Beth Dunham

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Jackson Pollock Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites

I dressed up my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe with some chocolate and cream and created a masterpiece. 

Swirls of dark, milk, and white chocolate cover a canvas of chocolate ganache layered on top of a simple gluten-free cookie base.  My chocolate homage to Jackson Pollock.  Cutting this masterpiece into squares just felt wrong, so I opted for trapezoids instead.

This is a ridiculously easy recipe, all you'll need is:

  • 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream
  • 200 grams milk chocolate for the ganache

For the drizzle I used 30 grams each of dark, milk, and white chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, and egg until everything is thoroughly combined.  Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a greased 9 inch baking pan and bake for 18 minutes, or until light brown in colour.

Set the pan on a rack to cool while you prepare the chocolate ganache.  Heat the whipping cream in the microwave or in a small saucepan until almost boiling.  Break the chocolate into small pieces into a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate to melt.  Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, and then stir to combine. The ganache will be quite runny at first, so let it cool down a bit before proceeding, 5-10 minutes or so. When ready, pour the ganache over the surface of the peanut butter base, and tilt the pan so the surface is covered, then chill for an hour in the fridge to set.

To decorate, break your milk, dark and white chocolate into small pieces and put into separate small ramekins. Microwave on high power for just a few seconds, until melted.  Using a fork, create random drizzles over the entire surface of the chocolate ganache. 

The cookie base can also be made with smooth peanut butter or almond butter, resulting in a finer crumb.  Feel free to substitute dark chocolate for the milk chocolate in the ganache for a less sweet version of this dessert.