Christmas in October! (Moo Free Chocolate Review + Giveaway!)

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Gine James who won!

I recently received a wonderful package in the post from Moo Free! Chocolate has to be the best thing to get through the letter box on a Monday morning! They sent me their NEW Merry Moo Selection Box to try, and it really got me into the Christmas spirit so I decided that as well as reviewing the chocolate, I would do a little giveaway too!

Moo Free is a British company producing delicious dairy-free rice milk chocolate bars, buttons, Easter eggs and advent calenders. Their NEW Christmas Selection Box would make a great stocking filler for anyone who loves milk chocolate, especially vegan children! You can buy their chocolates, including the Merry Moo Selection Box in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and various health food shops throughout the UK and online.

The first bar I tried was the Minty-Moo bar. I love that the bar has crunchy minty bits all over it! It reminded me of mint matchmakers from my pre-vegan days. I loved this bar, as I love all things mint-chocolate, and I hope they bring out a large version of this bar soon!

The second bar I munched on was the Cheeky Orange bar. Again, this bar has crunchy bits which I love, and has a great orange flavor which reminded me of a Terry's Chocolate Orange. The orange flavor really complemented the smooth, mild milk chocolate.

I was very happy to see the Bunnycomb bar in the selection box! I buy this bar often as it's so tasty and completely covered in teensy pieces of sweet and chewy honeycomb! I usually buy the large bar but liked having a small one, these are great for lunchboxes or keeping in your bag for when a chocolate craving strikes.

The final item in the Selection Box is the Santa bar. I buy a couple of these every Christmas as they're so fun and festive - I do remember one year my Mum ordered some online for my sister and I and was really shocked when they arrived because she expected them to be massive like the Lindt ones! As much as I enjoy the plain milk chocolate in this bar, I definitely preferred the other bars as they had the extra bits in them.

If you would like to receive some chocolate through your letter box, feel free to enter my giveaway! 

As well as the Moo Free Selection Box you will also receive a Moo Free Caramelised Hazelnut Nibs Bar (my favorite Moo Free Chocolate) and two Vivani Bars - White Nougat Crisp & Black Cherry flavor. 

Just leave a comment below telling me your name and what your favorite holiday food is, and be sure to leave a valid email address! This giveaway is open worldwide and will close 12:00 midnight GMT on Wednesday 8th October.

*For an extra chance to win leave a comment on the above picture on my Instagram account (username Floralfrosting). (One entry per person on here + instagram)*

GOOD LUCK!

Vegan MoFo #22 - Pop Tarts

It's the last day of Vegan Month of Food! I've had such a great time blogging every weekday this month, and I'm so glad it's gotten me back in the swing of things after having a baby! Although I can't promise to continue posting every day, I will be posting recipes here often!

For my final Vegan MoFo post I thought I would make something really simple but super delicious! I don't know about you but I have always loved Pop Tarts. Maybe it's because as a child we only had them on special occasions like Birthdays, but there's something so fun about them! Sadly all of the iced Pop Tarts aren't suitable for vegans (they put gelatin in their icing - yuck!) and I just don't have time for an unfrosted Pop Tart.

They are actually really easy to make, and there are so many possibilities for different flavors! I was lazy and used store bought vegan shortcrust pastry, but feel free to make your own if you prefer.

I went with a classic Raspberry Pop Tart and then a Speculoos Pop Tart, as we all know how vegans love their speculoos!

Pop Tarts

Makes 8

2 sheets shortcrust pastry

4tsp, heaped raspberry jam

4tsp, heaped speculoos spread

Water

1 1/2C powdered sugar

1tsp, heaped crunchy speculoos spread

3tsp vegan sprinkles or colored sugar

2 lotus biscuits, crushed

Preheat the oven to 180. Line two baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature, this should take around 10mins. Unroll the pastry and cut each sheet into eight equal pieces.

Place four pieces of pastry on each baking tray and put one teaspoon of filling onto each piece, spreading it out but leaving a centimeter border around the edges. Use your finger to dampen the border with water and place the remaining eight pieces of pastry on top, pressing down slightly around the edges. 

Press a fork around the edges to secure the tarts and pierce twice on the top. Bake each batch for 15mins, until lightly golden and firm to the touch. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool while you make the icings.

In a small bowl make the icing by gradually adding water to the powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time until a thick but spreadable icing forms. Separate into two bowls and mix the teaspoon of speculoos spread into one of them, adding a little more water to thin it down if necessary.

Spread the raspberry tarts with the plain icing and the speculoos tarts with the speculoos icing and top with a sprinkling of the toppings. Leave to set and then store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Note: I do not recommend heating these in a toaster, however if you wish to eat them warm you can either microwave them for 20 seconds or heat them under a grill/broiler for a minute or so.

Vegan MoFo #21 - Vegfest London!

On Saturday I went to Vegfest for the first time! I was so excited to be able to go as we had tickets last year but my morning sickness was so bad I ended up giving them away through Instagram. This year I was feeling really ill but I was determined not to miss it again, and I'm really glad I went!

Vegfest UK is the biggest veggie event in Europe! Once a year the London Olympia West is filled with vegan stalls selling books, magazines, food and all sorts of vegan products. There are also talks and workshops throughout the day on everything from nutrition to vegan travel.

