omg I developed a recipe
These are no-bake, chocolate-forward 'energy bites' (maybe, lol) inspired by BRITTNEY WITH a B. I have no idea what to call them. This recipe is BASIC & needs a few different categories of work. If you want to try it already, please let me know so I can help/advise!
Variations/tweaks in the works:
I have some mini labs going on with these involving crisped rice & toasted oats for three reasons: 1) more textural interest, 2) justification for calling them energy bites :P, and 3) that's their origin story & I want to stay true to canon. They've morphed from an ad-hoc PB & Oats bite featuring some chocolate, to a chocolate/PB truffle (sorta). The cereal got lost in the shuffle; I want it back! UPDATES FORTHCOMING :)
INGREDIENTS
FILLING:
1 Graham Cracker
2 heaping T Smooth Peanut Butter
2 t Brown Sugar, Cinnamon to taste
1 heaping T Cocoa Nibs
probably ~¾ C Confectioners Sugar
*Candied Pecan Halves or Walnut Halves (won’t need these till assembly)
WHAT THE FILLING IS INSIDE OF:
[needs work on firming/structural front]
4 T Ganache (SEE RECIPE BELOW)
4 T Smooth Peanut Butter
½ C Confectioners Sugar
¼ C fine Graham Cracker crumbs
[Ideas: Almond meal? Oat flour? Coconut? More Graham Cracker crumbs? Finely chopped nuts?]
*Will almost certainly need to lessen this amount to match amount of filling; we’ll see how much is left over.
COATING: Fine Graham Cracker Crumbs with a touch of Salt, Cinnamon & Brown Sugar
GANACHE (You'll use just some of this though; if you make this much rn, you'll have a lot left over - I have a ton of adjustments to make):
¼ C cold, strong Coffee brewed w/Cinnamon in grounds
½ C Half and Half
1 10 oz pckg Chopped Chocolate
METHOD:
Make the Ganache:
- Have your chopped chocolate ready in a heat-safe container exceeding 1 ½ C
- Pour coffee & half & half into a small pot & heat gently till bubbles form around the sides
- Pour this over the chopped chocolate & let it sit there for a couple minutes
- Stir till glossy. It’ll be the consistency of melted ice cream, more or less
- Let that firm up in the fridge overnight
Make the Filling:
- Turn your graham cracker to dust using preferred method
- Plop PB in a bowl & incorporate Confectioners Sugar, Brown Sugar, cinnamon & Graham Cracker Dust into that until homogenous
- Fold in Cocoa Nibs till evenly distributed
- Wrap in wax paper, pop it in a baggie & let that become its best self in the fridge overnight alongside your ganache
Make What the Filling is Inside Of:
- Spoon ganache & PB into a bowl
- Heap confectioners sugar onto that
- Heap graham cracker dust onto that
- Smoosh those things together until homogenous
Make the Coating:
- Graham crackers -> dust. Sprinkle in other stuff to taste.
- Keep this in a baggie for easy rollings-around
Assembly
- Spoon a nut-half-sized amount (¼ t?) of filling into your immaculate paw & roll into a leetle quenelle shape.
- Smoosh that onto a nut half
- Set that down on some wax paper
- Take 1 generous t of choc/PB mixture & roll that into ball, then flatten it out in your palm
- Set the filling/nut half into the center & wrap the C/PB around it.
- Roll kinda firmly, get a nice ovoid truffle shape
- Plop that into your baggie full of coating & coat thoroughly
Et Voila.