Chocolate Peanut Butter BonBons
Craving. Chocolate. Peanut butter. Nagging, nagging. Helllooooo. Chocolate. NEED Chocolate! Peanut butter. Mmm. Peanut butter. Nagging. Craving. Peanut Butter. Chocolate. CHOCOLATE!
Bonbons … Mmm. Bonbons. Yes. Chocolate. Peanut butter. Yes, yes, yes. Ah! Better.
I feed my cravings with high quality ingredients and then I also try to lighten up my favorite decadent treats. If they taste really good, I find I don’t need to eat large quantities of them. These are sort of like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, except they’re healthier.
Chocolate Peanut Butter BonBons
Heavily adapted from Baby Gizmo Blog. To reduce the fat, I used PB2 in place of half of the peanut butter, which is a powdered form of peanut butter with 85% of the fat removed. If you can’t find it at your local grocery store (in the health food section), you can order it online.
- 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (chocolate or regular … whatever you prefer/have on hand … I used a mix of both)
- 1/4 cup flaxmeal
- 1/2 cup PB2 (chocolate or regular or a mix of both … I used half chocolate/half regular)
- 1/4 cup fat free half & half
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup light cream cheese
- For dipping: good quality dark chocolate and mini chocolate chips … I am not sure how much I used because I grabbed some bar chocolate then added chips to it, but I would guess it would be about 1 – 1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips plus a cup of mini chocolate chips
This recipe was shared at Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Manic Mondays, Fit & Fabulous Fridays, Foodie Friends Friday and Newlyweds Recipe Linky.
Homemade Maple Cranberry Pecan Granola
I have long been fascinated with the idea of making my own granola. I don’t know why it took me so long to actually DO it. Suddenly several of my foodie friends are talking about it, so perhaps it was the power of suggestion? I don’t know. I just know that last week I suddenly felt a strong urge to make granola.
And I’m soooo glad I did. It is really quite simple to make and it just blows away the taste of store-bought granola, with the added bonus that you can control what goes into it. So it’s easy to make it healthier. This is so tasty, my parents and I munched on little handfuls of this granola all weekend. The first day I made it, I had three bowls of it with milk. The jar is disappearing quite quickly. (Which is exciting to me, because that means I get to try out my NEXT granola flavor! woo hoo!)
Maple Cranberry Pecan Granola
Slightly adapted from ChinDeep.
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoons coarse sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup flaxmeal
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened pearsauce (drain a can of pears and blend until smooth) or applesauce
- 1/6 cup maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 oz. dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a very large mixing bowl, mix oats, pecans, sunflower seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, flaxmeal and nutmeg.
In a small saucepan, warm the apple or pear sauce, maple syrup, honey and oil. Combine the wet mixture with the dry mixture until completely incorporated and everything is evenly mixed. Divide the granola between two large jellyroll pans. Bake for 45-55 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until the granola is a deep golden brown. Remove from oven. Cool completely. Mix in dried cranberries. Store in an airtight container. Keeps up to one month. But it isn’t going to last that long …
This recipe was shared at Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays and Tuesday Talent Shows.
Double Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread
I was having a serious chocolate craving and nothing I had on hand was going to cut it. I was tempted to make something like a chocolate pudding cake until I saw this recipe from Rock Recipes for Chocolate Pecan Banana Bread. I couldn’t help but fiddle with the recipe, though. I reduced the fat, increased the amount of cocoa, reduced the sugar and then added honey and Nutella and substituted hazelnuts for the pecans (to go with the Nutella!).
It was just what I needed to satisfy that intense chocolate craving. Yes this is DARK, decadent chocolate. My favorite. Mmmm.
