Crispy Peanut Butter Cups

Gosh. Thank you all for your support + sweet words about Monday's announcement. I can't tell you how much it means. I'm overwhelmed by your kindness. Thank you! 

To show my gratitude for your constant support over the years, I made these Crispy Peanut Butter Cups to share with you today. I only wish I could deliver a batch straight to your front door.

Peanut butter cups are an absolute staple in this house. Just like flour, salt, cinnamon, and eggs. You'll always find peanut butter cups in the freezer over here and they always have salt on top. They probably also all have bites taken out of them because I'm constantly like, I'll just have a little bite. And I'll just have another little bite. Repeat. Every single day.

They're the perfect satisfying treat after a meal with their crunchy, creamy, salty + sweet characteristics. 

But today I took things one step further. I made crispy peanut butter cups with the addition of toasted quinoa and coconut. 

Seriously. Quinoa that is 100% crispy! It's kind of amazing. They add a super crunchy bite to these cups, along with the softer crunch from the coconut.

You can use homemade or store bought peanut butter for this recipe. Just make sure it's not super oily or drippy. You want it nice and thick. I usually process my homemade peanut butter until it's drippy but for this batch I stopped just before that happened.

I can't stress the addition of flaked sea salt enough. It's KEY! But if you don't like sea salt on desserts (gasp! mom! looking at you!), then adding sprinkles or chopped peanuts would be just as fun and only slightly less delicious.

If you want a thicker chocolate ratio, simply melt more chocolate and add more to the bottom + top. Pretty easy.

I tend to go a little thinner with the chocolate and a little thicker with the peanut butter filling.

Print Recipe!

Crispy Peanut Butter Cups

gluten-free, vegan

• 1/2 cup pre-cooked quinoa (cooled)
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar (or other sugar)
• 1 tablespoon softened unrefined coconut oil, divided
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 heaping cup dark chocolate chips (vegan if desired)
• 1/ 4 cup thick creamy peanut butter (homemade is fine, not oily/drippy)
• flaked sea salt

Preheat your oven to 300° F. Toss quinoa with sugar and 1 teaspoon coconut oil on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and cook for 22-28 minutes, stirring 3 times. Remove from the oven once golden brown and crispy. Quinoa should turn fully crunchy once cooled.

While quinoa is in the oven, spread coconut on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, stirring twice, until golden brown. Watch closely as it burns quickly. Let fully cool.

Line a standard muffin tin with 6 liners.

Melt the chocolate using a double boiler over low heat, or in the microwave for 30-second increments, stirring after each until fully melted. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix the peanut butter with 2 teaspoons softened coconut oil, 3 tablespoons toasted quinoa, and 1/4 cup toasted coconut. The mixture will be very thick.

Spoon about 2-3 teaspoons of melted chocolate into each muffin liner and spread to cover the bottom. Take about 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture and form into a ball then flatten to about 1/4-inch thickness. Place over the melted chocolate, then spoon about 1 tablespoon (or so) of chocolate over the peanut butter. Tap the chocolate with your spoon to help spread. Add more chocolate if needed. If you have more chocolate and PB filling leftover, simply make a few more. 

Sprinkle with flaked sea salt and place in the fridge or freezer to set. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer for up to a few months.

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Notes:

• You will probably have some of the peanut butter mixture left over. Store in a sealed container and use as a spread or on top of oatmeal.
• Use the leftover crispy quinoa and coconut as toppings for sweet or savory meals.

Don't miss Angela's cookbook update with even more details about our collaboration + sneak peek photos!

Ashley

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

I'm thinking we need to start off the week with something sweet. And I'm thinking this vegan chocolate mousse is just the thing. It's a simple dessert with five main ingredients and little risk for disaster. No oven necessary, just your blender and fridge. I promise you can make this happen! 

A few weeks ago, the hardworking + generous staff at Fair Trade USA contacted me about a campaign they were working on and asked if I'd like to help spread the word. Of course! It's called, Moms Make A World of Difference. With Mother's Day just around the corner they thought it was the perfect time to honor and celebrate all of the moms out there and also bring awareness to the women working in agriculture in developing countries.

By choosing Fair Trade products you help support these hardworking women, their families, and communities. Did you know 50% of the world's food is produced by women, but women only own 2% of the land (source)? Fair Trade gives workers opportunities for things like education, microloans, maternity leave, fair pay, safe working conditions, and more. By purchasing Fair Trade you're not only getting a quality product, but most importantly, you're helping families and communities in developing countries thrive.

Today I wanted to share a little snippet of Maria's story. Not only is she a hardworking mom who strives to improve the life of her family, but she is also committed to helping her community grow as well.

