Peanut Butter Chocolate Bites

by Emily
(South Dakota)

Our peanut butter and chocolate bites are just about my favorite combination of flavors. This recipe makes just the right amount for a real substantial treat. And you can make them as healthy as you'd like, depending on what you use.

I myself prefer to use natural products, so I will tell you what I use, but you can of course use whatever you like or have in your kitchen already. But in case you're interested, I love to use the organic peanut butter - it's very natural and has a fantastic fresh flavor. If you are concerned about salt intake, you can also usually find natural peanut butter made without added salt.

I also like to use natural chocolate. The chocolate I use is the Endangered Species brand, and you can get it with really low sugar content, and they use beet sugar instead of regular processed table sugar. I like the kind that is at least 72% cocoa. (Actually, my favorite is 88% cocoa and is very dark, but that may be a bit intense for most people.) As you may know, dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, so the combination of the peanut butter and dark chocolate is pretty nutritious for a dessert.

You need:
Graham cracker or Triscuit, etc.
Squares of chocolate
Peanut butter
Mini marshmallows (optional)

This is all you do --
Take a square of your favorite cracker (like low-sodium Triscuits or a natural Graham cracker)
Put on one square of chocolate
Microwave it for about 20 seconds or so
Then top it with a small blob of peanut butter
Microwave it again for about 10 seconds
(You may have to play around with the timing a little according to you own microwave).

I tried warming these different ways. I found that if I put both ingredients on and microwaved them together, the peanut butter got way too runny. So I put it on after I melted the chocolate a little bit. Of course, you don't have to heat up the peanut butter at all, if you don't want to. You can also top it with a mini marshmallow if you can eat sugar -- it makes a kind of S'more. These peanut butter chocolate bites are very fast to make and great for a little treat. And of course kids will love to make them too. It's a good cooking project to do with your grandchildren. Or if you are inviting children to your senior campus for an activity.