Dancing While Eating

Lauren Marie’s Gluten Free

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Treats

Some things were just meant to be together, like chocolate and peanut butter.  What is it about that combination that takes your taste buds to a magical place?  Have you ever seen a child eat something with chocolate and peanut butter? They start dancing and swaying in place.

Or is that just me?

For the past two years, my husband and I have a Christmas baking tradition with two of our friends, Mike and Candice.  Let me rephrase that. Candice and I have a Christmas baking tradition and Mike and Patrick have a "laying on the couch, drinking a beer while waiting to be taste-testers" tradition.  But we like it that way.  It's always so much fun! We make all sorts of wonderfully sweet, holiday treats.

This past year Candice made these amazing peanut butter cups. So simple!  She mixed peanut butter with powdered sugar until it was just perfectly sweet.  Then spooned a tablespoon of the mixture into paper-lined muffin cups.  Then we melted chocolate and poured it on top of each peanut butter scoop.  Once the chocolate hardens they are ready (it's faster if you put them in the fridge!).


When the cups were firm, Mike and Patrick were right there prepared to fulfill their taste-testing duties (they take their job very seriously). As they peeled off the paper liner, beautiful chocolate peanut butter cups appeared.  Remember me talking about those children eating and dancing in place? I'm pretty sure we all did that.  I know I did when I ate my first one.


They were so good!  They weren't overly sugary and they had a pure peanut butter and pure chocolate flavor.  I was in love! I knew then that I wanted to experiment more with that flavor combination.

So, when I saw "chocolate peanut butter" at the grocery store for the first time, I understandably freaked out.  I just had to use it in a recipe.  And the taste was great!  Same thing, not overly sugary, staying true to the pure flavors of chocolate and peanut butter.  But what could I make with it?  I decided to use it as a base for my Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Treats.  Mmmm... they are so good.  No marshmallows here! I use naturally sweet honey instead, with a little vanilla and chocolate chips, whoooo!





Now, I can enjoy the chocolate peanut butter connection whenever I want.  These are great for a weeknight sweet treat or even for a Halloween or other holiday party.  And put some music on....there's a good chance that these little treats will have you dancing and swaying in place!