetering those cupcakes that were total cranberry/red velvet heaven!!
I should have entered :(. To be honest, I’ve not even finished making my Valentine’s gift for Katherine and I still have to send it…. it will be late…
You SHOULD have, Frugs. Next year…
Is Katherine far away that you have to send it? Ugh. That sucks. Greg (the bf of 5 years) is on the opposite side of the country until mid March. So sad. But you are better than I am (again!)–I didn’t get G anything… oops 🙂
Yay! Congratulations everybody! They all look delicious, but especially that chocolate one! 🙂
Congrats, indeed! Thank you again for entering, Brooke! I am so impressed by you 🙂
Yay! Congrats to all the winners AND congrats to all the entrants…what an amazing mix of recipes. Cara, you have THE COOLEST readers 🙂 Such fun to be a part of this contest!
They are so amazing and talented–absolutely!! Thank you, Jenn, for ALL of your hard work! xoxo
Are you serious?!?!?!?!? I am THRILLED and completely honored to be have been chosen amongst all those fantastic entries! EEEEEEEE I have never won anything and I am shocked.THANK YOU SO MUCH to all you wonderful judges!!! Congratulations to all of the other winners; I cannot wait to try all the other incredible 40+ recipes that were submitted!! Thank you again for putting together this Valentine’s Day bake-off, what a fun event! 🙂
PS you totally made my whole month!
It was our pleasure to do so!
Congrats Nora – you definitely deserve the most creative title! This contest was a win-win for everyone – we had fun coming up with our submissions and I’m sure the judges had fun trying them!
It really was such a difficult choice! Thank you again for submitting something, Genevieve. So happy you enjoyed entering 🙂
Congratulations Nora. Pretty, shiny pearls, definitely attention geters, and keepers.
And “jelly” hearts?!!! Holy cow.
You have NEVER won anything for reals? Well, that has just changed around for you! CONGRATS! xo
I am SO excited. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you judges didn’t have to pop Pepto shots to keep your tummies happy with all that cooking and eating you had to do!!! What an honor to be chosen from the talented cooks. And, again, so great of you to put on this contest. Congrats to the other winners and honorable mentions. I will be trying all the recipes (at a more relaxed rate than the judges. : ) )
Oh we totally need Pepto, Tums, and a colon cleanse but it was worth it 🙂 CONGRATS, Kelly!! xo
My husband’s doing the Pepto shots. All I got was a small slice before he came home and laid claim to it. I can’t get a fork anywhere in the vicinity of all those fudgy crumbs.
Bahaha! Poor Al is probably passed out on the floor 🙂
I don’t see why, I only doubled the recipe. It had to be tall to impress my Texan. Plus, Mr. double Art major told me he took 11 shots of that cake before he put it up on the net for you to see. Ha!
Now THAT is something that I’m impressed with. bahaha!
Ha. Ha. Laurel. Thanks so much for judging and making those sacrifices. Pass my thanks on to your husband, too. Nice of him to take some for the team. : )
Kelly, he’s in 7th heaven. Plus you inspired me to come up with a tofu replacement I really like. So thank you for entering and making him happy. He’s always buying me chocolate and then eating it himself unless I hide it first. hah!
Wow and yum. You’ve rendered me basically speechless!
What? Kathy is not speaking??? Noooooooooo!!!!
All lovely choices! Congratulations, ladies.
Thank YOU for the dessert pizza, Dawn! That was a tough contender as well–so creative!! xo