2 minute healthy caramel (vegan)

My favourite chocolate filling is praline/any type of nut (sorry if you're allergic. Well, I'm not sorry it's my favourite but...... Sorry my friend).
Just in case anyone wants to buy me chocolate for any reason, I thought I should put that out there.
But caramels good too. So sweet. Soooooo goooooey. So indulgent.
Unfortunely it's also a mixture of butter and sugar so it really isn't in the healthy eating spectrum.
Or is it?
The likes of Ella Woodward have taught us that nothing is impossible, with their incredible concuctions that bear an uncanny likeness to real caramel (often featuring dates). But I have two problems. Problem one- I don't have a blender. And that makes these concuctions a teeny bit harder to achieve. Problem two- I don't have patience. At all. I want that caramel, I eat that caramel, forget soaking and blending dates.
So this is a recipe that does not take that time. Or that effort. And while it may be less uncanningly similar to the real deal, it's still pretty darn good.
I made his originally just as a topping for ice cream when nothing else was in the cupboards. But I then discovered that this topping was no ordinary topping- it was a caramel deliciousness.
I then proceeded to smother it over everything. Cakes, more ice cream, toast (maybe not the best example) brownies, pancakes, puddings, EVERYTHING (even toast- not sure about that one).
It takes two ingredients and under two minutes. So go and defrost that ice cream/grab that last brownie-that-the-whole-family-wants!

Ingredients: (makes one portion of topping. Multiply to make more. See, maths is useful)
2 tablespoons of peanut butter (I usually use meridian crunchy)
1 tablespoon of mayple syrup (other sweeteners work but this ones the best)



Method:
Mix and devour


Not too hard was it?

5-minute vegan hot chocolate

I'm going to say it, and I know I'm not the first person to do so.
It's cold. Winter-like coldness is engulfing sunny England. And as we all know, this is a very exciting discussion here in London. The weather. In the supermarket. In Starbucks. At a friends party. While awkwardly running into an acquaintance who's name is.......... Not Robert. Not Richard. Darn it.
Anyway, it's unfortunate but it's true. Winter is slowly descending and soon t'will be the season. The season of gloves and fun bobble hats and Christmas shopping and endless fireworks.
But most importantly-t'is the season for hot chocolate!

And yesterday, when my friends and I went to the Starbucks in Camden where you can SIT ON THE ROOF TO DRINK YOUR BEVERAGES, I told my friend who was behind me in the inevitable line that, you know what? I'd love a soya hazelnut hot chocolate (tall, I case you were wondering) And being one of the many friends who is still confused about the difference between milk from a cow and milk from a bean, she was schocked.
But won't you be sick?
No, I'm having soya milk.
But still?
But what?!
Well, chocolate has milk you know.
Not dark chocolate.
And this is the Volta of my story, I then explained to my friend that the essence of chocolate is the cocoa, which does not come from a cow (if it did, that cow would be magic and worth millions and Cadbury and galaxy would fight over it). Dairy is just added to white and milk chocolates for taste and consistency really. So most dark chocolate is milk free, and real cocoa powder is milk free and..... She was distracted by the marshmallows on a stick in the counter.
Oh well.
So the morals of the story are:
-I need better stories
-and  vegan hot chocolate is actually really easy. Just dark/dairy free chocolate and any vegan milk.
But this is my recipe for REALLY good hot chocolate. REALLY.

Ingredients:
-Roughly one mug of milk (soya milks my preference, but really anything works. I try to avoid almond milk as I don't like the taste when heated)
-Roughly 20g of chocolate (more or less depending on personal preference)
-A teaspoon of coconut oil
-Cinnamon (or chilli, nutmeg or any chosen flavour. Plain chocolate is fine too!)


Method:
-pour the milk into a pan and heat it over a medium heat.
-Meanwhile, chop your chocolate into tiny pieces
-Put the coconut oil, chocolate and cinnamon into the pan and turn the heat up slightly.
-mix until the chocolate and coconut oil have dissolved
-Drink!!

We have just bought some huge mugs from Wilko, so I've been making copious amounts of hot chocolate to fill them each of them. Hope you enjoy!