The holidays have prompted me to ask my boyfriend some very serious questions.

For instance, I asked…

“Would you like me to bake you some ‘holiday yummy thing’ this year?”

He said that it’d be great if I could make him something worthy of being called ‘holiday yummy thing.’

Boys are weird. Or at least mine is anyways.

He doesn’t crave delicious creations in the same way I do.  He’d be just as fine with dessert as he would be without.

Anyways, I figured the treat should have chocolate and cinnamon and peppermint.

Because nothing says holiday like chocolate, cinnamon and peppermint.

Except maybe in-laws.

But I don’t have any in-laws…(yet).

So yes, nothing says holiday like chocolate, cinnamon and peppermint.

But somehow I made something that only has chocolate.  No peppermint or cinnamon.  Life is hard.  Can’t win them all.

So I made these.  Fell in love.  Ate far too many.

And somewhere in the midst of all the deliciousness, not a one of these was eaten by my boyfriend.

My mistake.

Homemade Twix Bars

makes 16 bars

[slightly adapted from Oh She Glows]

Cereal layer

1 1/4 cup gluten free brown rice cereal (I used Koala Crisp)

1/4 honey

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

pinch ground sea salt

Date Caramel

1 1/2 cup dates (23 dates), pitted

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1 Tbsp almond milk

pinch ground sea salt

Chocolate Coating

10 ounces chocolate chips

Line a 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper.

In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, combine honey, peanut butter, vanilla and salt.  Whisk until simmering and the mixture becomes thin and smooth.  Pour cereal into a large bowl and pour thinned honey mixture over cereal.  Spread this mixture into the 8×8 inch parchment paper lined pan.  Wet your hands to allow you to easily spread the mixture without it sticking.  Place the cereal mixture into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

While the cereal layer is hardening, make the date caramel.  In the bowl of a food processor combine dates, peanut butter, almond milk and salt.  Process the dates until a paste is formed.  The dates will form a large ball of date paste.

Remove the cereal layer from the freezer and spread the date caramel evenly over the cereal crust.  Place the pan into the freezer for 20 minutes, or until firm.

Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler.  Pour the melted chocolate into a shallow bowl.

Remove pan from freezer and chop into 8 bars.  Then cut the long bars in half.

Dip each bar into the melted chocolate.  Roll the entire bar in the chocolate to thoroughly coat.  Place bars on a cooling rack to cool (have a piece of parchment paper under the cooling rack to catch the chocolate that drips off).

Allow bars to harden in the freezer.  Serve straight from the freezer.

This post is in honor of that little Beagle dog in the background of this picture.  Even though we never let her eat chocolate, that didn’t stop her from trying.  She was the sneakiest and smartest dog I’ve ever met but she was truly the best Beagle dog anyone could have asked for.  After 15 years as part of our family, she will be missed.  We love you, Lucy.