My Kitchen Clatter

teaching and sharing whole foods

Pressure Cooker “Baked” Beans

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My mom has a great baked bean recipe for the crock pot. It takes anywhere from 3- 6 hours to cook in the crock pot and uses canned beans. I have tried and tried to convert her recipe to use soaked, dried beans in the crock pot, but I’ve finally decided I don’t have the patience for them to cook that long. Plus the sauce never got thick enough with the soaked beans. Enter the pressure cooker. After trying several different baked bean recipes for the pressure cooker, I finally found one that came close to what I wanted. A little tweaking and used the seasoning in my mom’s recipe, and I think we have a winner!

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Pressure Cooker "Baked" Beans
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This is an update of my moms crock baked beans. Plan ahead and soak your beans the night before. Soak extra and freeze them and save time the next time you make this recipe.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of dried beans - navy is traditional, but I use a combination of pinto, black, butter and kidney.
  • 6-8 thick cut slices of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 small onion, roughly chopped
  • 2½ cup of water
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 T molasses
  • ¼ c catsup
  • 1 t mustard
  • ¼ t salt
Instructions
  1. The night before or morning of, rinse and soak beans in clean water. Cover by at least three inches of water. After 8-12 hours, drain. You should have about 4 cups of soaked beans, or about 2 pounds.
  2. Heat pressure cooker to sauté and brown bacon. When bacon is almost done, add onion and sauté another 3 or 4 minutes until onion is translucent.
  3. Add drained beans, 2½ cup of water, brown sugar, molasses, catsup, mustard and salt. Stir.
  4. Lock lid on pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 35 minutes. When timer beeps, turn pressure cooker off and wait 10 minutes. After 10 minutes use a quick pressure release to release any remaining pressure. Discard any beans that are floating. Check several beans to see if they're tender. If not, pressure cook 5 minutes longer and check again.
  5. Leave lid off. Turn pressure cooker to simmer and simmer beans uncovered, stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn't burn, until the sauce is the desired consistency.
  6. * If you don't have time for an overnight soak, use the browning setting to bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Boil beans for two minutes. Turn pressure cooker off and let beans soak one hour. Proceed with the recipe as directed.

 

Classic Sourdough Waffles (or Pancakes)

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There’s nothing like a pile of waffles early in the morning. And it’s even better when most of the work is done the night before.

This is a recipe that I usually teach in my Sourdough Baking Class – it is super easy and is also a great way to use up the unfed starter instead of discarding it.

Also – if you forget to make the overnight sponge the night before, don’t sweat it. I’ve done the overnight sponge a couple hours before finishing the batter and still had great waffles.

And while I’m technically one of those people who believe that pancakes and waffles deserve separate recipes, this recipe can bridge that gap in a pinch. You know… for those mornings when you want waffles but the kids are screaming for pancakes.

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Classic Sourdough Waffles (or Pancakes)
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Cuisine: Breakfast
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Serves: 16 large crispy waffles
 
This is a make ahead recipe - spend 5 minutes the night before and make your morning a little easier. Half the recipe if you want fewer waffles, or freeze the extra to cover breakfast for the rest of the week.
Ingredients
  • Overnight Sponge:
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (freshly ground, if you have it)
  • 2 T sugar
  • 2 cups buttermile, whey, or sour milk
  • 1 cup sourdough starter, unfed
  • Waffle or pancake Batter
  • all of the overnight sponge
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¼/ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
  • ¾ t salt
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 t cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Day 1 - combine all ingredients of overnight sponge (flour through sourdough starter) in a large bowl. Cover with plastic and let rest at room temperature (or 8-12 hours). Yes, the milk overnight will be fine.
  2. Day 2 - Combine the overnight sponge with remaining ingredients. Stir just until combined. Cook as pancakes on a hot griddle or use batter to make waffles in a hot waffle iron.

 

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

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This dish may sound strange to the non-Germans out there. Give it a chance – it may surprise you. I like to make this dish with red cabbage, but if you have a green cabbage handy, just use it. You can also mix up the cumin and swap it out with fennel or caraway seeds.

Finally, just to throw in a little pressure cooker love – if you were to make this without the pressure cooker, you’ll be cooking it for about an hour.  Here it cooks for 3 minutes under pressure. Can’t beat that.

Have fun and enjoy.

