peanut butter

Name: No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars (V + GF)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 16 bars
Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients: 1/2 cup coconut sugar; 1/3 cup coconut oil or vegan butter; 1 cup natural peanut butter; 1/8-1/4 tsp salt*; 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder; 2 Tbsp arrowroot starch; 2 cups old fashioned oats; 3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips; 2 tsp coconut oil; 2-3 Tbsp natural peanut butter (to drizzle)

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars (V + GF)

September 2, 2019 by Rachael Ng Leave a Comment

Clearly I’m still on a chocolate + peanut butter kick. I. Can’t. Get. Enough. I’d like to blame the baby in my belly, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t jump at the opportunity to enjoy a chocolate PB treat?! And these No-Bake Chocolate PB Oat Bars? They’re the perfect mix of chocolate and peanut butter, and they’ve got a delicious texture thanks to the uncooked oats. They’re fairly low in sugar (compared to other similar bars) and packed with a bit of protein to boot.

This recipe comes together a bit like a no-bake cookie, but you won’t need to boil the chocolate mixture. Once you have all of your ingredients on hand, everything comes together pretty quickly – and easily – and the hardest part is waiting for them to set up in the fridge! I like to use natural peanut butter for these bars as it’s got no added sugar or oils, and it’s just so tasty!

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Coconut sugar is a low GI, unrefined sugar (that doesn’t taste like coconut!). It sweetens up these bars while also acting as a binder for the chocolate oat layer.

Natural peanut butter is nothing but ground up peanuts (and sometimes a little salt). No added oils or sugars.

Dutch process cocoa powder lends a deeper chocolate flavor and darker color to these bars.

Arrowroot starch helps thicken the chocolate mixture so it will set up in the refrigerator.

Yield: 16 bars

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars (V + GF)

An easy, no-bake bar made with lots of natural peanut butter, chocolate, and oats. Vegan and gluten-free, these delicious bars are perfect for many special diets.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

Bars

1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil or vegan butter
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/8-1/4 tsp salt*
1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
2 Tbsp arrowroot starch
2 cups old fashioned oats

Chocolate + PB Topping

3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
2 tsp coconut oil
2-3 Tbsp natural peanut butter (to drizzle)

Instructions

Prepare an 8x8" baking dish by spraying with non-stick spray (like olive oil) and lining with parchment paper, leaving excess paper hanging over two of the sides.
In a medium saucepan, add the coconut sugar, coconut oil or vegan butter, peanut butter, and salt. Heat over medium heat until melted. Whisk in the cocoa powder and arrowroot starch. Continue heating until mixture is hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the oats. Firmly press mixture into the prepared baking dish. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt your chocolate chips and coconut oil until smooth. Remove bars from the refrigerator (they'll still be warm) and pour melted chocolate over the bars. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the bars. Gently shake/tap your baking dish to smooth out the chocolate layer. Refrigerate bars until firm.
Melt the 2-3 Tbsp of peanut butter. Use a spoon to drizzle over bars. Return bars to the refrigerator (optional) to allow peanut butter to set a bit.
Allow bars to thaw at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges without parchment paper, and then use the excess parchment paper to lift the bars up and out of your baking dish. Carefully slice into 16 squares, wiping your knife clean between each cut.
Store leftover bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let them thaw at room temp for a few minutes before enjoying!

Notes

*1/8 tsp if your PB is salted; 1/4 tsp if it's unsalted

You can use regular cocoa powder in place of the dutch process cocoa powder; the bars just won't be as deep in flavor/color

Corn starch or tapioca starch can be used in place of the arrowroot starch since you only need it to thicken the chocolate mixture

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies (dairy-free)

August 28, 2019 by Rachael Ng 3 Comments

Ah, the classic peanut butter + chocolate combo. Seriously irresistible, and if I can find a dessert that curbs my seasonal yearning for a Reese’s egg (or pumpkin) then I’m so down. These cookies are a soft-baked chocolate cookie with just enough natural peanut butter on the inside to satisfy that PB chocolate craving. I’ve been re-heating these bad boys all weekend for a quick, sweet snack, and they are everything.

