Knock-It-Off Bars

Last week, Erin and I made the largest cupcakes known to man. Then ate them...ALL. After I inhaled the last one, my body literally flipped me the bird and said, "Knock. It. Off." Okay, message received...loud and clear. I immediately opened Alicia Silverstone's cookbook, The Kind Diet, and scoured the pages for something that would satisfy my sweet tooth without royally pissing off my body...

I found a recipe for Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips. Yum. Sounds delicious.

Then I took a gander at the ingredients...

(Grain sweetened...wtf?)

And I was like, "Okay, hold the phone, Alicia. You're trying to tell me that those 4 ingredients (plus a pinch of salt) are going to fool me into thinking I'm eating dessert? Shaw. Right."

Gauntlet officially thrown, I called Erin...

"Yo. Me. You want to come over and make...hello?"

She hung up. Doesn't take much to titillate a Tart. She was at my house in 20.

Crispy Peanut Butter Treats

with Chocolate Chips

from "The Kind Diet"

~ 1 box brown rice crisps cereal

~ 1 3/4 cups brown rice syrup

~ 3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter

(preferably unsweetened and unsalted..we went rogue and used salted)

~1/2 cup grain-sweetened, nondairy chocolate or carob chips (we only had about 1/4 cup)

~fine sea salt

Pour the cereal into a large bowl. Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat. When the rice syrup liquefies...

...add the peanut butter and stir until well combined. Pour over the rice cereal...

Mix well with a wooden spoon. Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature, stir in the chocolate chips. Make sure the mixture is cool, or you will end up with melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips in your treats. Turn the mixture out into an 8x8 or 9x13 baking dish. Wet your fingers lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan...

Let cool for 1 hour before cutting into squares or bars.

Like a true Tart, Erin tried to speed up the cooling process...

I was busy sharing some thoughts with the challenger...

"You better deliver."

And boy, did they. Yum! Not too sweet, but just enough...and chewy. Thanks Alicia. It's the perfect snack to curb the sugar tooth and one you can feel good about. So...

Silverstone - 1

Tarts - 0

* I just served these at a baby shower along with savory lemon bars and delicious cookies and believe it or not, people were raving about these!