When it comes to party plates, it’s the task of every hostess to whip up something that tastes good. Bonus point if it looks good and extra bonus if it is secretly good for you. We already brought you our (drumroll) Sweet 16 Cocktails and now we have a 3-pointer of an MVP party passer — the Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookie Dough Dip: March Madness Edition.
This delectable dip is a crowdpleaser — hi, who doesn’t want to eat a bowl of cookie dough? And even though it tastes all kinds of naughty, it’s filled with secret ingredients (Chickpeas! Flaxseed!) that make it not all that bad for you. It can easily be vegan and/or gluten-free, even! Add a basketball design in Reese’s Pieces and swoosh, it’s a win for your March Madness party. Or, if your team lost and you’re boycotting the rest of the tourney (Cuuuuse, what happened?!), this dip will live on well past the Final Four without the Reese’s or with a different design. Actually, fair warning, make it once and it’s all anyone’s going to ask you to bring to every party ever again.
Ingredients:
– 1 can of chickpeas
– 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
– 1/4 cup almond milk
– 1/2 cup brown sugar (loose, not packed down)
– 2 tablespoons maple syrup
– 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
– 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 cup chocolate chips
– 1/2 cup crushed pretzel bits
– 1 big bag of Reese’s Pieces
– Cookies, crackers, pretzels, fruit — aka, things for dippin’
Instructions:
1. Put all of your ingredients EXCEPT the mix-ins and Reese’s in a food processor. So that’s: chickpeas, peanut butter, almond milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, ground flax, salt and baking soda — throw it in.
2. Blend your ingredients in a food processor until you have a smooth, hummus-like or thick peanut butter consistency.
3. Take the blade out of your processor and stir in what you’re mixing in, like chocolate chips or crushed pretzel bits.
4. Spread your dip into a pie pan or any round, flat bowl or dish. Make sure the surface of your dip is smooth for decorating.
5. Decorate your dip with Reese’s Pieces to make it look like a basketball.
6. Instagram your creation.
7. Keep your masterpiece wrapped in plastic in the fridge until it’s ready to serve (those Reese’s are melty little scoundrels).
8. Serve up with whatever you want to dip into it!
This is one of those recipes where you really can’t go wrong because: 1) It’s delicious no matter what and 2) It’s no-bake so you can keep adding and subbing ingredients until you have perfection. According to you! Woo!
How awesome is it that you can just throw all of your ingredients into the food processor and press POWER?! That’s it!
We used natural pb and almond milk, but you could use any type of nut butter or milk to make this. And you could always add more of your chosen nut butter if you want it to have more of that flavor. Same goes for sugar! Brown sugar and maple syrup are a delicious combo with peanut butter and flax, but you can use whatever kind or amount of sweetener you want.
Chocolate chips are a no-brainer for making this dip as cookie dough-a-licious as possible, but you can use whatever you have hanging around in your cupboards. Crushed pretzels, candy bits, nuts, coconut, carob.
You might want to call on a Reese’s Pieces Separator for this next part. Most likely anyone will take on this job for you.
The easiest way to master the basketball shape is to start with the black ribs. Using the dark Pieces, place a stripe going down the middle of the bball both ways, making a cross. Now make little half circles on either side, trying to keep them as even as possible. To make our basketball orange, we made outlines in each section and filled them in, trying to mirror the other side. NO PRESSURE, but the Pieces might start to melt a little. We stuck our candies and our dip in the fridge about halfway through to chill ’em out.
The squeak of high top sneakers and cheers and jeers of rivals teams are coming from your living room so that can mean only one thing: DIP TIME!!! This is a serious score with guests so be ready to tell people over and over again what’s in it. Yup, chickpeas. Really, guys. DEAL WITH THE DELICIOUSNESS!
When it comes to what to dip in it, we like a mix of salty and sweet, chocolate and not-so-choco. We chose Teddy Grahams (for cuteness), graham crackers (a more basic foundation), Oreos and chocolate wafers (decadence), pretzels (salty) and strawberries (to keep up the healthy front). But, let’s be honest, all you really need is a spoon.
Have you ever tried the healthy cookie dough dip? What are you mixing up at your March Madness masquerade?