Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites – Gluten Free & Vegan
These gluten free and vegan chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites are perfect for the Holidays! The sweet peanut butter filling with the salty crunch of the pretzel, all dipped in chocolate is AMAZING!
I don’t know about you, but when I hear of a dessert that has chocolate and peanut butter in it, I’m in! I’ve yet to come across a chocolate and peanut butter dessert that I didn’t like.
They are all AMAZING! These gluten free and vegan chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites are no exception.
I’ve been making Holiday treats like this for years and always have to add a chocolate and peanut butter dessert to my Christmas treat tray each year.
After food allergies, I thought my annual Holiday treat trays might not be an option any more. Every single thing I typically made was filled with gluten and dairy.
They also all had a crazy amount of refined sugar, which I have to limit now.
Slowly but surely I started converting my favorite recipes one by one until I had enough awesome cookies and candies to fill up my treat trays.
I was so excited when I made my first gluten free and dairy free version a few years ago! It was delicious and no one would have known it was any different than my traditional treat tray I used to make.
The recipe I’m sharing today was modified slightly from the recipe at Sally’s Baking Addiction. Before I had food allergies, I used to make her recipe and it is wonderful!
So I knew this year I wanted to figure out how to make it meet my allergy needs. I have to avoid five out of the six ingredients in her recipe.
It may seem crazy to try to convert a recipe where you can only have one of the ingredients, but I have awesome substitutes for the other five ingredients so I knew it would be a piece of cake.
Instead of using regular butter, I substituted “Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Sticks”. These taste exactly like regular butter to me and work perfect in these types of recipes as well.
The next ingredient that I needed to modify was the confectioners sugar. There is just something about cane sugar and powdered sugar that make me feel terrible.
I can still manage some cane sugar in the vegan chocolate, but when I add pure cane sugar or powdered sugar to recipes, it makes me feel sick. So I had to replace it.
Luckily I had already found a great powdered sugar substitute. It’s called “Swerve Sweetener” and it works perfect in the recipes where powdered sugar isn’t optional due to texture requirements.
Instead of using brown sugar, I use coconut sugar. I replace the regular pretzels with “Snyder’s gluten free mini pretzels”, and instead of semi-sweet chocolate bars, I use “Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips”.
The best part is that I always have all of these ingredients on hand. They are staples in my pantry and made modifying this recipe even easier.
Let me just say that these gluten free and vegan chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites have quickly become my favorite Holiday treat to add to my treat trays.
The sweet peanut butter filling with the salty crunch of the pretzel, all dipped in chocolate is AMAZING! I hope you love these chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites as much as my family does and they make it onto your Holiday treat tray this year!
♥ Don’t forget to rate this recipe and leave a comment below if you give this recipe a try! ♥
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Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites – Gluten Free & Vegan
- Yield: 30–35 Bites 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tbsp vegan butter, softened (I use “Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Sticks”)
- 1/2–1 cup powdered sugar or substitute (I use “Swerve” brand powdered sweetener)
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 60 – 70 gluten free pretzels (I use “Snyder’s gluten free mini pretzels”)
- 1 9 oz bag vegan chocolate chips (I use “Enjoy Life” brand)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine peanut butter and softened vegan butter until smooth.
- Stir in 1/2 cup powdered sugar, coconut sugar, and vanilla until a dough is formed. If the dough is too sticky, add more powdered sugar. You can also refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes to make it easier to work with.
- Roll the peanut butter mixture into small 1″-2″ balls. Add more powdered sugar if the peanut butter mixture is too sticky to handle.
- Place the peanut butter ball in between two pretzels and place on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Freeze for 15-20 minutes.
- Add the vegan chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate chips are melted.
- Dip the pretzel bites into the chocolate halfway and place them back onto the sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until the chocolate is firm.
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Can’t wait to try! Thanks!!
You’re welcome! ?
What peanut butter do you use for your recipe?
Hi Andrea, I just use an unsweetened creamy peanut butter for this recipe. I get mine at Costco (Kirkland brand). I hope this helps!