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Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls – No Bake {Gluten-Free + Cane Sugar-Free}
These gluten-free Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls are literally ALL of my favorite things in one. Dark chocolate, peanut butter, they’re a little creamy, a little crunchy and they have the perfect bit of salt on top. WHAT? Did I dream these?
We had a small outdoor, safe, Thanksgiving celebration here at out house with our little “Pandemic Pod of Pals” and I made a full spread of classic, Thanksgiving food w could enjoy outside on our deck. Our friend Audrey offered to bring her famous Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls to share and when dinner ended and I pulled them from the fridge, made sure they were gluten-free and then promptly popped one into my mouth. After I yelled a few overly excited expletives I realized for me, it was love at first bite!! I believe while I was dancing with one of these in my mouth, my exact quote was (and I will leave out my excited use of the F-word) – “OMG, what is this magic? This is all of my most favorite things in one bite!!!”
After getting Audrey’s original recipe, I made a few small tweaks to the recipe, swapping powdered sugar for coconut sugar and maple syrup, leaving out vegan butter and cutting it in half and opting for salted grass-fed butter instead (you can also use ghee or coconut oil here, too) and the box of sprouted brown rice cacao crisps I already had in the pantry made for the perfect crispy crunchy interior.
There’s just something about the classic flavors of dark chocolate and peanut butter that I will never tired of and while there are so many nut butter alternatives and yeh, sure, they are good, they just don’t quite do it for me the way that peanut butter does (see below for options and alternatives for other options, if you must).
Making these Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls was a therapeutic baking session (sans actually baking) thanks to the sadness of my cancelled plans. There’s something about being in the kitchen, Christmas music blaring and making something sweet that is instantly soothing to the soul.
The best part about these, since they make well over 4 dozen balls, they are perfect to portion out and share with people you love, especially for the holidays. Leave a small box for your neighbors, give some to your trainer in an effort to bribe him to go easy on you in your workout (I might have done that) or just keep them ALL for yourself.
I have since learned, thanks to Google that these Rice Crispy Peanut Butter Balls are a classic recipe, though many of the original recipes include half as much cereal and peanut butter and a full cup of powdered sugar, plus milk chocolate. I can’t even imagine how overly sweet those are. I really love that these Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls are the perfect amount of sweet without hitting you over the head with it.
I hope you enjoy these Dark Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls as such as I did – and please let me know if they make you scream swear words out of pure glee, too!
By the way, in other circumstances I would have loved to share process photos while I made these, but to be fair, I did make them at like 8pm on a Sunday night after we found out our Yosemite trip had been officially cancelled because our campgrounds had closed due to this secondary lock down in California. So it is what it is, like the rest of 2020!
Also, hey – did you hear the news?
Speaking of chocolate, in case you missed it, I officially unveiled the brand new Tasty Yummies web store last week and introduced the three exclusive Tasty Yummies raw organic dark chocolate bars – Basic B, Salty B and Spicy B. All of the bars are dairy-free, cane sugar-free featuring the right amount of sweetness from mineral-rich coconut sugar, and luscious raw cacao butter stone ground at low temperatures. I am so proud of these bars and I am so excited to finally share them with all of you.
While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend melting down these Tasty Yummies Chocolate Bars like 10 of them for this particular recipe, they are the perfect bar to savor and enjoy every single day.
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Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken Wings {gluten-free}
This post is sponsored by the National Peanut Board. I received compensation, but all opinions and content are my own.
These delicious, grilled chicken wings take the classic flavors of peanut butter and jelly and elevate it to another level. This recipe is the perfect way to make your summer BBQ a legend.
Peanut butter and jelly is a classic combination that I think we can all agree reminds us of childhood. From picnic lunches to after school snacks – it was a staple for so many of us. Budget-friendly eats at their finest, there is something so comforting about peanut butter.
Why leave that PB&J deliciousness in our past? I am bringing you a fun, new, delicious summertime recipe that brings this classic, tasty goodness into adulthood. These Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Wings are the perfect summer food. They will wow the pants off of your BBQ guests, and they are so simple to make.
