I am so excited to share today’s post with you, and for so many reasons! So, where to begin?
Gelatine-free marshmallows. Dark chocolate in so many amazing flavours. VEGAN rocky road.
I first tried Seed and Bean chocolate a couple of months ago after picking up a bar of their chilli and lime dairy-free dark chocolate and was immediately hooked. It wasn’t just the fresh lime flavour, warm chilli heat that built up afterwards, or the creaminess of their dark chocolate that impressed me either – Seed and Bean have some seriously impressive ethical credentials.
Based in Northamptonshire, artisan chocolatiers Seed and Bean create their chocolate in small batches of 45l compared to industrial chocolate production where batches are 20-50,000 litres. All of their chocolate is organic and fairtrade and Seed and Bean is the only company to receive a 100% score on the ethical chocolate ranking table from The Good Shopping Guide. They don’t just stop with their chocolate though, the “foil” wrappers are made from nature flex, fully home compostable.
Seed and Bean have a grand total of twelve vegan-friendly dark chocolate varieties, which includes all of the flavours I tried here:
Coconut & Raspberry – This was my absolute favorite. The coconut flavor doesn’t stand out that much but the raspberry is so perfect and tangy, you could well believe you were eating the real thing alongside your chocolate.
Mandarin & Ginger – the lighter flavours of the mandarin and slight spice of ginger are a perfect match here. Ideal if you don’t want a really dark option.
Pumpkin Seeds & Hemp Oil – This was probably the biggest (pleasant) surprise for me. The pumpkin seeds add a great bit of extra texture and the hemp oil gives the creamy chocolate that characteristic nutty flavor.
Sicilian Hazelnut – The hazelnut was subtle but added a depth that made this delicious flavor especially rich and dark.
Turning back to this recipe, it has been a serious amount of time since I last had marshmallows. This was the first ever time I’ve tried vegetarian marshmallows and they live up to every distant memory I have of marshmallows. Together with the slight crisp you get from the chocolate when it is in thinner discs like this, the crunch of the chocolate and the chewy cranberry, this is a mouthful of heaven.
I made my rocky road chocolate bark using Seed and Bean’s Coconut and Raspberry dark chocolate; they would work with any flavoured chocolate or plain dark chocolate. Since I was using raspberry chocolate, I topped them with just one cranberry on each so the raspberry tang could stand out, but if you were using plain chocolate then I’d recommend adding more cranberries on top.
- 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- 2tbsp vegan marshmallows
- 2 rich tea biscuits, roughly crushed
- 1tbsp dried cranberries
- Add the chocolate to a heat-proof bowl placed over a shallow pan of warm water. Over a gentle heat, melt the chocolate, stirring to achieve a smooth consistency.
- Spread a layer of foil over a plate or baking tray. Once the chocolate has fully melted, spoon out onto the foil to create discs of chocolate. Leave to cool for a minute or two.
- Sprinkle on the marshmallows, broken biscuit and cranberries.
- Place in the fridge for around ten minutes to set.
- Carefully remove from the backing foil and enjoy!
Looking for more chocolate inspiration – try these Cherry & Hemp Raw Brownies!
Seed and Bean kindly sent me some samples to create this recipe – I was a huge fan already and all thoughts here are my own honest opinion!