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Sweet and Sour Cabbage
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Recipe type: side dish
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Serves: 4-6
 
This cabbage dish is a great side to roasted meats. Use red cabbage for a colorful addition to your plate.
Ingredients
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion,sliced
  • 1 t cumin seeds
  • 1 small head cabbage (about 1½ pounds)
  • 2 t raw sugar
  • 1 t salt
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup water
Instructions
  1. Heat the pressure cooker base on medium heat, add the oil, and heat briefly. Stir in the onion and cumin and saute until the onion has softened (about 3 minutes).
  2. Add the cabbage and stir to distribute the onions.
  3. Sprinkle with the sugar and salt and then pour the vinegar and waterover the top.
  4. Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook at high pressure for 3 minutes. If using an electric pressure cooker, turn the "keep warm" setting off.
  5. When the time is up, open the cooker using the Normal Release method.
  6. Give the cabbage a final stir, transfer to a serving dish, and serve immediately.

 

Pressure Cooked Beans

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Beans are a great thing to do in the pressure cooker. Sure, sure, it’s easy to just buy a can of beans at the store. But really, there is no comparison between canned beans and home cooked beans. Just give it a try. And… if you have been cooking beans, but you haven’t been using a pressure cooker, then you will love the time savings.

This is a super simple recipe and it’s mainly written for the purpose of making beans. The rest of the salad is just to fancy up the beans. You can use this approach for any bean. Smaller beans like black beans cook about 3-4 minutes and larger beans go up to 9-12 minutes. Hip Pressure Cooking cook book has a good table of bean cooking times, or you  can just google the type of bean you have and figure out times from there. If you only do a few types of beans, just do the internet search and put the times on a sticky note and stick into one of your cabinets or cookbooks for future reference.

A couple notes on the dried beans themselves.

  • It’s best if you can find fresh beans. I noticed that not every grocery store even carries dried beans. I find the best ones at our local ethnic grocery store – they have a high turn over of beans, so its pretty easy to get fresh ones. Also, most are sold in clear bags. Spend a quick second and look in the bag – maybe the brand that is a little cheaper also has beans that look a little wrinkled or funny? then just spend the extra 20 cents and get the bag that looks better. We also have a farmer at the local farmers market that sells dried beans. His beans are super expensive – but I know from experience the time and energy that he has put into those beans, so that price is covering his costs (hopefully) – his beans will also be like no other bean out there. I know, I sound a little bean crazy.
  • The beans need to be washed and soaked when you get them. Even the fancy beans from the local farmer need to be washed. Look through them and make sure you remove any little stones or any beans that look wrinkled or broken – you won’t get them all, but just do your best. Then rinse off the beans, drain, rinse again, and drain. Now put the beans into a large bowl and cover with at least two inches of water.
  • In an ideal world, the beans should soak 8-12 hours on the counter. If you don’t have enough planning for this method, you can also do a quick soak method on them. Here’s a quick soak method – place washed beans in your pressure cooker and cover with 2 inches of water. Follow pressure cooker instructions and bring to high pressure for 1 minute followed by a natural pressure release. Then follow your cooking instructions for soaked beans.
  • Here is what I do when I’m making beans – I soak a bunch of beans for 8-12 hours. I use the ones I need in my recipe and then freeze the rest of them (drained) in 2 cup portions for future use. I mark them as soaked so I know they are ready to go in future recipes. This is a great way to have beans on hand for any recipes that you may not have planned out 24 hours ahead of time!

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Beans in the Pressure Cooker
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This is a general recipe for making beans in your pressure cooker.
Ingredients
  • 1 bag of dried cannelini or other white beans, pre-soaked or quick soaked
  • 1 small onion (optional)
  • 1 garlic clove (optional)
  • 1 small peeled carrot (optional)
  • ½ green pepper (optional)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 T apple cider vinegar
  • 1 t olive oil
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in your pressure cooker.
  2. Cover with about 2 inches of water - do not fill pressure cooker higher than ½ full.
  3. Following instructions on your pressure cooker, bring to high pressure. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker or 7-8 minutes in an electric pressure cooker. If you are using other type of beans, follow recommended pressure cooking times for the size and type of bean.
  4. Allow pressure to release following natural release methods. Make sure to release using natural release methods and beans tend to foam and can cause small particles to block the release valve - this is especially likely if you do a quick pressure release.
  5. Drain the beans. You can save the liquid to use in soups. Discard the vegetables if you used them.
  6. Salt the beans while still warm.

