Naturally-Colored Fun Fudge

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Having fun with food can be a little hard when you’re on a whole foods special diet. 

With a little ingenuity, however, it’s possible to make fun colored treats completely naturally, like this All Natural Fun Fudge.

green, purple and red/pink fun fudge with some blueberries in the background

You know what it’s like. Most people just go and buy all kinds of colored sprinkles, food dyes, pre-made frostings and mixes to make all kinds of treats for special occasions.

Of course there are sources these days for more options that work for special diets, but they can be pricey and still are often are filled with a lot of sugar.

Those of us who are trying to be healthy, do have options. Nature is colorful, and you don’t even have to buy natural food colorings to make your food pretty.

Just buy colorful food and use that for your dyes.

Just like with this Natural Blue Food Coloring and Fresh Mint Ice Cream, you can make your food pretty without using artificial or pre-made dyes.

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Shape Options

You can make this recipe into small squares, as in the photos, or you can try any of the following

  • Roll into Energy balls
  • Pour into molds and let sit
  • Freeze in ice cube trays
  • Flatten and use small cookie cutters

Recipe Notes

  • Sweetener: Any healthy sweetener, liquid or granulated, will work, but the sweetener amount in the recipe is for a 1:1 substitute for sugar. If you use something that isn’t a direct substitution, you’ll have to make adjustments. Honey and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar, so plan accordingly if you choose to use one of them. You may also substitute pure stevia extract or liquid stevia to taste. With stevia, start with a low amount and work your way up slowly, tasting after each addition. I recommend starting with 20 drops of liquid stevia or 4 scoops of stevia (see How to Use Stevia).
  • Blender: For owners of high-powered blenders like the Vitamix, there’s no need to melt the coconut oil before blending. Simply place all ingredients in the blender and process until smooth. The blender version will have a lighter color and smoother texture.
  • Coconut Butter: Use extra coconut butter instead of nut or seed butter for AIP. Here’s how to make your own coconut butter.
  • Pink/Red Fudge: For pink/red fudge, beet powder is an easier addition than beets – start with about 1/8 cup and add more to get your desired shade.
Naturally-Colored Easter Fudge

Naturally-Colored Dairy-Free Easter Fudge (dairy free and sugar free)

This Dairy-Free Naturally Colored Fudge is perfect for Easter or anytime. Fun for molding into any shape for more fun!
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Keto, Low-Carb, Paleo, Vegan
Keyword: fun fudge, naturally colored fat bombs, naturally colored fudge
Servings: 48
Calories: 111kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Melt coconut oil in small saucepan over low heat.
  • Add remaining ingredients to blender or food processor, add melted coconut oil and blend or process until smooth.
  • Pour into an 8×8 baking pan (Other sizes can work as well; larger pans will yield a thinner fudge.) and freeze until solid.  To make clean up easier, you can even shape the fudge "free form" on a baking sheet into whatever shape and thickness you like. You can also use molds or an ice cube tray if you prefer.
  • Chill to set.
  • Store in refrigerator or freezer to prevent softening.

Notes

  • Sweetener: Any healthy sweetener, liquid or granulated, will work, but the sweetener amount in the recipe is for a 1:1 substitute for sugar. If you use something that isn’t a direct substitution, you’ll have to make adjustments. Honey and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar, so plan accordingly if you choose to use one of them. You may also substitute pure stevia extract or liquid stevia to taste. With stevia, start with a low amount and work your way up slowly, tasting after each addition. I recommend starting with 20 drops of liquid stevia or 4 scoops of stevia (see How to Use Stevia).
  • Blender: For owners of high-powered blenders like the Vitamix, there’s no need to melt the coconut oil before blending. Simply place all ingredients in the blender and process until smooth. The blender version will have a lighter color and smoother texture.
  • Coconut Butter: Use extra coconut butter instead of nut or seed butter for AIP. Here’s how to make your own coconut butter.
  • Pink/Red Fudge: For pink/red fudge, beet powder is an easier addition than beets – start with about 1/8 cup and add ’til you get the desired shade.

Nutrition

Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 39mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.

I hope you enjoy this colorful treat that mom won’t worry about serving.  This is the way food was meant to be.

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32 Comments

  1. I used Nutiva organic refined coconut oil. Was I chill it first? Thanks for your quick response

    1. That oil should work. The instructions say to chill before cutting. Was that not clear? If not, please let me know.

  2. How do you shape this fudge? It is just one big liquidy mess. Are you to use coconut oil OR coconut butter. I used coconut oil

    1. Hi there. Did you freeze / chill it to make it firm and what kind of coconut oil did you use?

  3. I tried using my Vitamix for this an it almost ruined my machine. When it finally incorporated, it started to quickly seperate and turned lumpy. It was such a waste. I followed the recipe to the T and it was NOT purple! It was brown.

    1. Hmmm, Shannon. I am not sure what could have happened. I have never had an issue with this. And I don’t see how blueberries could make brown color. Perhaps something was wrong with your ingredients?

  4. YUM! This sounds tasty. I would love to have you link up to Sugar Me Up this (and every) weekend. And if you ever have a cake or cupcake you want featured feel free to submit it too!

    Other recipes can be linked up at Feed Your Soul weekends at Around My Family Table.

    Wendy

  5. One of the reasons for returning an item to Amazon is “damaged/defective.” I wrote that the product claims to be edible, but it made me ill after I ate it. Since the shea butter was from the same company, I no longer had confidence in it’s quality. So, they’re both in the mail back to Amazon.

    I also hope to feel better soon. I’m feeling quite sick to my stomach; the cocoa butter was the only new food I’ve eaten today and this definitely doesn’t feel like a flu bug or any kind of germ caused illness. If feels like I ate something bad. But I’m not throwing up – to look on the bright side!

