Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chocolate Easter Eggs

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Eggs

gluten free and dairy free

For Easter this year, we had to make our own chocolate treats to avoid gluten and dairy.  I saw multiple blogs that had made peanut butter chocolate eggs but I've made peanut butter balls before and wasn't interested in the 1 cup peanut butter to 3 cups powdered sugar recipe.  I then looked up "chocolate chip peanut butter balls" and found this video on youtube for raw vegan peanut butter balls and that kind of inspired me to create these.

Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Balls (Eggs)

Peanut Butter (I use Natural Jif or Skippy)

Raw Almonds

Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

honey

vanilla

a little powdered sugar (optional)

There are no exact measurements, you just add dry ingredients until you get the dough the to right consistency for being able to roll into balls.

In a food processor (this is a mini one) grind up your almonds to make almond meal, leaving some small bits intact as in the photo below.

 In a large bowl (or kitchenaid mixer if you have one) add a bunch of peanut butter.  This is probably around 1 1/2 cups or so...doesn't really matter.

 Add a tsp of vanilla and a tablespoon or so of honey, then add in all your almond meal and mix together.

After adding all the almond meal, it wasn't quite thick enough and since I didn't feel like grinding up more almonds (my cheap processor is going to make me go deaf!) I just turned to mixer on low speed and slowly added a little powdered sugar until it formed into a ball, it didn't take very much at all....maybe a 1/4 cup?  And you could leave out the powdered sugar and just add more almond meal for a healthy snack.

Roll into small balls (or ovals to make easter eggs) and place on a tray or plate, cover with plastic wrap and set in freezer.  You can enjoy these just like this, they are not too sweet but still a super yummy treat.  You'll satisfy your sweet tooth without feeling sick after because the peanut butter is decently sweet and that little bit of honey adds some sweetness as well.

 To take these a step further...and it's worth it...add a cup of your chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute, stir, then microwave at 30 second intervals stirring each time until smooth.  Using a fork, roll your chocolate chip peanut butter balls in the melted chocolate and then set back in the tray.

Once they are all covered, set in the freezer again to harden the chocolate.  We just kept ours in the freezer and ate them cold because they were so yummy like that, kind of like eating frozen cookie dough but better, and they were still soft, not too hard from being frozen.

My husband is not big into sweets but he was totally into these and my daughter was obsessed with them as well, so I was pretty excited with how yummy they turned out without having to use anywhere near as much sugar as traditional peanut butter balls.

Gourmet NutRageous!

Gourmet NutRageous

Gluten Free and Dairy Free 
and better than the original (according to hubby)

Ok, so NutRageous has always been my favorite candy bar.  I remember one summer on vacation in Madison, CT my hubby and I were looking high and low at the various drug stores and grocery stores to satisfy my craving and when I was pregnant with B, 2 Christmas' ago, my husband got me a big box of NutRageous chocolate bars from Costco!   I had been craving them all pregnancy, but in Dallas we couldn't find them anywhere so when we were back in WA for Christmas, that big box of NutRageous bars was way better than a tiny box with something sparkly.  

SO, ever since I had B (now 18 months) I have been off dairy and now gluten, so I couldn't have a NutRageous even if I could track one down in Omaha, but I was really craving one last week while driving in the car and suddenly I knew what I had to do....

so here is what I did.....

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

mix pb, sugar and egg and then form cookies and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  let set for a few minutes then transfer to wire cooling rack.  I formed my cookies with a "canal" in the middle, pushing the length of my finger down the center rather than flattening with a fork, to hold the caramel.

I placed the cookies in muffin cups after making them, but you could start out making them in muffin cups to create a more uniform shape.  Line the cookies up on a cookie sheet.

Later that day when the cookies were cool and i had a minute, I made my mom's caramel corn recipe, her caramel corn is my favorite because the caramel is soft and doesn't break your teeth...perfect for a candy bar!

Dairy Free Caramel (make with real butter if you can have dairy)

2/3 cup sugar (all white or 1/2 white 1/2 brown)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup butter (I use best life buttery baking sticks they are dairy free)

1 tsp vanilla

combine sugar, butter and corn syrup in a small pot. Melt to boil then boil for 3 minutes while stirring.  Add Vanilla.  I let the caramel cool and thicken a little bit and then spooned it on top of the gluten free peanut butter cookies.  

NUTS

Top caramel with a generous amount of peanuts and gently press into the caramel.

Set aside and let caramel set up completely, (a few minutes)

CHOCOLATE

In a microwave safe bowl, put a bag of 60% cocoa ghiradelli chocolate chips (they're dairy free) in bowl and microwave for 1 minutes.  Stir with a fork then microwave another 40 seconds, stir with fork and then microwave another 40 seconds and stir till chocolate chips are all melted.

Spoon melted chocolate over the cookes and spread around covering the entire surface.

Cover cookies with plastic wrap or foil and place in the fridge so the chocolate will harden back up.  Keep refriderated and remove from fridge 10-15 minutes before serving so they can soften up a bit.  The chocolate melts really fast so having the nutrageous in a muffin cup helps keep the hands cleaner.  For my daughter we put on a cutting board and cut the candybar into bite size pieces and that made it easier and less messy to handle.  Personally...I don't mind having to lick the chocolate off my fingers after I've polished off one of these babies!

It may seem like a lot of work, but it was really just a couple easy steps that I just came back to when I had a spare moment here and there yesterday.  I mean, take the easiest ever cookies recipe and the easiest fastest ever caramel recipe and that's the hardest part!...yeah not very hard :)

Peanut Butter Chex Treats

Scotchachex

Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Peanut Butter Chex Treats

These peanut butter crispy rice treats are one of my all time favorite indulgences!  They are quick and easy to make and soooo delicious to eat!  And best part? It's a super quick and easy gluten free and dairy free treat you can whip up whenever a craving strikes....or...you know...you just need a treat for the kids.  

Ingredients

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tsp butter 

(or dairy free butter like earth balance vegan buttery sticks or Best Life Buttery Sticks)

3 cups rice Chex

Heat the peanut butter, corn syrup, sugar and "butter" over low heat in med-large pot and stir.  Bring to a boil and then quickly remove from heat.  Add the Rice Chex (or other crispy rice cereal) and stir with a spatula till cereal is coated and then press into an 8x8 inch pan.  For topping, In the same pot while it is still warm, I like to add a rounded tablespoon of peanut butter and about 1/3 cup dairy free chocolate chips such as ghirardelli semi-sweet or 60% chocolate chips and stir till smooth and pour and spread over the peanut butter crispy treat.

 I like to line my pan with parchment paper so it's easy to remove and cut.  

ENJOY!