Lavender Fudge with Vegan Vanilla Marshmallows

I'm not sure which I'm more excited about: the lavender fudge or the vegan vanilla marshmallows that make it possible!

This recipe calls for evaporated milk but I prefer condensed milk instead - both of which can be made dairy-free. Using condensed milk makes it impossible to strain the lavender but so far everyone loves it so I'm sticking with it. They turn out pretty sweet this way but you can cut the sweetness by using half light and half dark chocolate or use all semi-sweet.

I make these as a reward for getting through 30-day cycles of sneaky veganism. Definitely not the healthiest thing you'll find on this site so enjoy it in moderation. The last batch lasted us a month and that was after giving half of it away!

1 cup evaporated or condensed milk (here's a vegan recipe)
1 tablespoon dried lavender (be sure it's food grade - better yet, grow your own!)
1-1/2 cups sugar (regular or raw cane work equally well)
2 tablespoons "butter" (Earth Balance makes a good, non-hydrogenated spread)
a pinch of salt
2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups marshmallows (Sweet & Sara makes yummy gelatin-free vegan marshmallows)

Heat milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add dried lavender and heat to simmering. Keep stirring and don't mind any caramelized bits that you scrape off the bottom. Remove from heat, cover and let sit five minutes.

Strain out lavender (unless you used condensed milk). Return to heat.

Add sugar, butter and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes to completely decrystalize the sugar. Remove from heat.

Add marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir until thoroughly mixed. The marshmallows and chocolate chips will melt in the heated evaporated milk even though you've removed the mixture from the heat source. Mine don't when I use the condensed milk so just keep them on the fire with constant stirring.

Pour mixture into small greased baking pan. Do not bake! Instead, refrigerate the mixture overnight.

Cut into two dozen fudge pieces and enjoy!

Update: I just made these with evaporated vanilla soy milk (so I could strain the lavender) and semi-sweet chocolate chips. They turned out a little stickier than the condensed milk version with a more intense "cocoa" flavor but there is definitely still a hint of lavender. Try it both ways and let me know what you think - would be interested to know which version is more popular!