Xylitol, Part 3

With my last wee bit of Xylitol left over from the 16 ounce bag Xylitol USA sent me, I made some chocolate and coconut... things. I wanted to call them cups, because I had visions of molding them in little paper candy cups, but that turned out to be a messy disaster. They still tasted good, though.

I planned to re-melt everything and try again, but I keep eating the broken up pieces, so I don't think that's going to happen. Instead, I'll just go ahead and post the recipe. A friend of mine actually told me how to make these, only her quantities just made a small amount. That's good in a way, because you can only eat what you have. Recipes yielding only a few servings can help prevent overindulgence. Still, I wanted to make these into bite-sized candies, so I made TWELVE TIMES the recipe. It's a good thing I did, too. In the process of trying to pour the melted chocolate into the candy cups, I spilled it everywhere, losing almost a third of it.

Anyway, the original recipe is: 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teasppon Xylitol and 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut. Here's where I have to fess up and let you know that I used Angel Flake coconut because that's what I had on hand. Since it's sweetened, the chocolates I made aren't technically sugar free, but you can easily use whatever variety of coconut you want.

I'd also like to point out that I followed the same friend's advice and processed my Xylitol in a coffee grinder so that the grains would be finer. It worked, as you can see the difference below. I wish I had thought to do this when I made the meringues and peanut butter cookies, as that may have helped, but that's something to try later.

   

Chocolate Coconut Cups (as I made them)

24 Tbsp (1 1/2 cups) coconut oil, melted
24 Tbsp (1 1/2 cups) cocoa powder
12 tsp (1/4 cup) Xylitol
12 Tbsp (3/4 cup) shredded coconut

Melt the coconut oil, and then mix everything together. I poured the mixture into a gallon-sized ziploc bag, thinking it would be easiest to pipe the chocolate into the cups. Wrong. As soon as I cut the corner off the bag, the chocolate gushed out everywhere. Oops.

Here is a photo of my mini muffin pan all prepped with candy cup wrappers to mold the chocolate. Luckily, I have no pictures of the debacle that resulted from me trying to fill these things.

I did get a few chocolates that looked okay. There's major blooming and discoloration going on, and I'm not quite sure what's up with that. I didn't do any sort of tempering, so that may be it. If you have any ideas, let me know because it looks dreadful. Luckily, that doesn't affect the taste.

By the way, I also used the coffee grinder to chop the coconut into smaller pieces, but a food processor would work just as well for that. Here you can see what they look like inside. Yum!

Oh, and don't forget about the coupon code for Xylitol. Save 10% off your first order at www.emeraldforestxylitol.com with coupon code FIRST.

Puppy Chow Candy

You guys will probably think I've lost my mind, posting a back-of-the-box recipe like this. The reason I'm sharing it is because it's quick, easy, and can be made gluten free. And there just might be one or two of you out there who haven't tried it. Sure, it's technically junk food, but it's not all THAT bad. I even made it with coconut oil instead of butter so it's vegan. Points for that, right? Plus, this recipe is very child-friendly, which is ideal for anyone who has young budding chefs eager to help out in the kitchen. Not to mention, it's pretty dang yummy.

For anyone who may not know what Puppy Chow Candy is, it's essentially Chex® cereal mixed with melted chocolate and peanut butter, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. It takes literally 10 minutes to make, and the mess factor is kept to a minimum so cleanup isn't that much of a hassle considering melted chocolate and powdered sugar are involved.

I know the Chex® people have a trademarked name for this recipe, but I like Puppy Chow better than Muddy Buddies®, so that's what I'm calling it. Plus, I don't want to have to keep adding the ® symbol, especially since I'm not even sure if I'm doing it correctly.

Ingredients:

9 cups Rice Chex® (you could actually use any flavor of Chex® cereal, the corn and rice varieties are gluten free)
1 cup chocolate chips (I used 60%, but the original recipe calls for semisweet)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used the all-natural kind you have to stir)
1/4 cup coconut oil (original recipe calls for butter or margarine)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Measure out the cereal into a large bowl. Then, place the coconut oil, peanut butter, and chocolate chips in a bowl and melt, either in the microwave or using a double boiler. Add in the vanilla extract and stir until smooth.

  

Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the cereal and toss to coat. Once it's all evenly mixed in, put half in a gallon-sized plastic food storage bag with 3/4 cup powdered sugar and shake until the pieces are evenly coated. Repeat with the remaining Puppy Chow and sugar (or, if you have a 2 gallon bag you can fit it all in at once).

  

Spread the Puppy Chow out on sheets of wax paper to cool, and once dry I store mine in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

As I previously mentioned, I consider this is junk food, which is why I call it Puppy Chow Candy, lest anyone think I'm promoting it as a healthy snack. BUT, you can choose to use healthier ingredients, like all-natural peanut butter and high-quality dark chocolate, which at least makes me feel a bit better about it. Also, I'm wondering about the possibility of using maple syrup in the chocolate mixture to add the sweetness instead of coating the pieces with powdered sugar. I'm not sure if that would make it too runny, and if so how to compensate... That's one I'll need to ponder and possibly play around with later. For now, I'm sticking with what I know works. It doesn't last long in this house!