Chocolate-Peanut Butter … Best Flavor Combo ever!
My most favorite food of all time is, without a doubt, the chocolate with peanut butter combination. The only problem is … my body does not like too much peanut butter. At all.
It’s the salicylates
It’s a little more complicated than that, involving something in peanuts called salicylates. They are in more than just peanut butter, including a number of other favorite foods, such as strawberries. Salicylates are high in all berries, almonds, spinach, zuchinni and honey… I think that hits most of them, or at least the ones that really affect my diet most. And as you can see, all of these are otherwise considered very healthy foods.
If I get too much of these foods over the course of a few days, I get extremely tired and sluggish, feeling very fatigued and worn down, really. I feel almost like I could be coming down with something. This used to happen to be quite often, probably starting sometime when I was a teenager until a few years ago when I discovered the problem!
It was during the process of trying to find help for my son for his eczema that I found I, too, have food sensitivities. I’m sensitive to some other foods, too, but the salicylates is by far my worst one!
So I have to really watch my diet because I feel like a totally different person since discovering this and modifying my diet. It has been amazing to realize how much those foods were truly affecting my quality of life at times.
I generally “save” my “salicylate allotment” for strawberries and peanut butter because those are the foods I most love that are high in the salicylates. The others I rarely ever eat anymore. So when I was looking at my assigned blog for this month’s Secret Recipe Club challenge, Delishhh, and came across the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars, I had to try them.
God had a plan for my Secret Recipe Club assignment this month!
It was kind of bittersweet though because I knew I’d only be able to eat them in small portions and not have much of the overall yield of the recipe. But guess what? It worked out perfectly because the children at my church were holding a bake sale this week to raise money for their camp expenses! God has a way of working these kinds of things out. I love it when He does that!
So I made a couple of adaptations, using coconut oil in place of butter and coconut sugar in place of regular granulated sugar, something I’ve been trying lately with baking to make recipes more healthy, and I used dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate. They were really good!
The only thing is they were a little crumbly. I’m wondering if this could be resolved by adding a little more oil to the mixture. I did not have as much as the recipe called for butter, but I also reduced the amount of sugar, thinking that would balance it out. I don’t bake a whole lot but am trying to do more baking, so next time I will have to try adding more coconut oil. If you are an experienced baker, feel free to leave me tips in the comments!
If you love chocolate-peanut butter anything as much as I do, you’ll love these peanut butter and dark chocolate bars! As a matter of fact, I’m eating one right now as I type the draft of this post. Can you hear me chewing? 😉
Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Bars
- Approximately ¾ cup coconut butter, softened, plus more for preparing pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing pan
- 1 cup pure coconut sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 & ½ cups smooth peanut butter
- 1 & ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 16 oz dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 350°. Use butter or coconut oil to grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment with coconut oil and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
- Beat coconut oil and sugar together on medium speed of an electric mixer. Mix for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add eggs and peanut butter, and beat about 2 minutes or until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to oil-sugar mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add vanilla and mix.
- Transfer two-thirds of dough to pan and spread evenly. Spread all the chocolate chips on top of dough. Crumble remaining dough on top of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle with peanuts.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until golden. Rotate pan half-way through baking. Tent loosely with foil if bars are getting too dark.
- Cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edges to loosen. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. Cut into bars and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
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About the Author
Adopted at age 2, grew up in the Charlotte, NC area. Obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Loves being a Mom of two and taste-testing Chef John's culinary creations and sharing them with readers.
Peanut butter and chocolate is a favorite of my younger son, and whenever possible I use dark chocolate. He’s going to love me for these.
Tweeted this recipe too. Don’t want anyone to miss it.
Karen @ Baking In A Tornado recently posted…Versatile Enchilada Pockets
Oh YAY! I hope he does!!
Thanks so much, Karen.
Isn’t it amazing how things work out sometimes? They say God works in mysterious ways.
You choose a recipe you can only eat a little of and it goes to the kids at church to help them
Sawsan@ Chef in disguise recently posted…Fennel, mint and pea salad
These bars look extremely tasty!
Wow, these looks scrumptious!
These look amazing!
Christa recently posted…Photos from an Expectedly Warm Day
You definitely can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter! And it’s so awesome how you were able to contribute these to your church’s bake sale!
Those look amazing! I love dark chocolate and peanut butter. I’m glad you could at least have a bit of these and that the kids could raise some money with the rest. That’s awesome.
Anna recently posted…Pineapple Coconut Rum French Toast
Thank you … me too.
these bars look great! sometimes when you only have a little of something, it makes it that much better.
sarah k @ the pajama chef recently posted…SRC: Chili Relleno Casserole
That is very true … good point!
This looks amazing - great pick!
chitchatchomp recently posted…Secret Recipe Club - February !
Yes, indded. Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in culinary heaven. Thanks for sharing this with the SRC. Sorry to hear about your allergies.
Camilla @ Culinary Adventures recently posted…Dylan’s Limoncello-Rosemary Cake
These bars look delicious and include two of my favorite ingredients.
I am always inclined to first try a recipe as is. Although in this case, substitute the butter if you want to but do it proportionately. It could be that this particular recipe produces a drier bar, which is not a bad thing. If not, then you know you need to keep the proportions and substitutions consistent with the original recipe.
Good advice … thanks so much Betsy!
I wish I had some right now!
What’s not to like with these layers of goodness!
Peter @Feed Your Soul Too recently posted…Ding Dong Cake
Adding these to the list of things to make when hubby is away - as he is allergic to peanuts
Amanda E recently posted…Secrets that You Keep
Sorry to hear about your allergies, but you’re right that there is nothing better than the combination of chocolate and peanut butter! These look great and I’m glad you found people to eat the extras - something I’m always looking for too!
Jane, The Heritage Cook recently posted…Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Topping (SRC)
Mmm, I’m all for anything that has peanut butter and chocolate in it.
Sweet as Sugar Cookies recently posted…Glazed Lemon Squares