Category Archives: Candy / Fudge

October 16, 2015 · 5:54 pm

PB CUP / FUDGE RECIPE – Healthy Halloween Candy

I teamed-up with Nuts.com in an attempt to make Halloween less scary for your waistline. Nuts.com has been working hard on their Healthy Snack Page and I am happy to help spread the word.

Of course when you think of Nuts.com you think of nuts. One of the world’s best flavor combos in my opinion is PB and C. Who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate (other than my very own daughter…what???).

I set off on a quest to make a healthier peanut butter cup / peanut butter fudge and the results taste amazing if I do say so myself. My son offered to eat all of them (such a kind boy). What’s even more awesome is how quickly these come together.

It’s up to you whether or not you add chocolate. These cups / fudge taste great either way.

INGREDIENTS – Makes 10

40g dark chocolate

2Tbs (28g) raw cacao butter

1/4c (64g) peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

1/4c (24g) peanut butter powder

1/2 dropperful Liquid Sweetleaf Stevia (English Toffee flavor is my favorite)

Method

If using the chocolate, place 4 grams of chocolate into each of the 10 candy molds (I used THIS one). Microwave in 15 second increments to melt (you have to be REALLY careful not to burn the chocolate in the microwave). Once sufficiently melted, spread the chocolate and place the mold into the freezer.

In a double boiler melt the cacao butter, chocolate, and peanut butter powder stirring constantly with a whisk.

Once melted, remove the molds from the freezer and divide the peanut butter mixture evenly between the 10 candy molds.

Place the candies in the fridge to set-up. Store uneaten candies (if there are any) in the fridge or freezer.

Nutrition Information:

Per Candy (Chocolate & PB) – 82 cal / 2.7C / 3P / 6.8F

Per Candy (Just PB Mixture) – 75 cal / 1.8C / 2.8P / 6.3F

DATE TRUFFLES

Dates have been satisfying my sweet tooth a lot lately. I usually buy date rolls in the bulk section of Mother’s market. I tend to buy 8 or so and keep them in my car so I can snack on one when I have my “taxi driver” hat on in the afternoons chauffeuring my kiddos to and from their activities.

While the bulk date rolls are not too expensive, it is always cheaper to make these types of goodies at home when possible. I always have a big container of Medjool dates (from Costco) in my pantry, so this morning I pitted 14 of them and set to work making my own coconut covered date rolls/truffles.

INGREDIENTS

Medjool dates, pitted (I used 14 large dates)

Reduced fat finely shredded unsweetened coconut

Water – if soaking is needed

Depending upon how moist your dates are, you may need to soak them in water. My dates were pretty moist and I soaked them for 30 minutes which resulted in a date mixture that was too wet for my liking (As you can see in the image at the top right). If my dates are moist the next time I make these, I will not soak them at all since I prefer firm date rolls.

Place the soaked (or not soaked) dates in the food processor and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides 3-4 times. Do not add extra water…I promise it will eventually begin blending.

If you do not have a food processor you can achieve similar results by using your knife and finely chopping the dates until they form a paste.

Place some shredded coconut in a shallow bowl and scoop some of the date mixture onto the shredded coconut (I used my 1 Tbs. scooper). Roll / cover the date mixture with the coconut. Continue until all of the date mixture has been used.

Place in the freezer to set. These taste amazing straight out of the freezer.

Using 14 large Medjool dates I was able to make 24 truffles.

These would be a great addition to your Easter brunch.

3 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Candy / Fudge, Dessert, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged as coconut date rolls, date rolls, date truffles, let's do organic, let's do organic reduced fat finely shredded unsweetened coconut, Medjool Dates Costco

December 21, 2012 · 2:00 pm

HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

Now that we are into the holiday season I do make a few more treats than normal (though I do feel the need to admit that I generally do not eat many of them).

People tend to think that making candy is complicated…it doesn’t have to be. Last year the kids and I make homemade peanut butter cups. These peanut butter cups were made with only three ingredients:

Freshly ground peanut butter
Chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life chips)
Coconut oil

Melt the bag of chocolate chips over a double boiler along with 1-2 tsp. of oil.

Once melted, pour a small layer into mini cupcake liners and place it in the fridge for approximately 10 minutes. Place the melted chocolate over the double boiler to ensure that it remains melted.

Top the hardened chocolate with some peanut butter and try to keep it in the center allowing a rim of chocolate to remain around it (this will allow the next layer of chocolate to completely cover the peanut butter).

Cover the peanut butter with another layer of chocolate and place in the refrigerator to harden.

This year I used the same method to make chocolate covered pretzels (gluten-free) and peanuts. My daughter and I broke small pretzel sticks in half and mixed them with the melted chocolate. We then placed spoonfuls of the chocolate covered pretzels on waxed paper to cool and harden…little chocolate bird’s nests. We had some left over at the end with a little too much chocolate, so we mixed in some peanuts and made spoonfuls of that. They have been a total hit with my family!

