Here are two things to know about me:

1. I’m a perfectionist.

2. I make mistakes. A lot.

I can’t count the number of times I have a kitchen mishap where something doesn’t go how I think it would. In cooking it’s easy to make that up by adding new ingredients. In baking it usually ends up in the trash.

I underestimated how much peanut butter and butter these crispy treats needed. The first time I refrigerated them, they fell apart as soon as I cut in. I had to sweep a few rice crisps off the floor and redo the process, remixing the batter. I don’t think it was as good as if I got it all right from the start. I even debated whether to still serve these, but I’m glad I did because they got two thumbs way up at a party over the weekend. This recipe reflects the fixed version. And you can’t bet I’ll be making these the right way one day soon; what kind of perfectionist would I be otherwise?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

Ingredients:

• 6 cups cocoa crispy rice cereal
• 1 1/2 cups no-stir peanut butter, divided
• 1 cup Fluff(or marshmallow crème)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. In a large bowl, melt 1 cup of peanut butter along with the butter until it’s runny. Mix until the two are combined.
2. Add in the cereal and Fluff and mix until the cereal is completely coated by the wet ingredients. Press the cereal into a 9 x 13 baking pan.
3. Melt the remaining peanut butter and chocolate together and mix. Pour evenly over the tray of cereal. Refrigerate until set.
4. Cut into even squares and keep cold until serving.

Sunday we went to Maine to celebrate Father’s Day with relatives. I didn’t need any more of an excuse to start baking. I’d already had this cake recipe in my head and couldn’t wait to try it out.

The body of the cake is made with just almond flour, making it gluten and grain-free and lending a slightly nutty flavor. Because almond flour isn’t all that absorbent, the cake comes out slightly dense and fudgy. I don’t know about you, but those are two adjectives I like to describe my cakes. The cake isn’t all that sweet, though, so the glaze adds that final punch of flavor that makes it a show stopper. This cake recipe will become my standard for frosted and layer cakes.

Dark Chocolate Almond Meal Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups finely ground almond meal
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup neutral oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the almond meal, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk in the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and egg whites completely.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler and fold that into the cake batter until it’s completely emulsified. Pour the cake into a cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until the center has set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

This is a great gluten-free cake on its own, but it’s not incredibly sweet nor does it have much else going for it. This cake really begs for a frosting or a glaze of some sort, and what goes better with chocolate than peanut butter?

Peanut Butter Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• Water to thin

Scoop the peanut butter into a large bowl. Slowly sift in the powdered sugar, mixing it in little by little. When the sugar is completely incorporated, pour in the maple syrup and stir. Slowly incorporate water until the frosting reaches a glaze-like consistency. Pour the glaze over the cake and level out.

I decorated mine with Trader Joe’s miniature peanut butter cups and cut it up into 14 slices. I couldn’t believe how well this turned out on the first try. The cake is somewhere between cakey and fudgy, which isn’t and easy balance to strike with gluten-free flours. And the peanut butter glaze doesn’t over power the rich chocolate in the cake.

I’ve set a goal to only have one slice a day. So far that’s not going so well.

This recipe is a life-changer.

I’ve long been obsessed with microwave chocolate fudge. I’ve tried making my own peanut butter fudge in the microwave in the past but the texture was never as good as the chocolate version. Finally, when I saw that Alton Brown had a recipe for microwave peanut butter fudge I knew I had to make it.

Alton Brown has to be my favorite Food Network chef, and not just for this recipe. Don’t get me wrong—I love watching Ina and Paula and Giada so that I can make fun of how ridiculous and fattening their “basic” recipes are. But Alton actually writes recipes like he knows what he’s doing, and that’s what makes him fun to cook from. 

Overall I stuck to the recipe pretty well. I halved the recipe and the only change that I made was melting the butter only and stirring in the peanut butter until it melted, too.

The fudge came out as an odd, doughy texture that was delicious but not really “fudgy.” I pressed it into a pan and let it sit in the refrigerator until it hardened up a bit and it came to the right consistency.

I wouldn’t leave this at room temperature since it got soft pretty fast. But other than that it was perfect; the taste was very rich and very sweet.

In other words, I need someone to take the rest of this off my hands right away

Sometimes covering things in chocolate just isn’t enough.

That’s when you add peanut butter.

I made these on Mother’s Day, even though I had seen my mom Saturday and wasn’t going to see her Sunday. What can I say? I’m not going for son of the year award. Since there’s nothing with chocolate that can’t be better with peanut butter, I figured these would work, and they did! And they’re just as simple to make as the original, too.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Strawberries

Ingredients:

• Strawberries
• No-stir peanut butter
• Chocolate

Cut the strawberries in half.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double-boiler.

Put about a teaspoon on one side of each strawberry and sandwich it lightly with the other.

Gently roll the strawberry in chocolate, being sure to cover it all around about 3/4 of the way up.

Put the strawberries on a sheet of wax paper and refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Serve at room temperature.

These are a little messy, but oh-so worth it. The peanut butter adds just enough flavor to pair well with the chocolate. This will teach fruit to ever try and be healthy again.