DIY Dark Chocolate Speculoos Cookie Butter Cups with Sea Salt

I'm back! And I brought treats!! The hubby came back from being in Abu Dhabi for three weeks, just in time for our two year anniversary. My man got me our wedding cake stand, which I tracked down late one night while admiring our wedding pictures. I topped it off by re-created our wedding cake, complete with chocolate cake, chocolate bavarian cream (with vegetarian gelatin!), and chocolate whipped cream frosting. I snapped pictures, recording measurements, totally intending to share with you guys, then... we had structural failure. I'm talking disastrous failure. Apparently I'm incompetent at leveling cakes. Next year! 

We celebrated these past two years by taking off to Sonoma County for a whole week. We brought P, drank wine, and ate fantastic food. I can't wait to share all the details soon. In the meantime, Happy Halloween! What better way to celebrate than with DIY homemade candy. 

A couple years back while living in NYC, I developed a deep deep love for speculoos cookie butter at a Waffles and Dinges food truck. Since then, this Dutch delicacy has become pretty mainstream, even sold at Trader Joe's. Have you had it? If not, I have to warn you, it's seriously addicting. I often find myself going into the pantry with a spoon and coming out with the perfect one bite treat that always satisfies that little dessert craving. 

These cookie butter cups are like homemade peanut butter cups but better. They are made with dark chocolate and topped with sea salt which makes them totally sophisticated. Candy for adults. Goodbye processed mainstream candy. You've been replaced. 

DIY Dark Chocolate Speculoos Cookie Butter Cups with Sea Salt 
Adapted from Food52
Makes about 24 full-size cups 

1 pound dark chocolate, roughly chopped 
2 tbsp coconut oil 
3/4 cup speculoos cookie butter 
Fleur De Sel* 

Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with 24 cupcake liners. Warm chocolate and coconut oil in a double broiler until completely melted. Or microwave mixture 30 seconds at a time, stirring until completely melted. Pour about 1/2 tbsp of melted chocolate into each cupcake liner. Smack baking sheet on the counter 3-5 times until chocolate forms a smooth layer on the bottom of each liner. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. 

Remove liners from the fridge and top each cup with a heaping 1/2 tbsp cookie butter (I used a cookie scoop). Using the back of a spoon, smooth the cookie butter into a flat layer on top of the chocolate base, leaving a tiny border around the edges for chocolate to drip down. Top each cup with just enough chocolate to cover, then use the back of a spoon to smooth the chocolate over the cookie butter, covering it completely. Top with a liberal sprinkling of Fleur De Sel (I wish I'd use more than I did in the photos). Refrigerate for 25-30 minutes until completely set.  

*I recently splurged on this, which I used, but you could totally use regular sea salt. 

DIY Sports Drink

I'm dedicating recipes this week to my sweet family. There was a second I almost named this blog "You, Me, and Little P" because I just love my little fam so dang much. But then I figured that was way too cheesy, and a more appropriate name wouldn't stop me from writing about them. In case you live under a rock, or just don't follow me on instagram, little p (pumpkin) is our dog. 

My other half is pretty incredible. The other day while cooking dinner together, he brought up the fact that once upon a time I thought I wanted to marry a tall, dark, and handsome sweater-wearing artist of a man, and what I ended up with was a dorky balding engineer. But turns out that dorky engineer is the man of my dreams in so many ways (and he's really barely balding). And next month just so happens to be our second anniversary, and he just so happens to be taking me to Napa, whose food scene I just so happen to have researched for almost three hours today. To say I'm excited is a huge understatement. But more on that later. 

My dorkalicious love of a man is huge into mountain biking. So huge that he leaves me in bed almost every Saturday morning to wake up at the ass crack of dawn and go for a 2-3 hour ride. Then he comes home covered in a combination of sweat and dirt, which blended together has formed mud, and spandex. Nothing sexier, people. Kidding.

With only minimal resistance he's jumped on the my bandwagon of eating a healthier, plant-based diet, cutting out pretty much all processed foods. That is, with one exception. Gatorade. Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the backside of gatorade? Well it wouldn't really matter if you had because the ingredient list is completely filled with chemicals, additives, and colorings that a normal person could never pronounce nor understand. It's gross, people. "But the electrolytes!" says every person has who ever exercised. 

Enter: my DIY Sports Drink. Complete with all the electrolytes of gatorade and oh so much more! I did my research people, and both citrus and coconut water are natural sources for electrolytes. They contain vitamin C, potassium, and coconut water in particular is cooling to the body, which is perfect after a sweaty hot work-out. The fresh-squeezed citrus and coconut water are naturally sweetened with agave and topped with just a touch of salt which dissolves into the drink (I wasn't kidding about the electrolytes, people). 

The result is a fresh, real, version of gatorade. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. 

DIY Sports Drink 
Makes 1 quart 

1.5 cups freshly squeeze citrus juice (I use 2-3 oranges, 1/2 lemon, 1 lime) 
2-3 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1/2 tsp sea salt 
1 cup coconut water 
1 cup water 

Place water, salt, and agave in a saucepan over low heat until salt completely dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Using a citrus juicer, juice oranges, lemon, and lime (or whichever citrus fruits you'd like). In a quart size mason jar, combine juice, sweetened water, and coconut water. Refrigerate until cold.