I’m sorry that the name for this recipe is such a mouthful that you’ll probably finish half the batch before you say it. More accurately I’d call these “White Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bars With Dark Chocolate Ganache” but with a name like that you’d have to come up for air at some point.

This recipe is made with a few of my favorite things. PB&Co.’s White Chocolate Wonderful is one of the best vegan “white chocolate” anything I’ve ever had. It actually tastes like white chocolate without any dairy. For the ganache, I used Scharffen Berger’s 70% baking chocolate, which is delicious and smooth to eat both on its own and in recipes. You can taste the quality in it and—I warn you—it’s addicting stuff.

Normally, when I make peanut butter bars I use this recipe which is naturally gluten-free. However I’ve seen a lot of peanut butter bar recipes that use graham crackers as a binding(most recently this one) and I figured if so many people are doing it there must be something to it, right? So I broke out the ol’ gluten-free graham crackers and got cooking. I didn’t expect to like these as much as I do. The earthy spices in the graham crackers pair really well with the sweet and nutty peanut butter and add a pleasantly crunchy texture.

Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Bars With Dark Chocolate Ganache

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 18 1-inch squares):

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter*
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 135g graham cracker crumbs**
• 120g 70% dark chocolate OR 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

*You can use any peanut butter so long as it’s the no-stir kind. If you want the white chocolate flavor but don’t have White Chocolate Wonderful, use 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter mixed with 3 Tablespoons melted white chocolate.

**This is easy to make at home. Simply pulse 9 sheets of graham crackers in a food processor until it makes a smooth flour.

Method:

1. Gently melt the butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter either in the microwave or over the stove until it’s smooth and liquid.
2. Once the ingredients are melted, sift in the powdered sugar and pour in the graham cracker crumbs and mix it together until emulsified.
3. Grease a 3×8 loaf pan and press the peanut butter mixture into the pan in an even layer.
4. In the microwave or over the stove, melt together the remaining 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter and chocolate. Once they’re melted, mix them together.
5. Pour the ganache over the peanut butter layer and refrigerate until hardened(at least 30 minutes).
6. 10 minutes before serving, remove these from the refrigerator to soften. Once soft, gently cut into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife and serve. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

One of my favorite things about recipes like these is that they’re so easily adaptable for different allergens. I made mine gluten-free simply by using gluten-free graham crackers. To make them vegan you can use a dairy-free margarine in place of the butter and make sure to use vegan graham crackers.

I’m a very brand-loyal person, whether it be the shoes on my feet or the food on my plate. One brand I absolutely love is Attune Foods. I met their representative Annelies at the Chicago Healthy Living Summit; her passion for Attune’s healthy line of cereals and chocolate was immediately apparent and impressed me and I’ve been a fan ever since. 

Their Erewhon line of cereals make terrific certified gluten-free alternatives to mainstream rice and corn-based cereals and have been doing so for decades. While I’m not a fan of cereal for breakfast, I do like baking with it, especially for no-bake desserts like this one. These bars have the same flavors as my other date bar recipe but are so much simpler to make. The bottom layer is only slightly sweet with a nutty and spicy rice flavor to it, while the topping adds a good punch of flavor and texture difference. It’s a quick and easy crowd-pleaser.

No-Bake Gluten-Free Date Bars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 squares):

• 1 box Erewhon Rice Twice cereal
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2-3 Tablespoons water
• 1 cup dates, diced
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup crushed walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon course sea salt(optional)

Method:

1. In a food processor, blend the cereal until it makes a fine flour.
2. Add the melted butter, powdered sugar, almond butter, and cinnamon and continue blending until mixed.
3. Slowly add the water until the cereal mix starts sticking to itself. Shut off the processor and move it into an 8 by 8 baking pan and press into an even layer. Refrigerate for the time being.
4. In a small pot, bring the dates, brown sugar, and water to a boil. Continue boiling until the dates are soft and mushy and the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat and mash together into a somewhat smooth puree.
5. Spread the date mixture over the crust in an even layer. Top with walnuts and sea salt if using. Chill for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

The Attune Foods October recipe challenge is open until October 20th. They will also be holding a November and December recipe challenge so don’t worry if you can’t think of anything to submit for this contest period. In fact, just don’t enter so that I have a better chance of winning. Kidding. Sort of.

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you’d know I’m obsessed with the raw chocolate ganache torte(pictures here) from Wildflour bakery. Time and time again I’ve tried to make my own, but it just never comes out as good as there’s.

Until now.

I can honestly say this is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The raw chocolate taste so much more intense than anything that comes in a wrapper. And the crust and filling blend seamlessly together for a smooth, nutty bite. It’s perhaps my favorite recipe to share and I hope becomes this site’s most popular, because it truly deserves the attention.

