Hello, new vegan dessert lovers. Welcome to my favorite food group, desserts. You may have a moment of panic when you imagine yourself eating your favorite chocolate chip cupcake in the future. You knew you were going to have to kick the egg and butter habit. But did you think about whether you could eat chocolate again? Your heart might be racing and your palms getting a little sweaty at this point if you are a true dessert lover. Now you might be asking yourself, "Can I ever enjoy chocolate again?"

If you are a new vegan expect to be asked the question, "Is chocolate vegan?" a zillion times. And yes, vegans can eat chocolate! But vegans cannot eat every kind of chocolate under the sun which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Chocolate comes from the pod of the cocoa tree and obviously plants are vegan so chocolate is vegan. Now you are asking yourself why you can't devour every chocolate bar and chocolate chip that is placed in front of you. When you are at the grocery store, you want to look at the labels to find a good quality chocolate that doesn't have fillers. The labels on lesser quality chocolates can include ingredients such as food starch, artificial flavoring, milk, or milk fat (some of which would obviously cause the chocolate to no longer be vegan.)

A higher quality chocolate, however, will have a higher chocolate content, pure ingredients and no additives. The ingredients will be simple: cocoa, cocoa butter, lecithin, sugar and sometimes vanilla. That's all you need for great chocolate.

The first time I was reading the label for chocolate chips I paused....cocoa butter? Does the word butter here mean it's no longer vegan? No, cocoa butter is the fat portion of the cocoa bean. The cocoa butter helps the chocolate remain a solid at room temperature but its melting point is around 93 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit so it's perfect for melting in your mouth.

For more information about vegan chocolate including vegan dessert recipes check out http://www.veganbakingsecrets.com/?page_id=237