  6. Not yet regarding a good source. I investigated what I bought through Amazon and I now realize that I have ideological issues with the supply company. So I’m searching for a good source right now.

  7. Well… I had an interesting evening last night making this recipe with cocoa butter. First off, I’m new to becoming kinda crunchy, so I don’t always know how things will interact – or not! – together.

    Because the cocoa butter is so hard, I decided to melt the coconut oil and cocoa butter together in the microwave. That part worked fine. Then I added organic turbinado raw cane sugar. It wouldn’t dissolve. I finally put it all in my blender and mixed and mixed and mixed only to watch the sugar sink to the bottom of the blender each time. My conclusion is that sugar can’t be held in suspension by oil. Do you know if that’s true?

    So then I added frozen blueberries to make it purple, hoping that the addition of cold would cause the coconut oil and cocoa butter to somewhat solidify and be able to physically hold the sugar throughout the mixture. When it didn’t solidify, I decided to pour the mix (yes, I had added the vanilla and salt) into an 8×8 dish. I left it covered on the counter overnight and went to sleep.

    This morning, the mix was solid, but mixable. The very top was a thin layer of coconut oil. I didn’t bother to study the layers too much; I’m sure the sugar was on the bottom. I was able to stir the mix in a “cream butter into sugar” sort of consistency. Quite the good upper body workout! I waited until the kids were at school so they wouldn’t be asking, “What’s that, Mom?”

    So, I got it mostly stirred up. I could still see a few small chunks of coconut oil, but decided it was good enough. It’s in the fridge to firm up some more. It is yummy! And a very nice shade of purple. Once it’s firm, I plan to cut it, leave it in the pan, leave it out and see whether or not it stays firm at room temperature. I’ll let you know!

    What I might try next time is to melt the cocoa butter and then mix it into slightly softened coconut oil along with the other ingredients. I’ll let you know how it goes! Maybe I’ll even try it with cocoa to see if I can make a somewhat traditional dairy-free fudge. Thanks for this recipe!

    1. Oh my, Ellen. What a story! When I responded to your question about cocoa butter I was thinking you’d be subbing it for the coconut oil–not the seed butter :-). Sorry about that! I do think you might get better results melting the oil and butter on low temp on the stove. I’ve had issues w/ melting coconut oil and having the whole recipe mess up. But cocoa butter is a lot firmer than nut butter so that’s likely what happened.

      I think it’s great it tasted good! Did you see my Bean Fudge Recipe? You’ll love it! Great minds think alike ;-).

      1. Well, I just took it out of the fridge and ate a piece. It’s an interesting concoction I’ve made. Not sure what I will call it. It tastes good, but is different than anything I’ve ever eaten. Actually, it’s rather like white chocolate. Perhaps I’ll call it “White Chocolate and Blueberry Fudge”. My kids recently had white chocolate hot cocoa and liked it. It’s kind of crumbly just out of the fridge; I’ll comment again about its texture once it gets to room temperature. And to think that men, and some women, have been surprised when women make good scientists… 😉

        1. :-). Please keep me in the loop! My son LOVES blueberries so I’ll be excited to try it! Do you have a good source for bulk cocoa butter?

          1. Well… I’m now feeling queasy after eating my creation. I’m returning the cocoa butter and the shea butter I also purchase from the same company to Amazon. However, I still think cocoa butter and coconut oil creations are worth pursuing. I’m glad I thought to return these items and get my money back.

            1. You’re able to return it just b/c of feeling queasy? Please tell how you pulled that off! Hope you feel better – what do you think was the problem?

  8. Would cocoa butter work in this recipe? I bought some food grade cocoa butter for putting into creams and lotions (experiments which I’ve just begun playing with). Seems like it would be perfect for fudge…?

    1. I think it would for sure work but will be better for room temp (it won’t get soft) and it will taste more “chocolatey”. Let me know :-).

  9. Your pastel fudge is lovely! We don’t do food dyes so it is nice to have a healthy alternative.

  10. I did see those, that was what brought me over here.
    We have to follow a low oxalate diet here (well 2 of us do) so we can’t do high oxalate foods even once in a while or my 4 year old and I will be in significant pain. (we do miss beets but it just isn’t worth it).

    1. Hmmm….well, how about blueberries for the red (it’ll be reddish purple) or this link perhaps for a greenish dye. I am not “up” on oxalates so forgive me if I’m recommending something you can’t have–how about spirulina since you would only need a very small amount? Or chlorella?

  11. Have you tried anything else for the green or red? Those are both high oxalate foods. I’m just wondering if I can learn from your mistakes what not to try myself.

    1. Patty..I haven’t yet, but did you see the naturally colored eggs post on my post today? I don’t know that I would worry about high oxalate once in awhile, but the maybe you know more than I do. We eat parsley fairly regularly, but not so with beets.

  12. Love this. I made some fudge before christmas and wanted it to be red. I juiced a beet and added that, but just chopping one up sounds good too! Thanks for the idea!

  13. What a lovely healthy fudge! Great recipe! Thank you for linking it up with Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home. Hope to see you again this week – the linky is up now!

  14. Yum! I love the idea of this – especially since it’s refined sugar and chocolate free! Can you taste the parsley or beets when you use them as dyes?

    1. We didn’t taste the parsley at all, and my son says that the beets added a nice sweetness to the fudge. Let me know how it works for you!

  15. I had the privilege of sampling this fudge yesterday and I can vouch for the fact that it is DELISH! Really, really good. Thanks for letting me sample it Adrienne 🙂