January was a rather savory month here on greens & chocolate, wasn't it? I focused heavily on the greens and much less on the chocolate.
The main reason was that Marc and I were doing a (very) modified version of Pinch of Yum's Sugar Free January. It was mainly a month where I did little to no baking, we stayed away from desserts, and focused on healthy eating.
Now that January is done I'm easing back into desserts. I don't feel the need to go crazy with sugar, which is one of the benefits of getting my cravings back under control, but a girl needs a cookie every now and then y'know?! So I'm starting with these refined sugar free chocolate heart peanut butter cookies!
I used Dove's Dark Chocolate Hearts because I may have been sneaking one or two here and there the last week of January (hey Pinch of Yum says dark chocolate is okay!) and already had a bag open. You could use whatever chocolate you want to top them with! Dove also has some peanut butter filled chocolates that would be wonderful. A good 'ol Reese's peanut butter cup would do the trick. Or maybe a Hershey's kiss to resemble peanut butter blossoms? All great options.
So if I didn't use sugar in these cookies, then what did I use? To replace white sugar that is in a traditional peanut butter cookie, I used honey. The result is a much less sweet cookie than your traditional peanut butter blossom, but I have to say - these definitely still hit the spot! I also used white whole wheat flour in these, making them full of whole grains!
One last thing that I LOVE about these cookies is that they stay chewy days after I made them, which I think is due to the honey in them. I love a thick and chewy cookie, and this is exactly what that is!