A successful experiment with vegan holiday treats! Von-vons (vegan bon-bons)

(not actually my von-vons, but this is what they looked like I swear)

I made the same vegan sugar cookies that I had success with last year, and they were once again AMAZING.  This year I decided to try to make vegan bon-bons (von-vons!), based on an old family recipe that I have been enjoying my entire life but had to miss out on last year because I couldn't find any vegan condensed milk.

This year, I decided to make my own!  I found a recipe that works great for making condensed milk from any type of milk.  I used Silk vanilla soy milk, but it supposedly works for any type of soy, almond, coconut, or dairy milk. 

Here a link to the recipe for condensed milk: condensed milk
I used the slow-cooking method (of course!), which I'll put here for you-

Ingredients:
2.75 cups non-dairy milk (I used Silk Vanilla soy)
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Set slow-cooker to high, pour all ingredients in, leave top off of slow-cooker, and cook for 7-8 hours.

Now for the recipe for von-vons!  This is based on an old family recipe, and is ridiculously sugary and delicious.  This is a one-time-a-year type of deliciousness, and makes about 30 von-vons.

Ingredients:
about 1 cup condensed milk (the above recipe makes the perfect amount)
about 1/3 container of Earth Balance (original recipe calls for 1 stick of butter)
2 pound bag of powdered sugar
2 pound bag of semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
1/2 slab of Gulf baking wax

Directions:
1) Mix the condensed milk, the Earth Balance, and the powdered sugar together with a mixer.  Put in refrigerator for about 4 hours.
2) Remove from fridge or freezer, and form into balls with your hands.  Place on wax paper atop of random pans, and put into freezer.
3) While the balls are hardening, melt wax in double broiler (or in a small pan inside a larger pan that has water in it, like I did!).  Add chocolate chips when wax is almost completely melted. 
4) Using a toothpick, dip balls into the chocolate/wax mixture, and replace balls onto wax paper.
5) Put back into the refrigerator until the dip is hardened (less than an hour).
6) Enjoy!!!

P.S.  You could also add coconut to the mix in step 1 if you would like coconut von-vons!

Recipe makes about 30 von-vons and they are about 150 calories each, if you're counting. ;-)