7 Comments

Filed under Candy / Fudge, Dessert, Gluten Free, Holidays, Kid Friendly, Quick, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged as chocolate covered peanuts and pretzels, chocolate covered pretzels, how to make chocolate covered pretzels, vegan gluten free chocolate covered pretzels

July 9, 2012 · 4:00 pm

SRC – PB BANANA BON BONS

After a one month break from the Secret Recipe Club (SRC) I am thrilled to be back. I have so much fun participating in this wonderful group. For those of you unfamiliar, the SRC is a club that was:

“[B]orn from an idea that it’s founder Amanda had one day while trying to come up with ways to bring more exposure to her cooking blog, Amanda’s Cookin’. She thought it would be fun to make a recipe from a friend’s blog and that friend could do the same. But instead of just the two of them, including several others would be even more fun. Plus, it would also help give added exposure to their food blogs. And so it began…”

Their first month yielded 19 participants and now there are hundreds. The concept is simple really. Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from and it’s a secret until reveal day.

This month I was assigned the blog, Baking and Boys, penned by an amazing baker, Katrina. In her words, “It’s a crazy house full of boys around here with me trying to keep it all together. Ya gotta love it! Welcome to Baking and Boys.”

It didn’t take me long to choose which recipe I was going to make. As I explored her blog I zeroed in on her recipe for Healthy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles which she found on a coconut recipe website. I made this recipe as a surprise for my children during the last week of school. They were thrilled to come home to it.

But you know me…I had to switch it up a bit by adding some sliced banana and turning these into frozen treats akin to a healthier bon bon. The other changes I made were to eliminate the added salt and sweetener. Since the banana slices were nice and ripe, they had a natural sweetness all their own and the chocolate coating was sweet as well. I also upped the amount of chocolate slightly since adding the banana slices meant the bon bons were slightly larger than the original recipe, meaning more chocolate was needed for coverage.

This recipe came together so quickly, uses simple ingredients, and was a resounding success!!!

INGREDIENTS – Makes 20 bon bons

6 Tbs. organic peanut butter

¼ cup coconut flour

6 ounces Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1 tsp coconut oil

1 banana

METHOD

Slice the banana into 20 slices and place them individually on wax or parchment paper.

In a bowl combine the peanut butter and coconut flour using a spoon and eventually your hands.

Using a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon, form the peanut butter mixture into half circles and place one on each banana slice.

Freeze for 30 minutes to one hour.

Once the banana and peanut butter is frozen, heat the chocolate and coconut oil together over a double boiler until completely melted OR in the microwave at 30 second intervals (stirring in between) for approximately 2 minutes.

Insert a toothpick in the top of the bon bon and submerge it in the chocolate. Shake off the excess and place the bon bon back on the waxed paper. Continue with the remaining bon bons and place back in the freezer to set.

Serve straight from the freezer.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

17 Comments

Filed under Candy / Fudge, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Gluten Free, Kid Friendly, Nuts, Quick, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Tagged as Baking with Boys, dairy-free bon bon recipe, healthy bon bon recipe, Healthy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles, Healthy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles recipe, Secret Recipe Club, vegan bon bon recipe, vegan peanut butter banana bon bon recipe

December 14, 2011 · 2:30 pm

GUILT-FREE VEGAN MOCHA FUDGE

I always have fudge on the mind during the holidays. When I was a kid our across the street neighbor always made fudge for the holidays and I was probably single-handedly responsible for eating most of it (I should probably apologize to my family for that!…Better late than never).

I have been working on this black bean based recipe for a while now and think that I have finally come-up with a suitable guilt-free substitute for fudge. The funny thing is that this fudge doesn’t take on the texture of fudge until after it has been baked and then put in the fridge overnight. Something magical happens in the fridge.

Keep in mind that the texture of this fudge will not be as smooth and creamy as “real” fudge, but it also does not have all of the sugar, fat, and cholesterol (i.e. GUILT) of said fudge.

This is my new favorite dessert recipe and I have been consuming A LOT of it lately.

INGREDIENTS

14 dates

1/3 cup nut butter (cashew and peanut work well)

4 oz jar baby-food prunes

2 Tbs. Organic Decaf freeze dried coffee crystals

2 Tbs. hot water

50 drops (approx 2 dropperfuls) or Vanilla Crème liquid stevia

2 Tbs. flax meal

15 oz. can sodium free black beans, rinsed

1/2 cup + 1Tbs. cacao powder

1/3 cup almond flour

Dissolve the coffee in the hot water. Place the dates, nut butter, prunes, coffee mixture, stevia, and flax meal in the food processor and process until very smooth. You will need to stop the processor and scrape down the sides with a spatula several times during the processing.

Once the above mixture is smooth add the black beans, cacao powder, and almond flour to the mixture. Again process until smooth scraping down the sides as needed.

Pour the fudge mixture into a very lightly oiled 8 x 8 pan, spread the mixture evenly, and bake at 225 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Cool and then refrigerate overnight. You can either cut the fudge into bars and then refrigerate or refrigerate the pan and cut the fudge into squares after refrigerating.