You can use any nut butter in place of the almond butter. Just don’t leave it out. It helps to lower the solidity temperature of the coconut oil so that the dessert is easily cut through straight from the refrigerator.

Raw Chocolate Ganache Tortes(adapted from this recipe and inspired by Wildflour)

Prep time: 15 minutes

(Un)cook time: 2 hours

Ingredients(Makes 8 small tortes):

For the crust:

• 6 Tablespoons almond flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, softened or melted
• 2 Tablespoons agave nectar

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder + more for dusting
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted completely
• 7 Tablespoons agave nectar
• 2 Tablespoons almond butter

Method:

1. Combine all of the crust ingredients and mix until a uniform dough forms.
2. Press the dough in an even layer into the bottom of a small loaf pan. Alternatively, you could make these in a muffin tin and have them be round.
3. For the filling, beat together all of the ingredients until it makes a soft ganache.
4. Pour the ganache over the crust base. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Sift extra cocoa powder over the torte. Cut with a sharp knife into 8 equal-sized tortes.

I will never pay for another raw chocolate ganache torte again. I will, however, still pay for their carrot cake truffles, chocolate pound cake, raw macaroons, raw cheesecake, raw oreos and rum balls, so I wouldn’t worry about them losing much business.

If you’ve been reading for a long time, you know I don’t really like alcohol, unless it’s in dessert and then I go crazy for it. If I wrote It’s a Wonderful Life, the line would have been, “every time chocolate is mixed with liquor, an angel gets its wings.” I think these are that good. The texture is soft and almost chewy, like a chocolate candy with a sweet, seductive twist.

Embarrassingly enough I’m a lightweight and one of these is enough to make me feel way too good. When I was tempering and tasting the chocolate I wasn’t sure there was enough rum in it, but once the truffles were cooled and I took a bite—wow! They pack a punch of flavor.

No rum? No problem. Improvise the recipe with a different liquor. I can’t wait to try these with Kahlua.

Chocolate Rum Truffles

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time:

Ingredients(makes about 20 truffles):

• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips OR 9.7oz semi-sweet baking chocolate cut into chunks
• 2oz Bacardi rum
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder plus more for dusting

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Once it’s in a liquid state, slowly incorporate the rum until it’s all combined and evenly mixed.
2. Cool the chocolate and rum in a refrigerator for 10 minutes until it’s hardened but still sticks to itself.
3. Sift in the cocoa powder while mixing the chocolate until all the cocoa powder has been used.
4. Tear off pieces of chocolate and roll it into 1-inch balls.
5. Fill a shallow bowl with cocoa powder and roll each ball in the powder until covered all around.
6. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container.

After making these we’re almost out of rum and chocolate chips. That’s what I call an emergency.

This week I made brownies for the first time in months. MONTHS. Who am I? The thing is these aren’t even for me; I’m still trying to get in better shape for marathon training. The last thing I need on my plate(literally) is brownies.

I’m not saying I didn’t steal a taste, but as soon as these were cooled, cut, and photographed I sealed them up to bring to the Healthy Living Summit to share with friends and this girl for hosting me for a night. If you’re going, too, please find me and say hi. I’ll be the one trying to buy friends with brownies.

 I made these by modifying my outrageous triple chocolate brownies recipe and—dare I say?—I like these better. Cooked they taste the same but the raw batter is much more delicious since it doesn’t have that funky gluten-free flavor to it. And it requires no special flour/starch blend, just plain old almond flour. Since I always keep these ingredients on hand, I can tell this will be my new go-to brownie recipe. 

Almond Flour Brownies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 8 x 8 pan):

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar*
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules(optional)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 7oz semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate, divided OR 3/4 cup chocolate chips

*You can replace the cane sugar in this recipe with 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons of liquid sweetener like maple syrup, honey, agave, or corn syrup. 

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the almond flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, melt together 4 ounces of chocolate or a scant 1/2 cup chocolate chips with the butter.
4. While the chocolate is melting, beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and coffee granules if using.
5. Slowly pour the melted chocolate and butter into the egg/sugar mixture while whisking until fully incorporated. Don’t go too fast so that the raw eggs don’t cook upon contact.
6. Add the chocolate mixture in with the dry ingredients and mix completely.
7. Pour the batter in an 8 x 8 pan.
8. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chocolate and gently press it into the batter.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Let these cool completely before cutting in.

The first time I made these I took them out of the oven after only 25 minutes. 2 hours later I cut in to a gooey and basically raw center. Oops. I stuck them back into the oven and—of course—got distracted, baking them a little too long and burning the tops of the ones towards the back. The lesson is bake as I say, not as I do.