 

Easy Mini Chocolate Lava Cake in the Pressure Cooker

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This is a take on one of my favorite chocolate cakes. I’ve modified it to make individual cakes using my pressure cooker. I’ve also made this recipe as easy as possible to make – we use it sometimes in my pressure cooking classes and I don’t like to unnecessarily complicate things during those classes!

The first thing you’ll want to do is find small jars or ramekins for baking the cakes. I use 4 ounce Ball glass jelly jars for making this recipe. I find that size is just about the right size for individual cakes in our house. You are welcome to use larger jars or ramekins – just adjust the cooking time up 2-3 minutes if you are using larger containers.

I typically make this in my 8 quart stovetop cooker, because I can easily fit eight small 4-ounce jars in this cooker. Once you make a layer of jars on the bottom of the cooker, you can stack a second layer on top of those. Depending on the size of your electric cooker, the second layer can be harder to fit – in that case, just cook them in two batches.

Also, I use chocolate chips in this recipe. Cooking for my kids, I find that is the easiest and the Kirkland brand chips that I use end up tasting pretty darn good. I also think that the espresso powder that I use helps to intensify the chocolate flavor. I get mine from King Arthur Flour and I use the tiniest bit so my kids can’t taste the coffee –  a little of this special ingredient goes a long way.  If you have a taste for fine chocolate, feel free to use half and half of chopped semi-sweet and dark chocolates.

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Easy Mini Chocolate Lava Cake in the Pressure Cooker
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Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • 4 ounces chocolate chips
  • 1½ cup confectioners sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • ½ t instant coffee granules or espresso powder
  • 1 t vanilla
  • ½ cup (2 ounces) flour - white or finely ground whole wheat pastry flour)
  • ¼ t salt
Instructions
  1. Butter or oil 8, 4 ounce ramekins or jars.
  2. Chop up butter and melt with chocolate chips in the microwave. Cook for 30 seconds, stir, add 30 seconds and stir again. Be sure to stir - the chips don't just melt and tell you they are melted.
  3. Stir confectioners sugar into melted chocolate.
  4. Stir eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, coffee granules into the chocolate.
  5. Add flour and salt, stirring until combined.
  6. Divide the batter evenly between the ramekins. Don't overfill, because they will puff up a bit during baking.
  7. Put one cup of water and a steamer rack in your pressure cooker. Stack the ramekins in the pressure cooker. Use two layers, if necessary.
  8. Follow your pressure cooker's instructions and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes with natural release. If you like a less gooey center, add a minute of cooking time.
  9. Release pressure using the natural release method and serve warm.
  10. If not serving right away, you can set the lid back on the cooker after releasing pressure and they will stay warm for about 30-45 minutes.

 

 

Butternut Squash & Mushroom Risotto

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I just looked at the earlier butternut squash risotto recipe that I had put out. While that recipe is awesome if you have pureed squash sitting around the house, it can be a little labor intensive, if you don’t.

This recipe is a slight variation on my original and cuts out the pureeing step. Also, this recipe is very flexible – feel free to adjust the ingredients as you see fit. One ingredient that it calls for is dried mushrooms – you can leave these out if you don’t have them on hand, but I highly recommend you try it sometime with the dried mushrooms. I find mine at the farmer’s market – they are a great way to add a depth of flavor to your foods. Crumble them up good (or even powder them up) because a little goes a long way.

Using a pressure cooker to make the risotto is amazing – no stirring required and so easy. If you’ve ever made risotto the traditional way on a stovetop, you may never go back.

Hope you enjoy.

