Who doesn’t remember eating Wagon Wheels as a child? With their delicious squishy marshmallow and super-sweet jam, you were the envy of all your classmates if you were lucky enough to find one in your lunch box. I grew up with a mother who is a dietician, so my lunch box was always slightly lacking on the biscuit front, as she preferred to give us weird, embarrassing hot flasks of last nights dinner instead, which seems pretty awesome in hindsight!
Except for Friday’s, because Friday was treat day, and treat day meant biscuits! More specifically, Wagon Wheels!
Now if you only get one biscuit a week, you’re going to make sure it’s the biggest biscuit on the block, right? And biscuits didn’t come much bigger than the trusty Wagon Wheel, back before companies started shrinking the size of everything whilst also increasing the price, and Freddo’s were 10p.
Unfortunately they are also full of completely unappetising ingredients, and are about as un-vegan as it gets. So, naturally, I had to make my own raw version of them.
Now let’s be honest, with their nut-buttery, oaty biscuits, vanilla coconut butter cream and fruity raspberry chia jam, these taste amazing, but these raw Wagon Wheels aren’t quite the same as the real thing because I just cannot work out how to make a realistic raw marshmallow! If anyone has any ideas, send them my way!
The first batch I made with cashew cream, but that was just too heavy, and too expensive, so I’ve opted for light, melt-in-the-mouth coconut butter cream instead. If you have money to burn, or are a madman who hates coconut (what is wrong with you?!), then try using vanilla cashew cream with a little coconut oil or butter because it rocks too.
If you’re looking for the real thing, then I cannot recommend Ananda’s vegan ‘Round-Ups’. They are beautifully packaged, have a little ‘Eat Me’ message on them, and are filled with tons of proper marshmallow and various flavours of jam. They’re my favourite indulgence, and I get super excited about going to vegan shows like VegFest so I can get my Ananda’s fix!
Raw wagon wheels, make ’em now, thank me later! And before I forget, stick Admiral P’s ‘Feeling Good’ and Peter Tosh’s ‘Johnny B. Good’ on the speakers and bust out some dance moves in the kitchen whilst you make them!
- 110g oats
- 12 Medjool dates (pitted)
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 180g smooth nut butter (I used half almond butter, half peanut butter)
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 30ml water
- ½ tsp salt
- 160g fresh raspberries
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 100g coconut butter
- 70ml liquid coconut oil
- 180g coconut cream (the fat from the top of a a can of cocont milk)
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 100g cacao powder
- 100ml liquid coconut oil
- 20g melted cacao butter
- 4-5 Tbsp maple syrup
- Blend the raspberries and maple syrup together until combined and reasonably smooth.
- Place in a jar and stir in the chia seeds and leave the mixture in the fridge to allow the chia seeds to puff up for 1-2 hours (preferably overnight) before using.
- Pulse the oats in a food processor until you have slightly course flour.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until everything comes together to form a dough like mixture. It should stick together when pressed between your fingers. If not, add more dates or water.
- Roll the dough into a ball and on a flat surface lined with greaseproof paper, flatten the dough evenly with a rolling pin.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into biscuit shapes (I made 16). If you have any excess dough, roll it up into a ball again and flatten with the rolling pins, repeating this step as necessary.
- Place the cookies in the fridge or freezer to firm up whilst you make the coconut 'marshmallow' cream.
- Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Put the cream in a bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes whilst you make the chocolate coating.
- Sieve the cacao powder into a medium sized bowl.
- Make sure the cacao butter and coconut oil are cool before stirring them slowly into the cacao powder.
- Stir in the maple syrup until smooth and silky.
- Separate the biscuits into pairs, and top one side with a layer of the coconut 'marshmallow' cream, and a layer of the jam. Gently press the other biscuit on top to spread the jam and cream right up to the edges of the biscuit.
- Place the chocolate into a jug. To coat the biscuits evenly with chocolate, I balanced them on a flat, thin knife over a bowl so I could collect and reuse the excess chocolate. I then poured the jug of chocolate over each biscuit until they were evenly coated, and gently shook them to remove any excess chocolate.
- Place the wagon wheels on a wire wrack (or on a tray lined with greaseproof paper) in the fridge for an hour to firm up.
If you want to know more about the ingredients used in this recipe, check out my ‘Raw Pantry’ page!
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OH MY GOODNESS! You’ve nailed this!!! I loved wagon wheels when I was young, but similar to you, I had them once in a blue moon. I can’t wait to try this out xo
Aw Anthea thank you, you are always the sweetest and most supportive friend! I am just so happy we’ve both found a lifestyle that’s allowed us to indulge in our own versions of our childhood favourites knowing they’re both better for us, the planet and it’s other inhabitants! I hope ypu do give these a try, I’ love to see what awesome twist you’d put on them! xxx
This looks so delicious! I’ve yummed it! Can’t wait to try it!
Aw Elaine thank you so much, that’s so sweet of you! <3
i love wagon wheels! and your raw version looks fabulous. definitely have to try these out. Xx
Oh me too Thalia! I am hopelessly in love with anything that has marshmallows in hehe! I hope you enjoy them beautiful 🙂 xx
I’ve just made these but I’ve got some off the coconut marshmallow stuff left, any suggestions on what to use it with?
Hi Danielle, sorry to hear you’ve got some left over! I didn’t have much left myself at the end, but maybe ate a little too much when I was taste testing, whoopsy! If you have enough left, I’d try making some raw Oreos with a creamy centre, or add more coconut cream and some fresh fruit to make ice-cream with. It would also be super tasty whipped up slightly and served with some fresh raspberries or strawberries, or blended into a smoothie to make it extra thick and creamy. Hope this helps!
Oh wow, these look absolutely amazing!! Thank you for a great recipe!
Aw Lili you are so sweet – thank you! And you’re so welcome, I love sharing my weekend experiments 🙂
Hey just wondering what you could substitute for oats as I can’t have them.?
Hi Hayley! I actually made these before with macadamia nuts (ground into a coarse flour), some buckwheat groats that I coarsely chopped in a food processor, and some desiccated coconut which was nice! Any kind of nuts like walnuts, pecans or almonds pulsed into a flour instead of the oats would be yummy 🙂
These look seriously good. I’ve just made some raw Ginger & Coconut Cheesecake sandwiches – but I think this beats them!
Aw Rosie, thank you! But gosh your cheesecake sandwiches sound amazing, I’m a sucker for ginger! I want some of those :p I love your snozzcumber recipe – so clever!
These look amazing! I was going to ask if you tried aquafaba for a marshmallow-y texture, but I think that it’s just vegan and not raw..? I’m not a raw expert! But I’m sure the Internet might have something! http://www.foodhighs.com/2015/07/05/aquafaba-without-the-can/
Thank you so much Katy! And thanks so much for your suggestion! You know what, I did think about trying to make something with aquafaba for the centre, but couldn’t work out how to make a raw one that wouldn’t just collapse or go strange and melty over time 🙁 I really want to have another go at making proper not-raw aquafaba marshmallows though too (although I’ve not had much luck in the past!) – they look yummy! x
Made these as a gift for a friends birthday and OMG they are amazing! Great recipe! I used dark chocolate instead of the suggested coating as I was running short of time. Thanks for the recipe