Serious Eats Reworked…..

I’m not sure if there is anyone in the world who loves a good, quality bargain as much as I do. Often times I buy store brands if they are comparable to name brands, but when I can get a good brand, for a great price, I am a very, VERY happy girl. I am always on the hunt for great deals, and good quality, because the quality of the ingredients you use makes a difference in the taste of your final product. I first discovered this with unsweetened cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is cocoa powder, right? Wrong! Even my favorite store brands can’t compare to Hershey, Nestle, or Ghirardelli.

The other two ingredients that really matter are the type of coconut oil you buy, and honey. I’ve tried so many coconut oils, most that say virgin and unrefined, but none of them tasted like coconut. I finally found one that is more affordable than the others, has a nice mild coconut taste, is virgin, unrefined, and cold pressed. It has made a world of difference in the outcome of my cooking. It puts a whole new flavor profile together. Using raw honey, over regular honey (Or honey that may not be real honey whether you realize it or not) also changes everything you’ve ever known about flavor. Plus, it boosts the nutrient factor in your foods, just like good quality coconut oil does.

Today’s recipe uses all three of the ingredients I just mentioned. I created a recipe, Indulgent Protein Bites, in the beginning of January and modified it today. While both are good this version is much creamier than the other version. I ran across a recipe today on Daily Burn and thought it sounded amazing, so I changed a few things, and made it then realized that I have a very similar recipe hiding in the archives. But these actually have a totally different texture, and flavor profile, so the choice is yours.

These candies (I don’t even know if you can call them candy since they are so good for you!) will kick Reeses right out the door. They are simple, healthy, and just right for squashing those chocolate cravings with a nice little punch of protein, and healthy satiating coconut oil. The calories are about the same, but for two pieces of candy (just like in Reeses package) you only get 6 grams of sugar instead of 21, and 8 grams of carbs instead of 24 grams! And our protein is almost double. You can’t beat that. Just remember to keep them in the freezer or they will melt on your counter. Take a bite, you’ll be sold, then sit back, relax, and enjoy!

What is your favorite chocolate and peanut butter treat?

Ultimate Peanut Butter Cups

By Angie Gouchenour

9 peanut butter cups

Ingredients

¼ cup good quality coconut oil

¼ cup crunchy natural peanut butter

¾ scoop (20 g) chocolate protein powder (I used Body Tech 24)

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Nestle)

2 teaspoons Truvia zero calorie sweetener (or 4 teaspoons of regular sugar or Sugar 2.0)

1 Tablespoon raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring, or extract

Directions

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and microwave for 10 seconds just to soften the peanut butter and coconut oil; combine well

Using a muffin tin, or cookie sheet, to hold muffin papers fill each paper with 1 Tablespoon of mixture

Pop them in the freezer until they are set

You can either leave them in the papers, or remove them, and keep them in an airtight container in the freezer

115 calories per peanut butter cup

Modified from my Indulgent protein bites and Daily burn