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How to Make Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

It is funny how we make friends as adults.

As someone who didn’t make my friends as a kid, almost all of my relationships and friendships have happened as an adult. While I sometimes feel like I missed out on having those people around me that I’ve known since I was 3 years old, or those people that I went to every level of school with, I feel really happy and blessed that I’ve been able to build a group of people around me who I not only feel like I chose to have there, but have also chosen to have me be a part of their lives.

One of those people is my friend Liz. I met Liz about six years ago at my first apartment in Toronto. I moved to midtown Toronto after living in a more suburban part of the city with my parents. I had a fantastic apartment which I likely would have still been in today had I not wanted to live alone (ah, roommates, right)? Liz and I didn’t meet through friends or even at a party, we met at her work! I needed a new hair salon and a place down the street from my office and my apartment were taking clients. I walked in and was paired with Liz. A few haircuts later and we were talking all the time. We went from just seeing each other once every few weeks, to her coming over, hanging out, and on numerous occasions, bleaching and dying my hair on my bed using a grocery bag as a cap (glamorous, I know).

Anyways, fast forward a fair bit into the future and Liz and I are still great friends. Although we don’t see each other every week, when we do catch up, we laugh until we can’t breathe and it feels like we haven’t missed a beat.

This week she came over in the evening and we planned to bake. Knowing that she tries to eat Keto, I wanted something she could enjoy- so we settled on these peanut butter cups! They are dark chocolate, all-natural peanut butter, and we used coconut flour and coconut sugar so they’re gluten-free and nearly sugar-free. These don’t really require any prep time, just require a bit of time to free in between steps. You can whip these up with barely any notice and they’re a crowd-pleaser.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 Cups All Natural Peanut Butter, melted (plus more for drizzling)

1 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour

1/3 Cup Coconut Sugar (or Erythritol)

1 1/4 Tsp Madagascar Vanilla Extract

1/4 Tsp Kosher Salt

2 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate, melted

1 Tbsp + 1/2 Tsp Coconut Oil

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, coconut flour, sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix well until everything is smooth.

Roll the peanut butter mixture into balls roughly 1 Tbsp in size. Flatten slightly and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze for 30 minutes or until firm.

Once the mix is nearly frozen, melt the coconut oil and chocolate together in a microwave in 20 second bursts on high. Stir in between bursts in the microwave.

Remove the frozen peanut butter mix and using a fork, dip each disk into the melted chocolate until coated and place back onto the parchment paper. Put disks back into the freezer and let firm for another 30 minutes.

Melt some additional peanut butter. Remove the disks from the freezer and drizzle with the melted peanut butter. Salt with flaky sea salt and freeze again for 10 minutes.

Serve these cold to best enjoy them.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did, and if you make them, please tag me on Instagram at @JackDHarding

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Recipes

Chocolate Chewy Vegan Bites

A few weeks ago a friend was asking me what kind of healthy “cheat” snacks I could make that were vegan. I thought about this- I mean, you could go with a potato based anything, and a lot of candies and junk foods are vegan, but I wanted something that could be easily made at home and be picked at for a few days. I tried out a few variations of these bites and are thrilled to say these are the winners! My chocolate chewy vegan bites!

Ingredients

1 Cup Cooked White Quinoa
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup agave nectar (or maple syrup)
¼ cup naturally sweetened peanut butter (with cane or coconut sugar)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
½  teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of fine grain sea salt
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes (divided into 2)

Instructions

  1. Line a small baking sheet or any flat surface with wax or parchment paper.
  2. Add all ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir well to combine.
  3. Scoop tiny bite-sized spoonfuls onto the baking sheet (about 12 total). With the remaining coconut, sprinkle over the bites. Place baking sheet into the freezer and allow to set for 3 hours until bites are fully hardened.
  4. Enjoy straight out of the freezer. The fudgy bites will start to soften at room temperature after about 7-10 minutes.
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dat squares on plate
Recipes

Date Square Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups sifted pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 pound pitted dates, diced
1 cup water
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, combine oats, pastry flour, salt, 1 cup brown sugar, and baking soda. Mix in the butter until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch square baking pan.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the dates, water, and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook until thickened. Stir in lemon juice, and remove from heat. Spread the filling over the base, and pat the remaining crumb mixture on top.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in preheated oven, or until top is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into squares.
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Orange cranberry loaf slice
Recipes

Orange Cranberry Loaf Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in orange zest, and cranberries. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened. Pour into prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic when completely cool.
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