We hosted a feast for our friends a few weeks later, one of whom is extremely allergic to nuts, so when I tried to think of a wholesome but satisfying, vegan, nut-free dessert, something like this seemed like the obvious choice. After looking around for quite a while, unsatisfied with the condensed milk, sugary glace cherries and processed biscuit crumb based recipes on most blogs, I finally found Wholesome Cook's amazing recipe for Homemade Cherry Ripe Bites. Inspired, we took the idea of that recipe and made it our own.
Ingredients
Filling:
- 500g fresh cherries, pitted and halved
- 1 densely packed cup of fresh shredded coconut, toasted (we just cracked open a coconut and used a cheese grater to shred the meat, not worrying too much about the thin inner skin that made its way in, but packaged stuff would probably do here if you can't get a fresh coconut)
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped goji berries (soaked for 2 hours)
- 1/2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
- 1 scant Teaspoon sifted cornflour
- Agave nectar to taste (date paste or maple syrup would also work)
- 1 generous drizzle of Kraken spiced rum (or something similar)
- 1/2 cup finely shredded desiccated coconut
- 2-3 Tbsp coarsely shredded desiccated coconut (for the top)
- 1 large block of good quality 70% chocolate
- Enough non-dairy milk to get the chocolate to a spreadable consistency (we used about 1/3 cup of warm soy milk).
- Roast the cherries (pitted side up) in a low oven (around 140 degrees Celsius) for about 20 minutes until soft and juicy.
- Quickly pulse cherries in a food processor until evenly chopped but not a paste. Remove half cherries and set aside.
- Combine all remaining filling ingredients except coconut in food processor until a reasonably smooth consistency.
- Remove from processor and combine with the chopped cherries that you set aside and the fresh coconut with a spoon or spatula.
- Spread out in a flat dish and place in fridge for 1 hour to set.
- When set, remove from fridge and distribute shredded desiccated coconut across the top of the cherry mixture (to soak up any cherry juice still floating around - mmm, I'm salivating just remembering it!)
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler and slowly combine the soy milk until it is a rich, saucy consistency.
- Spread chocolate while still hot over entire cherry mixture, smoothing out with a spatula.
- Sprinkle coarse coconut over top of chocolate while still hot.
- Serve at room temperature. (The colder the chocolate, the more likely it is to crack when you try and cut it.)
