Vegan Milk Cream Dessert (Monte)

When it comes to my favorite childhood sweets, everything revolves around these three components: chocolate, nuts and milk. And the more I think about it, my childhood memories become disenchanted. German classics such as „Schokobons,“ Toffifay, „Kinder Bueno,” „Knoppers,” and „Monte”: chocolate, nuts, and milk are always at the end of the list. But even if the selection of my snacks doesn’t look particularly varied on closer inspection, this is also one of the best combinations in the world.

But to be honest, I still love this combination, and apparently, I'm not alone because all those sweets I ate as a child are still around. But not (yet) vegan. And because it's unfortunately not that easy to simply replace cow's milk with oat milk, today we're going to show you how to make a vegan version of the German milk cream dessert classic called Monte. And no, it's not about Twitch. We're staying in the sweets aisle.

The light cream: The Original Monte is based on whole milk, cream and sugar. We have omitted a plant-based milk substitute in our recipe and used only vegan cream instead. Feel free to use the alternative with the highest fat content. We want to end up with a really creamy dessert, and that's mainly about fat. Also, make sure you use vegan whipping cream that is sweetened or unsweetened. Depending on which you use, you may need a little more or less additional sugar (which you can also replace with agave syrup).

The dark cream: The original dark cream is made with hazelnut paste and cocoa powder. Here, too, the base is whole milk, cream, and sugar. We have used hazelnut paste and unsweetened cocoa powder, which you should be able to find in almost any supermarket. We thicken both creams with cornflour at the end to make the consistency as close as possible to the original.

Storage: You can, of course, divide your light and dark cream directly into four portions and fill them into screw-top jars, for example. Top with some sliced chocolate, and your dessert is ready to serve. If stored in the fridge, we would use the vegan Monte within 3–4 days.