I would LOVE to take credit for these wings, but the original idea comes from my cousin Dave, back home in Buffalo, NY. He is always coming up with unique flavor ideas for his pizzeria, from unique pizzas to fun and funky chicken wings. How very Buffalo of him, I know. His rendition is quite different than mine, without the grilling and only getting sauced after they’ve been deep fried, they are sticky and saucy and far more sweet than mine. For my chicken wing preferences, I want a little char on my wings, and I want less saucy, more savory and definitely more crispy.
Using our famous indirect method for grilled chicken wings, these wings get grilled till they are golden brown and crispy, they take a bath in sauce made from the creamy peanut butter and the sweet grape jelly, with a little garlic in there to keep in on the savory side and back onto the grill they go! This is KEY for getting a little crispy and some crunch and for making these wings the stars that they are!
You can use your favorite peanut butter in this recipe. I opt for creamy, but crunchy would absolutely work here, too! I personally find the flavor of a classic, high quality concord grape jelly to work best here. I offer a range of 1/3 – 1/2 cup, because everyone is different with their preferred levels of sweet. Use your best judgement, taste and adjust as you go. You can use homemade sugar-free or lightly honey-sweetened jelly, if you prefer.
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Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken {Keto, Gluten-free}
This post is sponsored by the National Peanut Board. I received compensation, but all opinions and content are my own.
This Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken is coated in the most incredible, flavor-rich peanut sauce. Serve it over zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice for an easy meal, and garnish with extra peanuts for added crunch!
I know you all are with me on those easy, weeknight meals that come together in no time but pack a major flavor punch. This simple Instant Pot meal requires very little prep and it’s layered with rich flavors. I find this easy meal brings the flavor of the Thai classic Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce but with far less work, no need to skewer meat and no grilling necessary. Just pull it all together, set it and forget it.
Peanut butter is front and center in this easy, weeknight meal. I love how a creamy organic, unsweetened peanut butter fits into a tasty, savory dish like this Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken. It’s so rich and creamy and together the peanut butter and the coconut milk leave the chicken super juicy, moist and tender.
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White Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs
These White Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs are a wonderful between meal bite that won’t affect blood sugar, cause the after snack crash or increase cravings. A great way to stay satiated for longer and include more healthy fats in your diet.
Yes Fat Bombs!! Sounds a little intense, huh? Fear not. Trust. These tiny little treats are magical! A simple snack, that unlike most small snackin’ bites won’t play a role in that blood sugar roller coaster that plagues so many. Fat bombs can also be a life-saver, especially if you are newly shifting to a fat-fueled or keto journey. These healthy-fat loaded powerhouses feel like an indulgent treat, but they’re packed with nourishing and satisfying fats!
If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably heard me mention a time or two that I have been experimenting with the Keto diet since January of 2017. The keto diet is a low carb, high fat approach to eating. I have chosen to implement this dietary change strictly from a therapeutic approach, as I continue to work to get my autoimmune form of kidney disease into remission and continue on my healing path.
I am sure you have noticed based on the recipes that I share here on TY, that over the past couple of years as I continue to tailor my diet and lifestyle to my own highly personal needs, gluten-free grains just no longer agree with me in more than very small amounts on occasion. But, in further investigating and experimenting I actually now finding that in fact it is most higher carb foods in general, grain-free or not, seem affect me quite negatively. Brain fog and bloating, sluggishness and digestive issues. Carbohydrates are quickly absorbed into the blood stream and instantly affect blood sugar causing a surge and in turn insulin production, this is the cause of those very high highs and very low lows, that we have all experienced. (ahem, hello HANGER!) It’s been very interesting to see what foods affect my body and how I am able to thrive by intuitively listening to my own body, rather than any arbitrary set of rules, and together how this has all continued to shape the choices I make and how good I am able to feel.
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Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Cups
With Halloween approaching and the rest of the holidays not far behind, sweets and treats are going to be just about everywhere, tempting us at every turn. While I don’t see anything wrong with the occasional indulgence, I still also maintain my concerns about the quality of ingredients in most treats. From loads of refined sugar to, often times if store-bought, a lengthy list of fillers, thickeners, “natural flavors”, soy products and who knows what else. There’s just no reason for it, especially when you can make your own.
