Peanut Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs

These little beauties are based off of the earlier recipe for Homemade Peanut Butter. Find it here. I gave my mom a jar of the first batch of peanut butter and her response was "man, this would be good covered in chocolate." Ok, maybe she didn't say it quite like that but that is what I heard. Ha. And so, I did what she suggested, I coated the peanut butter in chocolate, because how can that ever be bad?!

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate "Easter Eggs"

Ingredients
1 small jar homemade peanut butter  -or- any vegan creamy store bought variety
2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life Dark or semisweet varieties)
1 tsp refined Coconut Oil
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Directions
1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a spoon place dollops of peanut butter on the lined cookie sheet. We like to make ours a bit smaller so I used about 1/2 of a Tablespoon for each. Don't worry about their shape now, this will be addressed later.
3. Place in freezer for 20-30  minutes or until at least slightly firm.
4. While peanut butter is firming up, melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. If using microwave melt in 30 second increments and stir well in between.
5. When melted, stir in coconut oil until melted and incorporated. This will help to make more of a candy style coating on your "eggs".
6. Remove peanut butter dollops from freezer and, one at a time, form into balls and dip in melted chocolate.
7. Shake off excess chocolate and place on parchment.
8. Immediately sprinkle a tiny amount of Himalayan Sea Salt on the wet chocolate. (The chocolate dries quickly so you must do this after you place each egg on the the parchment. If you wait to do them all until the end, the chocolate has hardened and the salt will just bounce right off. Trust me on this.)
9. Store in freezer or fridge. Delicious.

No Bake Sticky Granola Bars

E has been into "honey bars". This would be the oats and honey variety of granola bars we picked up at Open Harvest last weekend.  I hadn't been in there but it was great. A local cooperative grocery that I plan on going back to. The bars he choose were a pretty traditional crunchy oats and honey bar with flax seeds. The ones we made to match them are more on the chewy side. Both are really good and plant based. (We use local raw honey at our house. You could try substituting agave or maple syrup but I can't say as to how well they would work or what they would taste like.)

No Bake Sticky Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cups roasted flax seed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used my homemade version)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2-3/4 cup raw (or regular) honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (measure in liquid form)
• 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½- 1 cup mini dairy free chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
 

 

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine your oats, rice cereal, and flax seed. Stir until well combined. Set aside.
2. Place sugar, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stirring constantly. Boil for exactly 1 minute so mixture combines and sugars dissolve. Take pan off the heat and add in peanut butter and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Pour over the oat/rice cereal mixture. Stir until well combined.
3. Let this mixture sit for several minutes. 
4. Line 9x13 pan with parchment paper cut to size.
5. Pour out granola bar mixture into pan. Press with spatula. Then immediately spread your chocolate chips on the top and press again.
6. Allow to cool in fridge or on counter. Once the bars have cooled completely, lift out of the pan. Cut the bars into the size of your choosing.
7. These freeze well individually by wrapping in plastic and placing in freezer safe bag or container.  

Crispy Peanut Butter Bars

After my last post on hummus, my husband commented that it had not gone unnoticed that due to the massive influx of chick peas and tahini, the amount of baked goods had exponentially decreased.  I took to the kitchen to make some chocolate chip cookies that turned out pitifully (read tasted good but had a weird soft texture and were quite flat). I then cheated on these as they are technically a "no bake" bar. They do, however, taste like a crispy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup I am happy to report. They also got good reviews all the way around. We eat honey at our house as it is a high vibration food but if you are out on the honey you could certainly use agave or, I suppose, light corn syrup.

Plant Based Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Bars

Ingredients:

1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used Jif Natural Creamy)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Honey

1/2 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt

3 Cups Crisp Rice cereal (I used Trader Joe's brand)

3/4 Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips (I used Enjoy Life mini semi sweet)

1 1/2 Tablespoon Vegan Butter (I used soy free Earth Balance)

Directions:

1. Put the peanut butter, sugar, honey, and salt in a pan.

2. Heat over medium heat and stir continuously to incorporate sugars. 

When peanut butter mixture gets hot and starts to bubble, remove from heat and stir in rice crispies.

3. Scoop into an 8x8 or 11x7 pan lined with parchment paper.

4. Pat it all down with clean hands so it’s nice and even.

5. Melt chocolate chips and vegan butter in a double boiler.

6. Pour melted chocolate on top of the peanut butter crispy layer and spread.

7. Place in fridge to chill. 

8. Remove from pan using the edges of the parchment. 

9. Cut into bars. 

10. Try not to eat 25 of them in one sitting. Yikes.