Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Together Forever
The H.B. Reese Candy Company got it right with their chocolate peanut butter cups back in the 1920s. Chocolate and peanut butter are just ... meant to be. And these nine recipes prove it.
“Hey, you put your chocolate in my peanut butter!” says the girl with the chocolatey-brown hair, a bar of chocolate stuck in her jar of peanut butter.
“You got peanut butter on my chocolate!” replies the tall, dirty-blonde guy in the pink (!!!) western shirt, his chocolate bar coated.
“Two great tastes that taste great together,” says the voice-over, as a shopkeeper hands the pair a package of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
If you’re an American child of the 80s, you can probably still picture this ad for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And that’s not just because it’s totally improbable — I mean, who walks around with an open jar of peanut butter, labeled “Peanut Butter,” while wearing headphones? No, it’s because chocolate and peanut butter were just meant to be. That's true in the over-the-top multi-layered dessert monolith at the church potluck; but also in the gluten-free keto energy ball recipes that dot wellness sites all over the web.
These nine chocolate and peanut butter recipes show the full range of delights that can be had when you put the two together.
Reese's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Chocolate cake + peanut butter frosting + chocolate buttercream + cut-up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups = one truly amazing cake recipe, from Tastes of Lizzy T (who strongly suggests you serve it with ice cream).
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
With just seven ingredients, this layered chocolate and peanut butter recipe couldn’t be easier — or more decadent. Ashton Epps Swank, of Something Swanky, says it tastes like “one big Reese’s cup with an Oreo crust,” and she’s not wrong.
Puffy Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips
When a regular chocolate chip cookie doesn't seem quite enough, give these puffy cookies a try. “I have cookie moods,” writes Jessica Merchant of How Sweet It Is. “Puffy peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips is a mood.” And the mood is thick, chewy, and gooey.
One-Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
With 35,000 Yums, you basically have to check this mug-cake recipe out. It only takes five minutes total time to make: All you do is hide peanut butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips in the middle of chocolate mug cake batter, microwave on high for one minute, and you’ve got a chocolatey molten lava cake with peanut butter filling — made just for one.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Lasagna
What isn’t in this no-bake chocolate peanut butter dessert lasagna? There are Oreos, cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, milk, Cool Whip, chocolate pudding, peanut butter chips, and chocolate syrup ... and that's just for starters! Spend with Pennies took two recipes — one for Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Box Cake, another for Chocolate Lasagna — and brought those two great tastes together in a single showstopper.
5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Energy Bites
On the other side of the spectrum, peanut butter and chocolate come together in a health-minded way. Creamy peanut butter and dark chocolate chips meet old-fashioned oats, flax seeds, and honey in this recipe from Chef Savvy. These no-bake peanut butter bites are also super quick and easy to make: You can pull them together in 10 minutes or less. One happy reviewer says, “Will definitely include in the after school snack rotation.”
Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowl
As a non-vegan, I forget that chocolate can be vegan — but this healthy breakfast recipe, from Simple Vegan Blog, is here to remind us all. Rice milk, bananas, dates, and peanut butter are used to thicken (and sweeten) unsweetened cocoa powder (or carob powder, if you’re die-hard).
Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
"Soooo good!" exclaims one of this recipe's reviewers. “Definitely not a Reese’s but for a healthy alternative they’re pretty addictive when frozen.” There’s no peanut butter in this recipe from Tasting Page. Raw, unsalted, organic peanuts are roasted and blended with almond meal, honey, and salt to taste. You freeze it, scoop it into balls, freeze it, coat with the melted chocolate and coconut oil mixture, freeze it again, and voila! Not only is it healthy, it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo, to boot.
Keto Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream
If you’re already familiar with keto recipes, the ingredient list for the recipe won’t seem foreign to you. (If this is your first, get ready to embrace erythritol and xanthan gum!) This recipe, from Dr. Davinah's Eats, leans heavily on Frappaketo Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream, which is simmered with keto-friendly thickeners, sweeteners, almond milk, and heavy cream, then poured into an ice-cream maker.