I took my mother in law Louise with me (she's been vegan for about a year and a half now-how awesome is that!?) and we had so much fun looking around and trying lots of yummy food! I also got to meet some Instagram & Blogger friends like Jojo , Sarah and Abigail which really made my week!

I thought that today instead of posting a recipe I would post some of the photos I took on Saturday and tell you a bit about my Vegfest experience!

One of the stalls I was really drawn to was this amazing tropical fruit stall. There were so many incredible fruits that I had only ever seen pictures of! They even had a HUGE jackfruit, but I'm not sure it was for sale!

I was really excited to see the Big Fat Vegan Bakery stall! Everything looked so tasty, including these donuts! I bought a huge cream filled chocolate donut (you can see the picture on my Instagram) and was really looking forward to sharing it with my husband, but I was a bit disappointed with it if I'm honest. The 'cream' filling was actually a very sickly buttercream frosting which, combined with the very thick chocolate icing was so overpoweringly sweet that I had trouble eating even half of it! (And I have a real sweet tooth!) Pete loved it but also didn't eat the 'cream' filling.

I grabbed a funky Avocado-Coconut ice lolly at Pop Cycle and ended up having a great chat with the sweet lady who makes them. She even let us try some of her Strawberry-Lime Granita which was AMAZING - I'm definitely going to try to recreate it soon! I wasn't too fond of the pop I got, but Louise liked it a lot! I love the idea of having these pops at a summer wedding!

I was so happy to see Lakeside Ethical Treats had a stall! They do the most amazing selection of vegan chocolate - including Vegan Creme Eggs!! I always order loads of these at Easter! They also had loads of yummy crisps and snacks available, but I was in it for the chocolate!

One of the stalls I was most impressed by was Trina's Delicacies. They were selling a whole host of amazing baked goods, and I had a hard time deciding what to try. They even had some vegan quiches! In the end I went with a giant slice of their Salted Caramel Cake and oh my goodness was it good! The cake was so fluffy and light, the frosting was sweet without being overpowering and that salted caramel drizzle. Oh boy. This was probably the best thing I ate all day!

Viva! had a stall with loads of fliers and information about the meat industry and I picked up loads of leaflets to pass on to people.

There were some really delicious looking chocolate stalls, and I really wished I had taken more money with me as I would have loved to have bought some of these amazing artisan chocolates to take home with me! Next time I definitely will!

Goody Good Stuff had some great deals on their gummy sweets, and I picked up a tub of their Christmas trees & Baubles to set aside for Christmas! I'll be reviewing some of their products on my blog soon.

When it came to lunch time I was so torn between the Vegusto Hot Dogs and Gillie's Food Chinese, but in the end I couldn't resist the Chinese BBQ with Rice, Cucumber & Sesame seeds. This was so incredibly tasty, sweet with just the right amount of spice, but I definitely had an MSG headache for the rest of the day...

Nakd were giving out samples of their new fruit & nut bars, and I tried the Christmas Pud flavor which was so good!

I tried some Hazelnut Chocolate from the Italian Chocolate stall Cacao Crudo. It was too dark for my taste, but I'm not a big fan of bitter dark chocolate.

I couldn't resist gabbing one of these delicious fresh coconuts to quench my thirst! It was so refreshing!

I stopped by the Pana Chocolate stall and sampled lots of their flavors! I've been wanting to try this brand of chocolate for ages and wasn't disappointed! Their raw chocolate bars are so sweet, chocolatey and creamy that they are almost more like truffle! I particularly loved the orange flavor and will be buying some soon!

The stall I spent the most money at was definitely the Vegan Tuck Box! They do a monthly treat box which is delivered right to your door, and have such a great selection of treats! I'm definitely thinking about signing up soon! 

It was great to see Rebel Kitchen giving out samples of their incredible flavored coconut mylks. I'll be reviewing their mylks here soon and using them in a few recipes, so keep your eyes peeled!

And finally I couldn't believe the amazing selection of vegan marshmallows I found! Lemon Crunch Marshmallows, who would have thought it!?

I loved my day at Vegfest, and will be going next year (with more money to spend!)

If you missed Vegfest London never fear! You can always go along to the one in Brighton in March next year!

Did you go to Vegfest? What was your favorite stall?

Vegan MoFo #20 - Phish Food Ice Cream

Before I went vegan I loved Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Seriously loved it. And after my ice cream success last week I thought I would try to veganize one of my favorite flavors of Ben & Jerry's - Phish Food.

Creamy, sweet chocolate Ice Cream studded with dark chocolate chips and mini marshmallows with a caramel ripple. SO GOOD!

Phish Food Ice Cream

Makes 1 large tub

1 400ml tin full fat coconut milk

1 340g carton silked tofu

1C sugar

1/3C dark cocoa powder

1/2C dark chocolate chips

1/2C mini vegan marshmallows

1/2C coconut caramel sauce

In a blender blitz together the coconut milk, tofu, sugar and cocoa powder until thick and smooth. Pour into a plastic or metal container and place in the freezer for 45mins. Remove from the freezer and whisk vigorously, breaking up the ice particles. Return to the freezer and whisk every 30mins for about an hour and a half, until the mixture is too thick to stir with a whisk. Fold through the chocolate chips and marshmallows and drizzle on the coconut caramel sauce. Fold the sauce through slightly but so you can still see some of the ripple on the top. Return to the freezer to set overnight.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer 10mins before serving.