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Butternut Squash & Mushroom Risotto
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This recipe is extremely flexible - sub out the leek with shallots - change out the white wine with vermouth - leave out the dried mushrooms if you don't have them (but they are wonderful) - or swap out the sage with thyme.
Ingredients
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 1 medium leek, white and pale green parts only, halved lengthwise, washed, and thinly sliced
  • 1½ cups white Arborio rice
  • ¼ cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups (1 quart) chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 cups seeded, peeled, and finely chopped butternut squash
  • ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, crumbled
  • 1 t dried sage
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in the bottom of your stovetop (over medium heat) or electric cooker (set on the browning function). Add the leek and stir often until softened (not browned).
  2. Add the rice, stir until cooked with butter - about 30 seconds. Pour in the white wine and stir until absorbed in the rice - 1 to 2 minutes.
  3. Add the broth, squash, dried porcini, and sage.
  4. Lock the lid onto the pot.
  5. Follow the directions of your cooker and bring the pressure to high for 7 minutes.
  6. Use the quick-release method to bring the pot's pressure back to normal.
  7. Unlock and open the cooker. If there is still liquid in the pot, turn the heat to medium (use browning function on electric) and bring to a simmer, stirring until thickened - about 2 minutes.
  8. Stir in the cheese. Put the lid back onto the cooker without locking it into place. Set aside for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese and blend the flavors. Stir again before serving.

 

Hot Chocolate

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Hot Chocolate
I have been trying to make a good cup of homemade hot chocolate for a while now. Most of the premade hot cocoa mixes have ingredients that I don’t recognize (even some of the really expensive mixes). And when I find a mix that has ingredients I recognize, I keep finding myself thinking that I should be able to make it at home and with less sugar. So after many iterations, my family and I have finally settled on this recipe. The kids and I did a lot of tastetesting to get to this point – it’s a rough job, but in this case, the kids were champs in helping out.

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Hot Chocolate
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Serves: 5 cups
 
This makes about 5 cups of cocoa. You decide how many that serves! I also use a pretty minimum amount of sugar - I recommend starting there and adding a little more as you need. I've seen recipes that use up to four times as much as this, but it seems unnecessary to me.
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup of half and half, heavy cream, or whole milk
  • ¼ cup of brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup of cocoa powder
  • 4 cups of milk (use whole, if you have it)
  • ½ -1 t of cinnamon (optional)
  • ¼ t of nutmeg (freshly grated, if you have it) (optional)
  • 1 t of vanilla
  • mini marshmallows, for serving (optional)
  • whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat the ⅓ cup of half and half with brown sugar in a small sauce pan set over low heat. Heat and stir just until the sugar disolves
  2. Add cocoa powder and 4 cups of milk. Heat and stir with a whisk until just warm enough for drinking.
  3. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla just before serving.
  4. Add marshmallows and whipped cream at serving time.

 

Applesauce Cake

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This is a quick, simple cake that is great for using up the bottom of a jar of applesauce. My grandma used to make applesauce cake and while this isn’t her exact recipe, it does stir up fond memories. My favorite part of this cake is how the top turns into a crunchy layer while the cake is soft.

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Applesauce Cake
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Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 16
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup of softened butter
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 2¼ cups of flour - freshly milled whole wheat flour is the best!
  • 2 t baking soda
  • ½ t salt
  • 2 t cinnamon
  • ½ t nutmeg
  • 2 cups of applesauce, unsweetened
  • 1 cup of chopped walnuts
  • 2 T sugar, for topping
  • ½ t cinnamon, for topping
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil bottom and sides of 8x8 cake pan.
  2. Beat butter in the bowl of your stand mixer using cake whisks. Add sugar and beat until combined. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
  3. Combine dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
  4. Add dry ingredients alternately with applesauce to the butter mixture. Scrape bowl between additions.
  5. Stir in chopped walnuts.
  6. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  7. Combine 2 T sugar and ½ t cinnamon and sprinkle over top of cake.
  8. Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick in the center comes clean.
  9. Let cool in pan before serving. We like to eat it a little warm.

 

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with a Chocolate Swirl

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Check out that chocolate swirl!

Check out that chocolate swirl!

Banana bread is almost a staple in our household. When I married my husband, he came with a banana bread recipe. For years, I’d worry that he’d notice if I’d messed with her recipe. But I have slowly managed the transition to my own recipe. Some of the changes have included switching up to whole wheat flour, reducing the sugar, and adding a little yogurt. But none of those changes compare to the most recent upgrade – adding peanut butter. I was messing around making homemade peanut butter (more about that later) and happened to look over at the brown bananas in the bowl. Suddenly banana bread and peanut butter had merged in my brain. The rest is history.

First, a bit on the bananas. You probably already know you want the brown ones. They are sweeter, have more flavor and mash better. But did you know you can peel and freeze the brown ones and then your banana bread making never needs to be controlled by the bananas again! Just pull out the bananas and give them 5 or 10 minutes to thaw before mashing. And I just use a potato masher to squash the bananas.

