Vegan Peanut Butter Twigs

Finished Twigs!

The shortbread (bottom) and peanut butter (top) are almost the same color.

This was my vegan take on the peanut butter variety of the famous candy bar. It's actually a pretty simple recipe, making and combining three separate, simple components: Shortbread, peanut butter filling and semi-sweet chocolate.

The Shortbread 

N. I made too much shortbread compared to chocolate and peanut butter.  The recipe here makes 2/3 of what's pictured.  There is sugar in this recipe, you can read about whether sugar is vegan at this informative blog post.  I've chosen not to worry about it.

1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened

1/6 c. sugar

1 and 1/3 c. flour

Cream together margarine and sugar

Work in flour - dough should stick to itself rather than crumble

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Dough should be about 3.5" wide and 0.5" thick

Cut dough into strips 0.5" wide

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350.

Dough should be about 3.5" wide.

Dough should be about 0.5" thick.

 Cut dough into strips about 0.5" wide, place on an ungreased baking sheet.

The recipe included should make about 14 bars - the correct amount for the chocolate and peanut butter.

You can mix up the peanut butter while your shortbread is cooking.

Combine

1/2 cup peanut butter 

3 TBS powdered sugar

1 tsp canola oil

Mix furiously - I used an immersion blender

When your shortbread comes out of the oven, let it cool (it should be brown on the bottom, and crispy all the way through).

Top the shortbread with the peanut butter mixture.

Topping these thin strips of shortbread with sticky peanut butter is a delicate process.

When you're done topping the shortbread, put them in a dish and into the freezer.

Now, heat up 12 oz vegan chocolate in a double boiler.  The most affordable vegan chocolate option at my store were semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Use a double boiler to avoid burning the chocolate.

A double boiler can just be two pans that kinda fit together like this. Heat water in the bottom one.

The chocolate is starting to get melty - and to think, I got challenged when I used "melty" in scrabble the other day!

Time to start dipping, when the chocolate is completely melted.

Take your peanut butter topped shortbread out of the freezer.

Use tongs to dip in the melted chocolate.

As you lift out the bars, use a butter knife to remove excess chocolate.

Put bars on parchment paper on a cookie dish.

When chocolate gets low, use a spoon to cover the bars after you dip them.

Toss the bars back in the freezer until hardened.

Mmmmm!