These cookies do take a while to get going since the dough, which is made with vegetable oil, needs to be refrigerated, but I promise that they’re totally worth it! For the filling, I used nothing but natural peanut butter. No powdered sugar. No thickeners. Just delicious peanut butter! Since natural peanut butter is runny, I recommend refrigerating it (if it’s not already) before scooping balls to freeze for the cookie filling. For a little extra pretty, I rolled the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar, but you can skip that step and eat them as is or drizzle the cooled cookies with a bit of extra peanut butter.

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Coconut sugar is an unrefined sugar that’s low GI (which means it won’t spike your blood sugar the way white sugar or honey does). And it tastes nothing like coconut!

Eggs bring moisture to these cookies, and the extra egg yolk is essential for maximum moistness.

Natural peanut butter is the kind made with just peanuts. It’s better for us and won’t add additional sugar to these cookies.

Yield: 13 Cookies

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Soft and chewy dairy-free chocolate cookies filled with nothing but delicious, natural peanut butter!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

Cookies

3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2-4 Tbsp white granulated sugar for rolling (optional)

Filling

1/3 cup natural peanut butter, salted or unsalted, refrigerated

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the coconut sugar, oil, egg + egg yolk, and vanilla extract; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until totally combined. Add the wet ingredients and mix until a dough forms. The dough may seem dry at first, but it will come together to a sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate dough for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, line a baking sheet - or large plate - with parchment paper. Scoop out 1 tsp size balls of peanut butter (your natural PB must be refrigerated for this to work). This will be messy, but do your best to get 13 "balls" of PB. Freeze the PB balls while the dough is refrigerating.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a room temperature baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1 1/2 heaping Tbsps of dough. I like to do 6 at at time, placing the leftover dough back in the refrigerator. Flatten each dough ball into a disc shape - if your dough is very sticky at this point, I recommend putting the discs in the freezer for 5 minutes. Place a PB ball in the middle of each dough disc and then pull the edges up and around the PB balls, rolling neat dough balls as you go along. Finally, roll each dough ball in granulated sugar and place on prepared baking sheet, slightly flattening each dough ball and re-shaping into neat circles as necessary.
Bake at 350°F for 5 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before gently moving to a cooling rack. Continue until all cookies are baked. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. For maximum goodness, I recommend reheating leftover cookies right before eating!

Notes

Eggs can be brought to room temperature by placing them in a glass of warm water for around 10 minutes

Any kind of vegetable oil will work in this recipe, though I do recommend something with a mild taste, like avocado oil or extra light olive oil.

Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups

April 25, 2019 by Rachael Ng 3 Comments

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and eggs!) ~~have to be~~ were one of my all-time favorite candies before I began my dairy-free journey. Now I’m talking low-key obsessed. When I lived in San Francisco I would stop by the store on my walk home and buy two King-Size packs. And eat them all (would not recommend). So I love chocolate peanut butter cups!

When Bon Appetit came out with a Gourmet Makes episode about Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I was S-O-L-D. I had to try this better, more Reese’s-like version of peanut butter cups! I took Claire’s recipe from the video and made it with dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut sugar. The results were stellar. Soft, delicious peanut butter cups that I could store at room temperature without worrying about the peanut butter being a gooey mess.

Since these Peanut Butter Cups are created by a professional pastry chef, they’re a little different (and more time consuming) than the ‘ole melt-pour-freeze method we all know and love. For these cups, you will boil the coconut sugar with a bit of water and then slowly beat that into the peanut butter. This creates a firm and pliable peanut butter “dough” that you’ll be able to cut out and press into your melted chocolate pools. You’ll top those with more chocolate and voila! Peanut Butter Cups!

The recipe below makes quite a few candies, so feel free to halve it. And if you prefer regular size cups vs the minis then you can make that happen, too. Just trim your regular muffin liners down and be sure your peanut butter circles are slightly smaller than the liners (you’ll need a bigger circle cutter than what I used for the minis).

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Natural unsalted peanut butter is made solely from peanuts and doesn’t include any added sugars, salts, or oils.