As a matter of fact, I usually make this recipe in a bowl and combine it with a wooden spoon, dough hook or rubber spatula – honestly, whatever is closer. The trick being not to over mix once you add the dry ingredients to the wet.

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Making the swirls

The chocolate swirl often seems like a lot of extra work to me. While it does put this bread up a notch, you can skip it and just fold the chocolate chips into the finished batter. Not as dramatic, but it does save time and a couple dirty dishes. And it still tastes great. Along that line, you can also leave the chocolate out completely. I’m not recommending it – but it is theoretically possible.

To make the swirls, spoon the two batters into the bowl in layers. Try to distribute the chocolate batter around the pan and once the batter is all in, use a knife to cut a wave pattern into the batter from one end of the pan to the other. Don’t make it too complicated – it will turn out great no matter how you do it.

And while we are talking about pans – use a larger 9×5 pan for this recipe. And remember to oil the pan. Even in my super non-stick awesome pan, the chocolate parts seemed to stick differently than the non-chocolate and it can make for a messy looking bread.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know how it turns out!

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread with a Chocolate Swirl
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Serves: 16 slices
 
A fun take on a classic banana bread!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of flour - I use freshly ground whole wheat flour for the best taste and nutrition
  • ¾ t baking soda
  • ½ t fine sea salt (if using salted butter, reduce to ¼ t)
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • ¼ cup (2 oz) of coconut oil or butter, softened
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • ½ cup of peanut butter
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup of plain yogurt
  • ½ cup of chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x5 bread pan.
  2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
  3. Peel bananas and mash in a large bowl - I use a potato masher for this!
  4. Add oil, sugar, peanut butter, eggs, and yogurt to the bananas and whisk to combine. You may still have banana lumps in the batter - that's fine.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until flour is moistened. Don't over mix.
  6. Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl. I heat at high in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Add another 30 seconds in microwave and stir until the chips are melted. Let the chips cool for a couple minutes.
  7. Add one cup of the bread batter to the chocolate chips and stir until combined.
  8. Alternately spoon the batters into the prepared bread pan. Swirl with a knife.
  9. Bake for 75 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Depending on your oven, you may need to add 10 minutes (or even subtract 10 minutes). If your bread starts getting too brown towards the end of baking, cover with tin foil for the last part of the baking time.
  10. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.
  11. We wrap our uneaten bread in tin foil and store in the fridge. I hear it will keep days like this, but ours never lasts that long!

 

Fudge Babies

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The perfect snack!

The perfect snack!

Fudge babies are our family’s homemade version of Lara bars. They are simply chopped up dates, nuts, chocolate chips and a little bit of peanut butter to help hold everything together. IMG_1660

These fudge babies are super easy to make and they are great for the kids to grab on the go. They are not too messy and they are a healthy, high energy snack. Really, these fudge babies are pretty much the perfect snack for a busy household.

I usually keep a bunch of these fudge babies in the freezer. The kids know where to find them and they just help themselves. I grab them to go in the car and I throw them at the kids when they tell me they are hungry.

If you buy the big box of dates from the refrigerator section at Costco, this is a great use for them. You can also make this recipe with dried fruit – such as prunes or dates. I’ve also done them with dried cherries and cashews – which is an fabulous variation on the recipe.

The easiest way to make these is in a food processor. I get out my old Cusinart for this one, but if you have the food processor attachment for your Bosch, this is the time to pull it out. You can also do these in a blender, but you’ll be scraping down the sides a lot. The easiest way to make them is to start by pulsing the nuts in the processor until they are pretty finely ground. Then add the rest of the ingredients and chop everything up until it sticks together in a ball. If your mixture is still dry, then add another glop of peanut butter to help stick it together.

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Fudge Babies
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Recipe type: snack
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 30
 
This is our family's favorite grab and go snack.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of nuts, I usually use almonds
  • 2½ cups of dates, pitted
  • 1 cup of chocolate chips
  • 2 T peanut butter
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the nuts until they are a fine grind.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until the mixture is uniform and sticky.
  3. Add extra peanut butter as needed to allow the mixture to stick together.
  4. Shape into balls, or whatever shape you desire, and store in the freezer or fridge. Will keep for several weeks in the freezer, if you don't eat them first!

 

 

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