Originally known as Chocolate Hollow, this non-dairy chocolatier has been around since 2012 and touts its bars as the world’s first vegan chocolate bars. The rebranding is a wink-and-nod to the idea that chocolate needs dairy milk to be good, inspiring the name, as in “Milk, schmilk!” The dairy replacement of choice in Schmilk’s formula is cashews, a popular substitute in milk- and cream-based recipes among vegan cooks. This helps keep the chocolate super rich and creamy, while keeping the plant-based guardrails in place.
Schmilk’s plant-based treats come in a variety of bars, bon-bons, and seasonal candies, but the Toffee Bar is the unicorn of vegan candy bars, and it’s all due to the toffee bits. The bar is made with organic cane sugar, organic cane syrup, and organic and fair-trade cocoa liquor, but the inclusion of toffee in this tasty vittle makes Schmilk’s, as one reviewer on the site puts it, “Life changing chocolate.” It doesn’t hurt that the company has been perfecting their formula for so long, putting them out in front of the vegan chocolate pack. Just knowing there are people putting in the work to better the world of plant-based confections is a treat in itself.