INDULGE | Holiday Peppermint Puffs

Sometimes you never know what to do with those pesky candy canes. 

Candy canes are great, and everyone indulges in a few around Christmas. But the problem is that you usually end up with boxes of them. Instead of throwing them away, why not try making something with them?

Enter my latest creation: Holiday Peppermint Puffs. As a member of Peanut Butter & Co.'s Yum Squad, I was asked to develop a recipe featuring their peanut butter & candy canes - an excellent way to use leftover candy canes {which were probably used to decorate your tree - am I right?}. And I think I've come up  with something pretty tasty.

You can make this in any shape you want, really. Puff pastry is pretty moldable. I made one giant rectangle, and then with the leftover dough I made a couple small "pies". I actually like the pie shape better because it holds all the sauce!

I used both White Chocolate Wonderful & Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter - but you could omit the Dark Chocolate Dreams sauce and just use melted chocolate instead.

You'll need:

1 box of puff pastry

1 c. white chocolate chips

1/4 c. White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter

6 T. Whipping Cream

3/4 c. dark chocolate chips

1 T. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter 

Candy canes

Directions:

.1 Allow pastry to thaw. Place pastry in desired baking sheet or pan and bake according to packaged directions.

2. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

3. In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, combine white chocolate chips, 3 T. whipping cream and White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter. Allow to melt, stirring so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove from heat. 

4. In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, combine dark chocolate chips, 3 T. whipping cream and Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. Allow to melt, stirring so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove from heat. 

5. Pour white chocolate sauce (as much as desired) over the puff pastry. 

6. Drizzle dark chocolate sauce over puff pastry. 

7. Crush candy canes and sprinkle over the top. Cut and serve!

Do you have any candy cane hacks? Share the tips with the hashtag #CandyCaneHacks. And if you're looking to buy some awesome peanut butter - PB&Co. is offering their products for 25% off ALL MONTH! Just use the code YUMSQUADLOVE (in all caps!) on their website.

Now... do you wanna win some PEANUT BUTTER?! Here's how you can win (1) jar of White Chocolate Wonderful and (1) jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams! Each of the following things counts as ONE entry, so you can use the Rafflecopter below to enter! The more you do, the more chances you have to win! Giveaway ends NEXT MONDAY (December 8).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Enjoy!

Probiotics

Ever since discovering this delicious chocolate bar in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods, I've become interested in the topic of probiotics. What are they? What do they do? Why are they important?

Medicinenet.com says they are  "live microorganisms, which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host." They continue and say that "Friendly bacteria are vital to proper development of the immune system, to protection against microorganisms that could cause disease, and to the digestion and absorption of food and nutrients." 
so, essentially, probiotics replace the bad bacteria in  your body with good bacteria! They fight against diseases, infections, skin problems, bowl problems...pretty much everything. 
For vegans, they can be found in miso, tempeh, and some juices and soy beverages, and even this dark chocolate by Attune! it was really delicious, and the whole bar was only 80 calories...delicious! 

Then I stumbled upon this lovely item: GoodBelly juice. Although I have yet to try it, it does look delicious, and they have a whole line of non-dairy drinks  from which you can get probiotics! They have so many flavors- they all look really yummy! Treehugger.com says "Probiotics join ranks with the good bacteria (being of the good-guy sort themselves) and they work to prevent the harmful bacteria from taking over, helping improve digestion and the absorption of minerals and nutrients, and lowering cholesterol. They even lower high blood pressure." 

End conclusion: start trying to incorporate more probiotics into your life! 
p.s. - sign up for GoodBelly's 12 day challenge and get free coupons...