Dark Chocolate is the easiest (and most affordable) chocolate to find without dairy. I recommend the Pound Plus bars from Trader Joe’s if you have one near you!

Coconut Sugar is an unrefined, low GI sugar. It has no coconut flavor and makes for a great better-for-you alternative to white, granulated sugar.

Yield: ~30 mini candies

Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups

These Vegan Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are ultra rich and creamy! A better-for-you version of a favorite childhood candy that no one can pass up!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted, natural creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut sugar
3 Tbsp water
12oz dairy-free dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp coconut oil

Instructions

In a medium or large bowl, beat together the peanut butter, vanilla extract, and salt until just combined; set aside.
In a small saucepan, bring the coconut sugar and water to a boil and cook until mixture reaches 248°F (firm-ball stage). Remove from heat and slowly pour/beat into the peanut butter mixture.
Scrape the mixture out onto a piece of parchment paper and allow to cool slightly. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and roll the mixture into a slab 1/4" thick. Allow to cool completely.
Using a small cookie cutter (or other round object - I used a 1" piping tip) cut circles out of the peanut butter slab. The size of your circle cutter depends on the size of your muffin or candy liners. Keep circles on the parchment paper and freeze.
Line a mini muffin pan with muffin liners. If you don't have a mini muffin pan, you should still be able to fill mini muffin liners without one.
Melt your chocolate, along with 1/2 tsp of coconut oil, using the double boiler method or a microwave, being careful not to burn the chocolate.
Remove peanut butter cut outs from the freezer and double them up (stack 2 together). Spoon enough chocolate into each liner to cover the bottom. Add 2 stacked peanut butter cut outs to each, pressing down slightly. Add enough chocolate over each one until the peanut butter is totally covered.
Allow your peanut butter cups to set at room temperature. I recommend storing leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature to keep the peanut butter from drying out.

Notes

For the double boiler method: in a medium saucepan bring 1" of water to simmer. Add your chopped chocolate and 1/2 tsp of coconut oil to a heatproof bowl - one that's big enough to sit on top of your saucepan without touching the water. Place bowl on saucepan and stir often until chocolate is melted.

Recipe loosely adapted from Bon Appetit

Peanut Butter Blossoms with Chocolate Ganache (DF)

December 4, 2018 by Rachael Ng 1 Comment

Traditional Peanut Butter Blossoms are those little peanut butter cookies topped with milk chocolate Hershey’s Kisses that people seem to just love around the holiday season. They’re familiar, they’re topped with chocolate, and they’re a favorite at cookie exchange parties. I set out to create a dairy-free version, and after a bit of back and forth as to wether I should buy a kiss candy mold, temper chocolate, and make my own kisses, I decided to do what I felt my followers are more likely to realistically do: make a simple, two-ingredient chocolate ganache to pipe into the little “thumbprints” in the cookies.

These cookies are a bit crispy on the outside with a chewy, peanut butter-y middle. You get to control how much chocolate ganache you add, so go wild! Or not. It’s really up to you. You want to create little “thumbprints” for the melted chocolate by using something around your kitchen – small spoon, end of a marker, etc – to gently press into the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. Once the cookies cool, you’ll have a nice little spot, as shallow or deep as you like, for your chocolate.

The peanut butter dough comes together so easily – all in one bowl! You can use a hand mixer to beat everything together, roll your dough balls in granulated sugar for a little extra sparkle, and then bake them for less than 5 minutes! This no-chill dough is one of my favorite because it’s just so easy and quick. And then once your cookies are cool, you can whip up a simple chocolate ganache – only two ingredients! Let that cool for 15 minutes and then pipe or spoon (I recommend piping, even with just a plastic baggie) the thickened ganache into your cookie “thumbprints”.

Some of the ingredients I like for this recipe:

Coconut sugar is my favorite, go-to sweetener. It’s low GI, unrefined, and doesn’t taste like coconut. It makes for a great alternative to regular, granulated sugar.

Natural peanut butter is the kind made with just peanuts (and maybe a little salt). It has no added oils or sugars and works wonderfully in this recipe!

