Dark chocolate peanut butter bites

Dark chocolate and peanut butter. As far as I'm concerned, putting the two of them together is a win and should never be passed over! When I was 18 and backpacking, my room mate and I were in such a fix for Reece's peanut butter cups, with none to be found where we were, that we simply went to the store and bought a jar of peanut butter and a very large slab of chocolate. We spent a happy afternoon sitting on the grass in front of the room we shared happily scooping peanut butter out of the jar on chunks of chocolate and scarfing it down to the vast amusement of those poor individuals who were unfamiliar with the concept of combining the two. I believe we both got quite ill that evening, but we both felt that it had been worth it.

I love a good peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie (my husband and I have been known to make up a batch and have them for dinner, after all) but sometimes you don't want the cookie to get in the way. I've been toying with the idea of trying to make my own version of a Reece's for a while now, and as my mother-in-law got me the coolest toy for christmas, a chocolate making kit, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try both of them out!

Okay, so now that I have the toys, er, tools to do this, it's time for the recipe. I looked at a few, but really, this is supposed to be about the peanut butter and the chocolate, so in the end simple won. I found this recipe at Gluten Free Nosh and am very happy with it. She suggests using mini muffin/baking cup liners, and if I didn't actually have candy molds, that would be the way I would go, but note! These are very rich! Little is not a bad thing here! Because I use 80 to 85% dark chocolate for all my baking, I find that while it isn't as sweet, a little really does go a long way. You will also want to ensure that the chocolate stays runny, so you will probably want to put the chocolate back into the microwave before covering the peanut butter, or you could also melt the chocolate over a double boiler and simply keep it warm throughout. Whatever you do, be prepared to giggle and get chocolate all over! This is a simple recipe and there is something about making peanut butter cups that had me feeling like a kid. Probably had something to do with having chocolate all over myself, and really, it is all about the simple pleasures!

Dark chocolate and peanut butter bites
Quantity depends on your molds

• 3/4 cups Peanut Butter (regular works best)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Icing Sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 cups chocolate, 72% or higher, in small pieces
• Mini baking cups, candy cup liners or candy molds

 Combine the peanut butter, icing sugar and salt and mix till well blended; roll into small balls, working quickly so that it doesn't stick to your fingers. (Hint: rinse your hands in cold water first). Set aside on a little plate.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, in 30 second incremements on a low power setting, stirring between each until melted; alternatively, melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring till completely smooth.

Cover the bottom of your liners/cups/molds with some of the melted chocolate, then put in a peanut butter ball. Top/cover with more melted chocolate and refridgerate for about 30 minutes till set.

We made our peanut butter balls a bit too big for our molds, so after dividing them we ended up with more than we had intended. Oh, dear, such a hardship. We also found that giving the molds a good shake allowed the chocolate to settle a bit more smoothly as well, though we did end up with a few air bubbles. Tasty though!

Rawesome Cakes

There are days when I forget that there is a camera on my phone. Considering how many stupid pictures I take with it, you'd think I'd have that cased. Apparently not. Essentially, that is the disclaimer as to why there won't be any personal photos following. Oops.

A couple of months ago, I decided to pop into one of my favourite stores to grab something to take with me for lunch at work. While snooping, I noticed in their refridgerator section that they carried little slices of cake from a company called Rawesome and that according to the packaging, they were raw, vegan, gluten free and made here in Montreal. Sweet! (pardon the pun) I grabbed a card for the company and then kinda forgot about them.

Last week, while cleaning out my wallet, I was going through all the business cards that I accumulate and found it. Now, I haven't seen any of the little cakes in the shop recently, so I went online to see where I could maybe get my hands on some, and realized that I was screwed. Not only were they very much still in business, but their head office/bakery is located about 500 meters from my apartment in the Nux Wellness Center (almost right across from the Vendome metro). Oooooh dear.

On Thursday, my friend Natasha and I spent the day together, and on our way home from the market, we stopped off at the Nux cafe. Firstly, everyone was very friendly, and we were able to pick up three different pieces of cake to take home and try. We most assuredly could have stayed to eat them there, but decided to actually have lunch before moving on to dessert.

This is where my lack of camera preparedness will become apparent. The images below are taken directly from the Rawesome website, and while mostly close to what we got, the individual slices do look a bit different. The pieces are each sized about as big as a playing card, which is actually reasonable, and price wise, they aren't really any more expensive than a non-specialty dessert out at a cafe.

The first one that we tried, the Pecan Caramel cheesecake, was the one that we didn't end up liking at all. The texture of the cake was fine, however! Very much as a cheesecake ought to be. It had an almost sour taste to it, that might have been from the caramel, with a pronounced coconut flavour, but whatever it was, neither of us enjoyed it, and we didn't even finish it.

The second cake that we tried, the Strawberry cheesecake, more than made up for the Caramel! The fellow who was helping up thought it was a raspberry, and because of the colour of the cake, I believed him even though the website doesn't list a raspberry. It didn't matter though as the flavour was delicious, light and fruity and so obviously not artificial that when you got a piece of actual srawberry from just over the crust you were almost expecting it. You could tell there was coconut in this as well, but only in the most peripheal way. Would definitely get this one again!




The third cake that we tried, the White Chocolate Cheesecake, was also amazing. Again, this was a wonderful vegan cheesecake; light and rich and frankly decadent. The top is dusted with raw cocoa powder, and the crust was a rich chocolate flavour, which framed the white chocolate filling beautifully. Wasn't too sweet, either, which I often found with traditional cheesecakes, so this really would make for a lovely dessert even after a substantial meal.



All in all, while I would have liked to have been able to try one of each kind of cake, I'm actually kind of glad that I now we didn't. I am looking forward to trying the lime and the lemon cakes very much. Not really a fan of chocolate and orange, but in the Name Of Science and Experimentation, that is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make!