Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

No chocolate here, but we still have cocoa and carob powder. Sadly, I have run out of psyllium to whip up my 3-minute Chocolate Mint Mesquite Protein Cakes and I don’t have enough carob powder to make Gabby’s Sugar-Free Carob Almond Butter Cups. No cocoa nibs to make Hannah’s Mini Mint Chocolate Protein Cookies.

It might be comforting to feel like there are no sweets in the house. However, I know that isn’t true.

I just need to be more creative. There are sweets that just need to be discovered.

I decided to turn to Katie of the Almost Guiltless No-Bake Chocolate Mousse Pie fame.

She had a few recipes that really intrigued me, but I eventually settled on her Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. A super simple recipe, you warm up coconut butter, peanut butter, banana, cocoa powder and salt, stir together and then chill. I used a frozen banana which melted nicely with the rest of the ingredients. I popped the batter into a cute ice cube tray so I had bite-sized treats stashed away (a bit harder to gift, I know). You could eat this fresh, but I preferred it after it had a chance to freeze. Allow it to warm up to room temperature for 3 minutes or so, before slowly savouring each bite. Rich and fudgy, these bites delivered. I loved that it made a small batch and each piece was satisfying.

This is my submission to this week’s Weekend Wellness, to this month’s One Ingredient Challenge for bananas, and this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Lynne.

Raw Mango Paradise Bars

Just when I thought my week in the kitchen couldn’t get much worse, I broke it. Broke the unbreakable.

The indestructible blender stopped working. My Vitamix became silent.

Thank goodness they have a 7-year warranty. We’ll see how the repair process goes.

Pray tell, what the heck was I doing that broke my blender?

A Valentine’s Day dessert for Rob.

Innocent mangoes in paradise.

I was whipping up Mango Paradise Bars from Radiance 4 Life. I originally planned on making Tess’ Raspberry Star Bars, in the shape of hearts, pink for the cheesy day, but I didn’t have enough strawberries. Switching to mango bars was probably more in keeping with Rob’s tastes, so it all worked out ok.

After an overnight soak for the cashews, I decided to mix everything else together in my food processor. Since I wasn’t sure I could fit everything into my food processor, I transferred it to my Vitamix. Everything was going well….. the cashews and juice were a creamy pulp. I added everything else – agave,  melted coconut butter and the frozen mango. My blender was pretty full, so I turned down the speed, and used the plastic stick to help mix in the mango. It was mostly blended, but then it suddenly stopped working. I checked the plug. I checked the socket. The on/off was not working. Gah. Back into the food processor (two batches) for the final whipping.

I layered it into a large tupperware container and set it to freeze while I went to work. While they still needed to be frozen, I already knew the recipe had turned as I did a very thorough cleaning job (aka licking both blenders clean!).

After work, it had hardened into a delightful creamy bar. Basically a rich but still light-tasting cashew cheesecake, sans nut crust. For best results, let it thaw just slightly before devouring.

And you know what, it was better than the vegan Mango Cheesecake with a Raspberry Coulis from Prime.

Maybe my lackluster cooking streak has taken a turn for the better? If anything can turn your cooking into a positive experience, it is a Tess recipe!

(And thank you so much for all the encouragement, guys! It really means a lot to me!)

This is being submitted to this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Fragovila and to this week’s Weekend Wellness.