Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

So I read somewhere that today is National Peanut Butter Day. I don't know if it really is, but either way I'm now declaring today as a special day for honoring one of the tastiest foods on the planet and in honor of such, here are a few of my favorite easy, gluten-free pb recipes! (By the way, I'm eating pb straight out of the jar right now!)

Raw Peanut Butter n' Fudge Bites

In a blender, combine:

3 or 4 pitted, dried dates

1/4 C cashews

1 T cocoa powder

at least 1 T pb

Blend together until they form a thick paste. If it's too dry, add more pb. Too gloppy, add more cashews or even oats. Use as much cocoa powder if you want and add some chocolate chips!

Take out of the blender and roll into 1" balls. These keep for a long time in the fridge or freezer and are delicious, all natural munchie with no refined sugar! (Unless you use chocolate chips, but dark chocolate's good for ya) They taste very cookie doughish.

PB Cookie Dough Bites:

Same as above, just leave out the cocoa.

DIY Peanut Butter Energy Bars:

In a bowl, combine any or all of the following:

Oats

Raisins or other dried fruit

Chocolate chips

Chopped nuts

Sunflower seeds

Add enough PB to make it stick together

Sweetener with your choice of sweetener. Raw honey works really well for this recipe, and so does agave.

Mix together until you have a big delicious ball. You can form these into balls and wrap in foil or plastic wrap or press into a baking dish. Chill or freeze until they're a little more solid, then cut into bars if you need to. Watch out, these are very addicting, but they're a quick, portable, and highly nutritious snack that will keep you going for a long time, perfect if you don't have time for a full meal.

(These aren't the healthiest, but they sure are nummy)

Flourless PB cookies:

1 Cup peanut butter

1 Cup sugar (feel free to experiment with sweeteners, but wet sweeteners like agave and stevia don't hold the pb together very well.)

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

Mix them up, roll into balls and bake at 350 for about ten minutes. Add a piece of dark chocolate to the top when they come out of the over, if you want.

Homemade Reese's

Two ingredients:

Dark Chocolate

Peanut butter (mix this with a little agave if you want it sweeter, I like it as is)

Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or on the stove. Pour about a tablespoon into paper cupcake liners or a silicone muffin tin. Add about a tablespoon of pb to the top, then pour a little more chocolate on top. Or you can get really lazy like me. Put the chocolate in the muffin cup, nuke, swirl in a spoonful of pb with some more chocolate chips.

Put in the freezer until they get hard enough to eat. My husband waits until they're fully frozen, but I get them out as soon as they hit room temperature, because I don't have that kind of patience.

Happy noshing!

McKella