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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Vegan Fondue feat. Cheezy Bites in Vegan Beer Batter

This Christmas my husbands family decided to celebrate a little early so everyone could be together. With families growing its hard to all get together at Christmas time. So we celebrated on Sunday night with an extra twist to tradition, instead of the typical turkey dinner we had a fondue party!
My mother in law has been hosting fondue parties since she was 19 years old, so we all knew that it would be well stocked with different types of fun dipping sauces, meats and cheeses, with of course a chocolate and caramel for dessert.

Now being vegan I wasn't participating in any of this, but non the less I was still excited because I was getting my very own pot this year! One that I could experiment with and try some new and fun things. I haven't got to fondue since I turned vegan so this was a pretty big deal to me, because for those of you who have fondued you know how fun they can be.
Sadly, we got to Devon's parents for brunch and ended up munching all day, which can be great but not when you have a huge fondue feast waiting for you that night. So by the time supper rolled around I was still very full from the days festivities so I didn't get to experiment like I wanted to. BUT! I did get to try the cheese balls, something that I knew I had to try. Devon's mom Mary B. already had a batter recipe that was tried and true so I just subbed out the eggs for a flax egg and voila vegan batter!

When I tasted my first bite of this cheezy goodness, I actually was on the brink of tears. For I haven't had something that good in a long time.... something so heavenly, so gooey, so melty, so amazingly non-vegan (but vegan!!!) cheezy goodness that it was definitely cry worthy. I made about 7 of them and had to call it quits. I should have stopped at one, but seriously who would do that?

So if you have a deep fryer, or are headed to a fondue party soon, I HIGHLY suggest you try these bad boys out, you wont be disappointed!
 
Vegan Beer Batter
3/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 flax eggs: 6 tbsp. water, 2 tbsp. ground flax
1/2 cup beer
Mix together all dry ingredients. Let your flax eggs sit for about 10 min to set before adding them into the dry mixture, then add beer. Mix until well combined. Best if you can let the batter sit for 1-2 hours before using.

The vegan cheese I used was a block of Daiya in cheddar flavour. I cut it up into 1/4 inch blocks, dipped them into the batter and fried them for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Like most fondue/deep frying, let them sit for a minute or two because the insides will be hot!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N