I just spent a few days in Wisconsin and Michigan where I ate a little more than my fair share of fried cheese and ice cream. Home now and recovering, I have been craving a treat but needing something that might be a bit easier on my body. I thought of the vegan punk chocolate shake that I made for a recent piece I published about punk and food for Paste Food. The shake, from Joshua Ploeg's charming This Ain't No Picnic: Your punk rock vegan cookbook, was the runaway hit of a vegan dinner I made for my son and partner. I made it again tonight, taking great liberties with the recipe, which I will share here without permission ("because plagiarism is totally punk," writes Ploeg).
Vegan Chocolate Shake
Serves 3-4
3 bananas
1 cup frozen raspberries or strawberries
6 ounces very dark chocolate (I used 88%), melted and cooled
5.4 ounce can unsweetened coconut cream
12 pitted dates
1 cup coconut milk or almond milk or whatever, plus maybe a little more to get to desired milkshake consistency)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Blend everything until smooth and creamy. Add more coconut milk if mixture is too thick. Chill well before serving.
