Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ugh. It’s the worst when you try a new recipe and it fails. Especially when it’s such a good combination of chocolate and peanut butter. When my grandma forwarded me this recipe, I thought it looked amazing and wanted to try it immediately.

Reading the ingredients list made me pause. I wasn’t sure I would like the taste of something made with coconut oil. I actually looked up substitutions for coconut oil. Something to make the recipe fattier. I’m the only person I know that takes healthy recipes and tries to make them fatty again. But since the picture of the bars looked so amazing, I thought I would try the recipe as is. Either I did something wrong, or the recipe as is doesn’t work.

dark chocolate ingredients.

• 2 c. coconut oil
• 1/2 c. Vermont maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. cocoa powder

peanut butter filling ingredients.

• 1 1/2 c. natural peanut butter, room temperature
• 8 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c. Vermont maple syrup
• 4 T. brown sugar
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt

1. Melt coconut oil in double broiler with maple syrup and salt. Sift in cocoa powder and stir well until mixture becomes smooth and dark.
2. Line a 9-inch square glass dish with parchment paper. Pour half the chocolate mixture into the dish and place in freezer until hard, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile make peanut butter filling.
3. Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat peanut butter and butter about 5 minutes, until mixture is fluffy. Beat in maple syrup and salt.
4. Once chocolate layer is frozen, spread peanut butter filling over top. Place in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
5.  If remaining chocolate mixture has hardened, reheat to make it liquid again. Once peanut butter filling is firm, pour over remaining chocolate mixture.
6. Place in freezer 30 more minutes or longer.
7. When you are ready to cut into squares, remove dish from freezer and allow it to sit on the counter about 10 minutes and then lift up the plastic wrap, which allows for a little easier release.  Cut into very small squares as this is quite rich.
8. Refrigerate squares, as coconut oil is very soft at room temperature. Remove from fridge about 10 minutes before you want to eat one to allow it to soften up a bit.