Chocolate Peanut Butter Chews

Angela over at Ohsheglows.com has been on a rice crisp chewy snack thingy craze lately and I couldn’t stop thinking about them so yes, I FINALLY dragged myself to the store to by the one ingredient I still needed: puffed brown rice, which is the brown rice version of rice krispies, and while I don’t think it tastes quite as delicious as the snap-crackle-poppin’ stuff, it is quite a bit healthier.

Quick healthy snack foods have been all I can think about lately. I like to have something I can grab before a run or as I’m heading out the door for work. These little chews fit the bill, and they are extremely quick to prepare to boot! Not that time constraints are ever a factor when it comes to chocolate and peanut butter.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chews

-adapted from Oh She Glows (yeah, I’m obsessed)

• 1 1/4 cups puffed brown rice cereal
• 2 Tbsp. creamy almond butter
• 2 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter
• 3 Tbsp. brown rice syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. chopped dark chocolate

Directions

Line a plate or baking sheet with wax paper. In a microwaveable bowl, combine the peanut butter, almond butter, brown rice syrup and vanilla. Microwave about 45 seconds until melted. Stir in brown rice crisps and then stir in the dark chocolate. The chocolate will melt making it all wonderful and such.

Wet your hands slightly. Take a chunk of the mixture and roll into a golfball-sized ball. Set on wax paper and repeat until you have formed all the chews (mine made 10). The mixture is sticky, so wet your hands before forming each chew. Freeze for about five minutes and then transfer to a container and store in the fridge or pantry.

All the ingredients ready to go!

Mix your wet ingredients

Chop up that good-looking dark chocolate. Sneak a little nibble.

Stir and fold it all together!

Here they are after coming out of the freezer. I made these a couple days ago and I have been eating a 2 or 3 a day to power me through. 😉

Next time I would probably add cacao nibs or chopped nuts instead of the chocolate because I want a little more crunch to them. I think I will also try leaving out a tablespoon of the brown rice syrup to reduce the amount of sugar. You could probably use honey if you don’t have brown rice syrup, but I would definitely scale it back to no more than 2 Tbsp. because honey is sweeter.

On an unrelated note, the weather has been amazing here. Beach worthy, even. It’s *perfect* for running.

How’s the weather been in your neck of the woods?

-Lou