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Road Trip Energy Bars – Gluten-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar-Free
We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for our big road trip to Austin, Texas for SXSW and Flatstock 33, where we will be selling our (Hero Design Studio) handmade goods and wares for 4 days in the convention center. Since I do my very best to maintain my eating lifestyle no matter where I am, I have packed a ton of food for the trip, both for the road trip down and maybe for the first few days we are there, depending how much eating happens in the car, then I plan to hit Whole Foods once we get there to stock up for the trip back. I have some almond milk and honey packed up, since I know those will both come in handy along the way. I also packed a few bottles of my homemade kombucha and to snack on, I have some nut and dried-fruit trail mix, stove-top popped butter-free spicy popcorn, gluten-free vegan jerky from Primal Spirit Foods and I made these delicious road trip energy bars. It is absolutely imperative that I have some type of chocolate available to me when I am on a road trip. For whatever reason, I always crave chocolate on very long drives. Who knows!
These energy bars were super easy to make. To be completely honest, I quickly wrote up a rough idea for a recipe, headed to the kitchen and just winged it, I assumed I would just figure it out as I went along. What I love most about these bars are how easily you could tweak them to make them your own. If you don’t want chocolate, leave out the cocoa and chocolate chips, maybe adding in some raisins or dried cranberries and some cinnamon instead. You can add whatever your favorite nuts or seeds are. The possibilities are really endless. I have made a few notes below with additional suggestions.
These bars are almost a bit sinful, with that addicting combo of peanut butter and chocolate. How can you resist? The car is gonna smell amazing. With just one bite of these chewy snacks, you will fall in love. My hubby, Mark, absolutely LOVES coffee and although I rarely drink a cup anymore, I do love the flavor and the smell of good coffee beans. So, I thought that would be a fun addition to these bars. Feel free to leave it out or substitute caffeine-free coffee if you can’t handle caffeine. I think the smell alone that the espresso powder gave these bars is worth it. I really cannot wait to bust into one of these tomorrow, I am sure I will be indulging in one before we even hit the Pennsylvania border.
Although I will be away from tomorrow until March 21, I have a wonderful group of amazingly talented guest bloggers to hold down the fort while I am away. They have some lovely guest posts and tons of great recipes to share with all of you, so I do hope you check back often to see what they have up their sleeves. I hope you like it and I cannot wait to get home and start cooking again.
[print_this]Chocolate Peanut Butter Road Trip Energy Bars – Gluten-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar-Free
Makes 8 bars (you can also cut them into smaller squares to 16 or more)- 1 ripe organic banana, mashed (try adding a second or third banana if you wish to make these sugar-free)
- 2 cups certified gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour (or just process some gluten-free rolled oats into a fine powder)
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, dairy free (I like Enjoy Life brand mini-chocolate chips)
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup maple syrup (you could also use honey, coconut nectar, brown rice syrup, etc or skip and add extra bananas)
- 1/2 cup organic natural peanut butter, chunky or creamy, (or any other nut or seed butter)
- 2 tablespoons organic baking cocoa
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds, (you could also use flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, etc)
- 1/4 cup almond slivers (or any other nut of your choice)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 tablespoons espresso powder (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
* Note – Remember, you can easily make these energy bars your own, by adding, substituting and skipping ingredients as you’d like. To make these sugar-free replace the syrup with stevia or another banana. They could also easily be made nut-free by skipping the almonds and using sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. If you don’t like coffee, skip the espresso powder. Have fun with this recipe.
Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease an 8″ x 8″ glass baking pan very well, or line it with foil, leaving some overhang on two of the sides so you can easily pull it out of the pan to make cutting even easier (this is what I did).
In a large mixing bowl, add all of your ingredients. Mix and mash up very well until it is all well combined. Get your hands in there if you really want to.
Press the mixture firmly and evenly into your pan. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Don’t worry if the bars seem a bit soft, they will firm up as they cool. After it has completely cooled, either lift the entire thing out of the pan and cut into bars or squares, or cut while it is in the pan.
These can be stored individually in the fridge or freezer. Since I made these two days ago, I stored them in the fridge and then wrapped each one individually in a little piece of parchment paper and a sandwich bag for easy eating in the car.
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