snack 'n go

I've been a dedicated granola bar consumer since I was in high school. They've always been a quick, convenient and portable snack that bordered the "healthy" category. I also loved that I could get away with eating these for breakfast, even though there were chocolate chips sprinkled throughout. 

But when I say "healthy" they're not even close. Most store-bought granola bars are loaded with sugar and other preservatives, so these bars contain honey, unsweetened cocoa powder and natural peanut butter to pack in the flavor. Now before I get attacked for adding mini chocolate chips... yes I know they contain sugar but if you're really being careful just don't add them. It's as easy as that!

I keep the bars in individual snack bags and store them in the fridge. I love that I can grab one, run out the door and know that I'm getting a snack with some protein and nutrients, but really it just tastes like a chocolatey treat. 

I want candy

Confession time: even though I'm crazy about chocolate and peanut butter, I'm not a fan of Reese's peanut butter cups. I know, I know...how can I call myself a candy fanatic if I don't love Reese's? Well, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you probably already know it has more to do with texture then it does flavor.

I just prefer natural, smooth peanut butter in a crispy, hard shell of chocolate. And while we're at it, a good quality dark chocolate is in order. And to make it even more grown up, I'll take a bit o' sea salt sprinkled for good measure. But to keep it festive, egg shapes are necessary and that requires a bit of conjuring. Or some disposable pastry bags and patience. 

Do you make any homemade candies? I really want to start making more, so I'd love to hear suggestions on what I should make next!

a kiss to build a dream on...

Ok, so I purposefully saved this recipe to be posted around Valentine's Day because it has kisses in the name, and that sounds so romantic, right? Well truthfully, I don't put a lot of stock in Valentine's Day, however I do put stock in anything chocolate and peanut butter, which is why these cookies are ideal all. year. long. And if someone made me these cookies, I think I would kiss them.

These are pretty similar to your typical peanut butter/Hershey kiss cookies, but the peanut flavor is really amped up in this version. First of all, chunky peanut butter is used in the dough, and then each ball of dough is rolled up in chopped honey roasted peanuts.

Let me tell you, it was a real struggle not to eat all the honey roasted peanuts and Hershey kisses. Thankfully, these cookies are easy to make (think 1 bowl) and bake in 11 minutes. So it's not long before you're kissing (and devouring) a chocolatey, melty, chewy peanut buttery cookie.

Enjoy these kissable treats!

simply marbleous

Well I hope you all have been having a nice holiday season so far. I know I have enjoyed taking time to celebrate the birth of a new nephew (!), spend time with my family and loved watching Ruby get excited about Christmas. This was the first year she really "got" it and the magic and wonderment of Christmas has been brought back into mine and my husband's lives... we love it!

These chocolate peanut butter marbleous bars will really help you in the home stretch for finishing the year off strong. First of all, it's like eating a peanut butter Rice Krispy treat, but even better because there's chocolate and peanut butter swirled on top. They're a durable bar, holding their own against a bumpy car ride to their next destination (that's assuming you take these somewhere to share...).

Monster cookies

Could there ever be a more appropriate name for a cookie the week of Halloween? I think not. If you like the following variety of cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, m&m, then you'll love Monster Cookies because they contain all of the aforementioned flavors.

In the many years that I've been baking, I can't believe I've actually never made these before. They're easy to make, have chocolate and peanut butter (one of the best flavor combo's) with candy pieces thrown in... why didn't I think of this? It's basically Halloween candy stuffed into a peanut butter cookie. Can't go wrong here.

c-c-c-candy!!!

It's that time of year when there is candy everywhere. Halloween candy has already been out for months and if you love it as much as I do, it's hard to resist. This year, I promised not to buy any Halloween candy until the week of the actual Holiday. But let me say this- I'm weak and I'm already craving those mini Kit Kat's and Almond Joy's. 

And that's when these choco peanut butter crisps came into my life. A couple weeks ago I had a massive chocolate craving and when I received the Mast Brother's cookbook for my birthday, I had earmarked this recipe. It's definitely chocolate candy and it definitely makes a lot. If you're having a Halloween party, these would make great party favors thrown into a clear cellophane bag, especially since your guests would be amazed by the thought of taking home homemade candy instead of the prepackaged stuff. 

Choco peanut butter crisp

Recipe adapted from Mast Brothers Chocolate, a FamilyCookbook

Serves a lot!

Recipe Notes-

- The original recipe called for 2 Tbs. of peanut butter but with all the chocolate, the peanut butter flavor was lost completely. Either don’t bother with it all, or put enough in to taste. So I put enough in to taste- ¾ cup to be exact.

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds (24 oz.) dark chocolate

1 (½ cup) stick butter

¾ Cup creamy peanut butter

1 Tbs. honey

4 ½ Cups puffed rice cereal (aka Rice Krispie’s)

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate and butter.

2. Add the peanut butter and honey, mix until combined. Then add the puffed rice cereal and pour into a 9-inch baking pan. Let set in refrigerator.

3. Once cooled completely, cut into chunks. Keep in an airtight container.

Two Bites of Heaven

Technically these should be called 'The Diet Ruiners' but that's too negative for these tasty babies. There's a wonderful trifecta of flavors and textures happening here: salty and sweet with the crisp, thin flat pretzels, creaminess from the peanut butter and the chocolate encases it all with it's delicate richness.

These take no time at all to make and are so easy. Too easy, in fact. They're also extremely addictive, which makes them extremely dangerous. Oh, and don't ever crush them up and put them on Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream. Just don't. Your tongue will crave for more but your jeans will hate you in the morning. Trust me on this one.

Wouldn't these be wonderful to bring to the movies (I love sneaking food into the movies)?

Fluffernutter Dreams Come True

I don't often make many recipes using store-bought cake mixes because they just don't taste right. About five years ago I got sick with a terrible chest infection and lost all my taste buds for like a month. When they slowly came back, a lot of foods just didn't taste the same anymore, in fact, they tasted gross. Over time I got over a lot of them, like peanut butter, but to this day most soda's and pre-packaged cake mixes just taste... off. It's not the worst thing that could've happened, I mean, everyone knows you shouldn't drink soda anyways, so losing my taste buds really did me a favor in the long run.

Anyways, back to this recipe. Yes, there's a store-bought cake mix used here and I couldn't help but be swayed by the fact that: 1. it's a super fast, layered dessert and 2. gooey layers of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff always trump a store-bought mix.