If anyone were to ask me what my favorite Halloween candy is, I would tell them, hand's down, it's a Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin. Probably my favorite candy of all time, and made only better by the festive, jack-o-lantern shape, I never thought that I would see the day that these scrumptious treats weren't the staple of my trick-or-treat basket.
However, for anyone affected by several different allergen sensitivities and allergies, a Reese's pumpkin isn't even an option. That's why when I happened to pull out my handy dandy Jell-O mold knowing that there would be no Jell-O made due to my son's food dye sensitivities, I put on my thinking cap and realized we could make our own spooky treats, homemade and tailored to avoid any allergens or less-than-desirable ingredients!
I'm a huge fan of both sunflower seed butter and almond butter. Both are delectable when spread on just about anything. However, I was out of the first so I used the latter. The brand I used was Maranatha but you could use any brand or nut/seed butter that suits your needs - either for preference or allergen-related.
For the trial run, I used good old-fashioned Hershey's snack-sized chocolate. Why? Well, I don't usually happen to have Hershey's chocolate hanging about the house. It was leftover from our camping trip (s'mores!) and I was out of my typical favorite chocolate brand, Equal Exchange. If you haven't figured it out by now, I was pretty much low on ingredients in general and was procrastinating a trip to the grocery store.
But y'all - you don't need much for ingredients or time to whip up these babies!
Just about 4 cups of the chocolate of your choice, either in chips or small chunks. And about a teaspoon of your nut or seed butter for each of your molds. You could use any mold, too. These just happened to be what I had available and they are perfect for Halloween!
To melt the chocolate, I put it all in a glass Pyrex bowl and microwaved it for 30 seconds. The double-boiler method just isn't my style, but if it's yours - go for it. ;)
I stirred the chocolate and popped it back in for another 30 seconds before stirring again.
I spooned enough chocolate into each mold to fill each about halfway, and then dropped a teaspoon of almond butter on top. Then I just covered the rest with chocolate to the top.
I covered the top of the mold with Press'n'Seal and let it rest in the fridge for about 2 hours.
They popped out perfectly and tasted even BETTER than my beloved Reese's peanut butter pumpkins.
These can be made gluten free, nut free, even dairy free. It's a very versatile treat and I know I will be making these again and packaging them so any trick-or-treaters who make the trek to my remote location will be in for a yummy (and safe) surprise.
Happy October, everyone!
~Sarah
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