Lianabars

A friend of mine introduced me to a Larabar. I didn't want to eat it but she assured me it was nutritarian. It had two ingredients; peanuts and dates. YES! I took one bite and fell in love. Hesitantly. That afternoon I went to Target to buy my own secret stash but one look at the price tag made me realize that my love affair with Larabars would not go beyond that first bite.

Until the same friend gave me another one. And then I realized I had to pursue this yummy dessert/snack but on my own turf and not Target's. Seriously, two ingredients? I could do that! I upped it to three ingredients but it'll totally be worth your effort, as little effort as it is.

Lianabars

Ingredients:

2 cups peanuts

4 cups pitted dates (soft ones--Costco dates are perfect for this)

2 tablespoons peanut butter (no added sugar or oil!)

Put the peanuts in a food processor and blend up to a bread crumb texture. Pour it all into a small bowl.

Whir up half of the dates until it forms into a ball.

Add one tablespoon of peanut butter and half of the peanut mixture.

You have to break up the date ball with a spoon so it will blend well.

When it's done blending it will look like this. Pour it into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Repeat the same process with the other 2 cups of dates, blending, adding a tablespoon of peanut butter, and the rest of the peanuts. Pour it into the same pan.

Dampen your hands. That way you can use your fingers to press down the mixture. Pack it in there well.

My parchment is too short. Yours should be long enough to overlap all the way.  Find something flat and big to press down on the Lianabar slab to flatten it nicely. One of my cookbooks did the job just fine. Refrigerate for two hours.

Remove from the refrigerator and take it out of the pan and place on a cutting board.

Delicious! Perfect texture.

Cut it into pieces that suit you.

Lianabars

And wrap pretty to give to the friend in the office that shares with you.

You don't have to call yours Lianabars. You can call them So Duck Soup bars. Because they are. So Duck Soup.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Glen, my husband, loves Reeseʻs Peanut Butter Cups. Always have. Always will. I am not a big fan but because he loves them, I love them. So when I saw this post by Joy the Baker I jumped on it! Too bad I jumped on it when it was away on a trip. It's all in the timing I suppose.

Turns out the recipe for the cupcakes is vegan. Not a one single egg. No sirree. Not for this one. A good dose of canola oil apparently did the moist trick. Super easy to make and like the recipe said, it seems a bit runny, but it bakes up nicely. I used the full 24 minutes in the oven. Just an fyi.

And I used my nifty tupperware piping fancy swirly thing to put on the frosting. I just happen to love the look. But you don't need to. Heck, after you place the reese's peanut butter cup pieces on it, no one really cares how the frosting is put on. It is that good. I found myself eating it without the cupcake. On numerous occasions. I think I need more right now.

I took a dozen cupcakes to work. And comments were very positive. I suspect that maybe they just want to assure a continuous stream of goodies on Aloha Friday but I'm not sure. One office staff member (a male whose name shall remain anonymous, insisted that it was the best ever. And the look of amazement on his face as I told him that I received 7s and 8s from other staff members was almost laughable. . He swears it's a 10 in his book. I think he also considers himself somewhat of a connoisseur. Yay me.


Click here for the recipe.

The recipe made a nice bunch of 24 cupcakes. My friends were surprised that vegan cupcakes could be so moist and delicious! Too bad the frosting isn't vegan. Or maybe not. Anything that's delicious is good for me, vegan or not.