Double Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread
Adapted from Rock Recipes
Wet ingredients:
- 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons applesauce
- 1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup milk
- 1/4 cup Nutella
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
Dry ingredients:
- 3/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup flax meal
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Extras:
- 1/2 cup good quality chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
- Raw sugar, extra chocolate chips, and/or toasted chopped nuts (for topping)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mash the bananas with a fork, then add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
- Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle with raw sugar, toasted chopped nuts, and chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
This recipe was shared at Weekend Potluck, Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays, Tuesday Talent Shows, and Katherine Martinelli’s Bread Bloghop.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Some days I feel overwhelmed … and I wonder why. I mean, things are so much easier now than they were just a couple years ago. I listen to my friends’ problems and I feel like I have it so easy. I’m really okay. There aren’t any big tragedies in my life. My kids and I are healthy, I have a good job, a good home, good food, great friends and family.
But still some days everything in my life feels like just too much. I don’t know what it is. There just is too much to be done, too many things pulling at me, and I get to the point where I just don’t know how to respond, how to deal with anything. I can’t make a decision, I can’t even answer my kids’ questions. I just have to tell them to wait a bit. It’s times like this when I turn to the kitchen … the preparation of food soothes me, comforts me, makes things feel a little better.
And then I get a big hug from my daughter for making banana bread and everything is all right again. Is life really that simple? Can everything be turned around in an instant with one little hug?
Amazingly, yes.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Adapted from Taste & Tell. This is a soft, moist banana bread with a subtle hint of peanut butter. For more peanut flavor, add some chopped peanuts. If you toast the nuts before adding them, it will bring out the peanut flavor even more.
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
- 1/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup flaxmeal
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- For the top: a couple tablespoons of raw sugar (turbinado sugar)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan or mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl, then add the milk, peanut butter, vanilla, yogurt and egg and mix well.
- Stir in the dry ingredients, then mix in the chocolate chips.
- Pour into one 4x5x9 inch bread pan or a few smaller loaf pans (I used 3 smaller ones.)
- Sprinkle the tops of the batter with raw sugar and place in the oven to bake.
- Bake smaller loaves for 30 – 45 minutes or larger loaf for 50 – 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread rest in the pan for a few minutes before removing.
This recipe was shared at Thursday’s Treasures, Full Plate Thursday, Fit & Fabulous Fridays, and Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays.
Kumquat Basil Walnut Quick Bread
This is another great find in my quest for kumquat recipes … I had already tried a yeasted bread, but then also I wanted to try a quickbread. This one turned out so yummy it’s almost gone already. My friend came over last night because she wants help with setting up a food blog and she brought along her little boy who is just a toddler. We were looking for a little snack to feed him and this bread was right there. I cut him a slice, which he scarfed down immediately. As we were distracted on the computer, he went over and grabbed my glass loaf pan off the counter and came walking towards us saying “Toast!” … it was so cute! (aside from the fact that I totally panicked that he would drop the pan and it would shatter and hurt the little guy) … so yes, he got another slice. And so did his mom.
I think I am going to have to make another loaf of this “toast” … I just love the pretty orange specks of color in it, the tang of the citrus, and the crunch of the toasted walnuts.
Kumquat Basil Walnut Quick Bread
Adapted from Kumquat Growers.
I wanted to add some spices to the basic recipe and was having a hard time deciding which spices I wanted … I opted for fresh basil just for something different, and I like the subtle hint of basil, but I am thinking next time I will try switching out the basil for some ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, a bit of cardamom, some vanilla and maybe some cloves.
- 2/3 cup 1 % or skim milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup flaxmeal
- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup pureed kumquats
- A small handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped fine (or pureed with the kumquats)
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- About 1 Tablespoon raw sugar for the top
Directions:
- In a mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs and oil.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
- Fold in the pureed kumquats, basil and nuts.
- Pour the batter into a 8″ x 4″ x 2″ loaf pan and sprinkle the top with raw sugar.
- Bake in a greased in 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean. (I had to cook it for about 15 – 20 minutes longer than that.)
- Cool and remove from pan.
This recipe was shared at Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Cast Party Wednesday, and These Chicks Cooked.
