Goodies!

Today I was supposed to clean the kitchen, so instead I made a mess in the kitchen. Sound familiar? I made some stuff and dipped it into chocolate. It was fun and Halloween-y.
Here is what I made:

Peanut butter candies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candies
(Or you could use the same basic recipe to make peanut putter cups.)

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
12 oz. vegan chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Combine 1/2 cup peanut butter (the no-stir variety) with a pinch of salt. Sift in 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and stir until well combined. Add more (sifted!) powdered sugar as needed until you have a stiff dough-like consistency. Roll the peanut butter into teaspoon-sized balls and place on a piece of parchment  on top of a cutting board or cookie sheet (something flat.) Put the peanut butter balls in the freezer to firm up for about 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, make one by placing the chocolate in a metal mixing bowl on top of a pan of simmering (not boiling!) water. The mixing bowl should be wider than the pan, so that steam doesn't get into the melted chocolate.

Use a fork or a toothpick to dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. Try not to worry about making them look professional! Drippy chocolates with fingerprints on them will still impress your friends.

If you want them to harden really quickly, put them back into the fridge or freezer until the chocolate has set. You might want to store them in the fridge, too, depending on the temperature of your house.

Peppermint Patties

Peppermint patties

1/4 cup agave syrup
2 cups powdered sugar
1 drop pink or green food coloring (optional, of course)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp. peppermint extract
1 pinch salt

Combine the agave, salt, food coloring, and extracts in a small bowl and mix well. Sift in 1 cup of the powdered sugar, and stir to combine. Sift in enough additional powdered sugar to make a firm dough.

Dust your hands and a work surface with more powdered sugar. Form heaping teaspoons of peppermint mixture into balls and smoosh them to form patty shapes. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for about 30 minutes.

Prepare your chocolate for dipping, as in the above recipe.
I had a really hard time dipping these, since the patties were sort of soft. Instead, I spread a spoonful of melted chocolate on top of each peppermint patty, and put them back in the fridge. When the chocolate was set, I gently peeled the parchment of the bottoms, flipped the candies over, and coated the other side with chocolate.

And don't eat these for your entire dinner! Unless you want people to start asking you questions like, "Where do vegans get their protein?"