Have no fear this Halloween my vegan friends - at least not when it comes to treats and candy. There are plenty of vegan-friendly sweets to fill up on and make ourselves sick right along side our non-vegan witch and vampire friends.
A few of the more common vegan candies that you might find in your trick-or-treat bag include Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Dum Dums, Bazooka bubble gum, Life Savers (non-gummy versions), Skittles (except "crazy cores"), Nerds, Runts, Gobstoppers and Laffy Taffy.
There are many more vegan-friendly treats out there. To see lists, visit www.vegforlife.org/ resources_candy.htm or www.petakids.com/ candy.asp.
There also are a few websites where you can order vegan candy and have it sent right to your house. One of those sites is www.naturalcandystore.com/category/vegan-candy.
Of course, all milk chocolate candy bars are out of the question, but some dark chocolate treats may be OK.
The chocolate, or cocoa, isn't the culprit, it's the milk and other additives that make it non-vegan. So, always remember to check the labels before you buy.
You also can make your own candy, which I am going to try this year.
One Halloween-time candy that I always loved was candy corn. Sadly, all packaged candy corn at the grocery stores have ingredients such as gelatin, egg whites or beeswax in them, which makes them inedible for vegans.
I found a recipe for vegan candy corn on Pinterest.com that I can't wait to try. It seems like it will be quite a bit of work, but I'm willing to work for my candy corn.
Vegan candy corn
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
5 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup powdered soy milk
Pinch of salt
Red and yellow food coloring
In a large saucepan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After 5 minutes, remove from heat. Sift the powdered sugar, powdered soy milk and salt into medium bowl.
Add the powdered sugar mixture to pan and stir to combine. Let the mixture stand about 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Add a couple drops of yellow food coloring to one piece of dough and knead until smooth.
Repeat using red and yellow food coloring (for orange) with the second piece and leave the last piece white, but knead it until smooth.
Roll each piece into ropes of equal length and push the three pieces together to form a long rectangle. Using a knife, cut the ropes into triangles.
Vegan Whatchamacallit
1 cup vegan chocolate chips (melted)
1 cup rice crisp cereal
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Caramel layer
(Make caramel after you have completed the first and second layers of the candy)
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
1/4cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance butter
1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/8 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
Thinly coat bottom with 1/2 cup melted chocolate. In a medium bowl, combine rice cereal and peanut putter.
Layer it on top of the chocolate and place in freezer while you make the caramel.
Combine all ingredients for caramel (except vanilla) into a small saucepan and melt over medium heat, stirring continuously.
Bring mixture to a boil and add candy thermometer. Let sit without stirring until it reaches 250 to 270 F.
Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour as third layer in loaf pan and freeze for 10 minutes.
Remove parchment paper from pan and cut candy into 6 slices and cut each rectangle in half.
Dip each side of the candy into the remaining 1/2 cup melted chocolate and let sit for a couple hours to dry before eating or freeze for 15 minutes.
