Fantabulous Dairy Free Fudge

I have had the good fortune to get to know Pili Dressel through a friend—Laurell, a fellow author—and her assistant, Carri. Pili and Carri are life-partners, and I adore both of them. Besides running a beautiful woodworking business (Cranky Cricket Creations), Pili works a day job and cooks for Laurell, making sure she has nutritious, delicious meals. In other words, the woman is BUSY. Too busy for her own good. And yet, still she finds time to help out friends and do wonderful things in the kitchen.

When she found out I was longing for a good dairy free, gluten free fudge that wouldn’t aggravate my allergies, she took up the challenge and lo-and-behold, two wonderful tins of fudge appeared in my mail box the other day. It looks like fudge. But better yet—it TASTES like “real” fudge…and no reactions!

Pili gave me permission to post the recipe for my readers who have the same dairy allergy, and so here it is: wonderful dairy free fudge that will make the holidays a little bit brighter.

Here’s the recipe in her own words (though I named it):

Pili’s Fantabulous Dairy Free Fudge

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1¼ cup vegan cane sugar
• ¼ cup Earth Balance margarine
• 7 oz. Ricemellow
• ½ cup Enjoy Life Brand, dairy, soy and gluten-free chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line a 9" x 9" pan with greased foil, set aside. In a heavy sauce pan, heat almond milk and sugar to a boil, stirring constantly. When the milk/sugar mixture reaches rapid boil, mixture will turn into thousands of bubbles and go from clear to milky, sugar will be dissolved at this point. Remove from heat, stir in Earth Balance, chips, vanilla, and Ricemellow. Stir constantly until smooth. Pour into the greased pan, refrigerate for 4 hours, cut into cubes and serve.