Semisweet chocolate makes up the bulk of the sweet chocolate ganache. I prefer semisweet to dark chocolate for this recipe, because it best mimics a traditional candy Kiss (while remaining dairy-free). I used a 54% chocolate bar (Trader Joe’s Pound Plus bar).

Coconut cream thickens the chocolate ganache. You won’t taste the coconut in the end product, and it makes for a great alternative to traditional milk cream.

Yield: 20 Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms with Chocolate Ganache

A soft peanut butter thumbprint cookie topped with an easy semisweet chocolate ganache. A favorite holiday cookie made dairy-free (and even better)!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

Cookies

6 Tbsp vegan butter (stick form), softened
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup + 6 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp white granulated sugar for rolling (optional)

Chocolate Ganache

4oz dairy-free semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup coconut cream

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together the vegan butter and coconut sugar. Beat in the peanut butter. Then the egg + vanilla. Beat in the salt and baking soda. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time and beat until totally combined.
Scoop dough balls, eight at a time, 1.5 Tbsp in size. Roll each dough ball in granulated sugar, place on baking sheet, and slightly flatten with your fingers. Bake at 375°F for 4-5 minutes.
Immediately press small wells ("thumbprints") into each cookie. You can use the back of a small measuring spoon, the tip of a marker, or whatever else you have. Feel free to make the wells as small or big as you'd like - the more you press, the more the cookies will crack at the edges. And the bigger the wells, the more ganache each cookie will have.
Move cookies to a cooling rack and bake the rest of the dough, making sure your baking sheet is cooled to room temperature before adding new dough balls. Allow all cookies to cool completely.
Once your cookies are cool, you can make your ganache. Add the chopped chocolate and coconut cream to a medium, heat-proof bowl. Place your bowl over a pot of about 1" of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir chocolate frequently until totally melted. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl. Allow ganache to cool for 15 minutes, stirring it here and there.
After 15 minutes, your ganache should be cool to the touch and thick enough to stick to a spoon without dripping (since the ganache will continue to thicken and set the longer it cools, you don't want to leave it be for too long before piping into your cookie thumbprints). Add your ganache to a piping bag or small plastic bag (fitted with a piping tip if you have one) and pipe ganache into each cookie well. Top with sprinkles, nuts, etc, or leave as-is.
Store leftovers in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

In place of coconut cream, you can use canned coconut milk. Place your can in the refrigerator (if it's warm in your home) and scoop the thick cream off of the top.

Peanut Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

August 17, 2018 by Rachael Ng 3 Comments

Grab a glass of milk (or whatever you’re drinking!) and get ready because these bars have a whole cup of stick-to-your-mouth peanut butter! These cookie bars are my first attempt at a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, but when the cookies didn’t spread – so. much. peanut butter. – I decided to press the dough into a baking dish and make cookie bars instead! These bars are soft, dense, and filling. They’re full of peanut butter flavor, and the chocolate chips add this extra bit of richness that makes these bars totally irresistible. I opted to use spelt flour, along with all-purpose flour, in these bars to bring in a slight bit of nuttiness. If you don’t have spelt flour available, all-purpose will work just fine as a substitute. Happy baking!

Peanut Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Makes 12 bars

1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup natural peanut butter, unsweetened + unsalted
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp spelt flour*
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips + more for topping (optional)

1.) Preheat oven to 350℉ and prepare an 8×8″ baking dish with parchment paper – leave a bit of an overhang so you can easily pull the giant bar out of the baking dish once it cools. I also like to spray the exposed sides with olive oil.

2.) In a large bowl, use a stand mixer or handheld mixer to cream together the coconut oil and coconut sugar. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla, and then the peanut butter.

3.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir together with a wooden spoon, leaving a few flour streaks. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4.) Firmly press cookie dough into prepared baking dish, using a flat measuring cup or your hands. Top with extra chocolate chips, pressing each chip a bit into the dough. Bake at 350℉ for 15-25 minutes. Allow cookie bar to cool before removing from the dish and slicing up to serve.

*if you don’t have spelt flour available, all-purpose will work just fine

NOTE: for cookies, omit the chocolate chips. Scoop cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and press down with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 350℉ for around 6 minutes.

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