Maria Quishpe, 31, from Saquisili, harvests Fair Trade certified roses. Maria, who has been working at Agrocoex since 2003, is a mom of a 2 year old toddler and the president of the Fair Trade prize committee. Currently on her third term as president, she has been on the committee for five years. Maria, who finished her High School equivalent degree through a Fair Trade holarship for adult employees, states: "Our main focus right now is the housing project for 200 families [of Agrocoex employees] in Latacunga. I ask that you please continue to buy our flowers, as each rose represents a step towards our collective dream of improved housing. Each rose is gathered with lots of love. I want to end my presidency with the housing dream as a reality." The housing project consists of a track housing development on the outskirts of Latacunga city where Agrocoex employees will have favorable credits and other benefits in order to become homeowners. Many state that living in Latacunga will provide better health, education and income possibilities for their loved ones - children and spouses.

In honor of Moms Make a World of Difference, I've created this vegan chocolate mousse with a handful of my favorite Fair Trade certified ingredients. And today you have the chance to win everything you see below! This is thanks to the lovely people at Fair Trade and the extremely hard workers around the world who strive to bring you the highest quality Fair Trade products possible.

For this mousse recipe I utilized the Lake Champlain drinking chocolates (they melted wondefully and are vegan!), Nutiva organic coconut oil, and the Wholesome Sweeteners organic blue agave. I don't use agave too frequently, but I must say the caramel flavor of this variety was outstanding. 

Now, onto the mousse.

This velvety smooth, chocolate mousse is made possible by just a few ingredients:

• silken tofu
• coconut oil
• coconut cream
• melted chocolate
• agave nectar

Once everything is blended together you're left with a lightly sweetened, chocolaty dream of a dessert. It needs a few hours in the fridge to fully chill and firm and then you can dive on in. As it firms in the fridge, the texture also lightens. It really has a true mousse-like texture. It's the coconut whipped cream that adds lightness and also helps to firm the ingredients together, along with the coconut oil.

The coconut flavor is subtle and adds an extra layer of richness. You can definitely play around with adding more melted chocolate or more or less agave. It just depends on your taste buds. 

I originally tried adding a small amount of coconut flour (you'll notice in the ingredient photo) to the mix for added coconut flavor, but the flour also added a slight gritty texture that was not so pleasant for mousse. But without it, we were golden.

Print Recipe!

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

gluten-free, vegan // yields: 4, 1/2-cup servings

• 6 - 8 tablespoons vegan semi-sweet/dark chocolate chips (I used 54% cocoa - standard size chips)
• 1, 13.5oz can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
• 2-4 tablespoons agave nectar, divided (or coconut syrup)
• 1, 12oz block firm silken tofu
• 3 tablespoons softened unrefined coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of fine grain sea salt
• toasted flaked coconut

Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler over low heat or in 30-second increments in your microwave, stirring after each. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes (not in the fridge).

Open your fully chilled can of coconut milk. Scoop out only the solid coconut cream from the top of the can and place it in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon agave and beat until smooth with soft peaks, about 1 minute (yields appx. 3/4 cup). Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge.

Place tofu, coconut oil, melted + cooled chocolate, 1 tablespoon agave, vanilla, and salt in your blender. Blend working to high speed until fully smooth. Scrape the sides as needed. Taste and add more melted chocolate and/or agave if desired. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Add a 1/2 cup of the coconut cream to the chocolate mixture and fold together until combined. Cover and refrigerate remaining coconut cream. Portion mousse into 4 dessert cups with plastic wrap draped lightly on the surface of the mousse. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve with a dollop of coconut cream and toasted coconut. Will keep in the fridge for about 3 days.

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Notes:

• Be certain you buy "silken" tofu that typically comes in a cardboard container and is not refrigerated. Also look that the box says "firm." If there is only extra-firm that should also work. If you can only find soft, the pudding my not firm up as much. Adding a bit more whipped coconut cream and 1-2 tablespoons more coconut oil should help.
• This can be made one day ahead. Cover the mousse and refrigerate, waiting to portion into cups until before serving. Give the mousse a quick whip with a whisk, portion into cups, top if desired and serve.
• If you want a thick layer of coconut whipped cream over the mousse, refrigerate 2 cans of full fat coconut milk and whip the coconut cream from both cans with 2 tablespoons agave. Use 1/2 cup in the mousse mixture and reserve the rest for topping.
• Feel free to sub honey instead of agave if not vegan.
• The higher the cocoa content of your chocolate, the richer and less sweet this dessert will be. Add agave in small increments until it's to your liking.

GIVEAWAY:

To enter: Leave a comment below about your favorite Fair Trade products or anything to do with Mother's Day (something about your mom, maybe your brunch menu, etc.)

Giveaway details: 1 winner will receive all of the Fair Trade certified items you see a few photos up. Giveaway ends Friday, May 8th at 5pm EST.

Good luck!!

Ashley

A big thank you to Fair Trade USA and all of the wonderful companies who participated in this campaign. 

| just love coffee roasters | whole foods market | barkthins | lake champlain chocolates | | wholesome! | traditional medicinals | nutiva | numi organic tea | unreal | eco lips |
| arrowhead mills | vosges haut-chocolat | simple truth | near east | cascadian farm | prana |

This giveaway was sponsored by Fair Trade USA and the companies mentioned above. I was not compensated for this post.