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It’s just time to sweeten things up around this ‘ole blog- and I must confess I have the perfect recipe to get the drool factor going.

And if there is way to justify eating my favorite food group, chocolate, then you’ve got to get a hold of this product. UNREAL takes the junk out of candy by using real and natural ingredients, something that you won’t find in 98% of our US-based candy products unless they are hand made. The story of how the company was started is one worth reading, >spoiler alert: a kid and his entrepreneur dad have an argument over Halloween candy spoils and how unhealthy candy is, which leads to a challenge that eventually spawns this company.< I became an instant fan. I am a sucker for a good story and an excellent product. To find out where you can buy these deliciously addictive products click here.

As for you, the reader — Good news. A picture is worth a thousand words – and void of calories. It’s a feast for the eyes.

My story starts with my adorable friend Deserie (A.K.A. Desi) who was kind enough to join me on a moment’s notice for a blogging event to learn about the Unreal line of candy. And as you can see, we did anything but leave empty handed.

While at the event, my friend Ana suggested that I do a bit of baking and recipe development and >poof< just like magic, the boxes of the candy I threatened to bake with instantly arrived at our table. No surprise that Desi's face lit up with a huge smile. Fast forward a few weeks and my two lovely Italian guests show up and want to bake cookies. They know how fond Americans are of peanut butter and after some taste testing of their own, they are admittedly fans of this Americanesque food. Margherita and Valentina take the spotlight as we bake this oh-so-delicious recipe. Note: the entire batch of cookies only survived 44 hours in our home, because just one cookie is never enough. This recipe is also featured in my first cook book and is attributed to another dear friend, Julie. She made these for me once and I knew we were cooking sole mates.

I think this qualifies as a ‘bowl licker’ of sorts. One of my favorite baking out takes from my time with Valentina. xox

The recipe revealed

Unreal Peanut Butter Cookie Bombs

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons REAL maple syrup

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

30 Unreal Peanut Butter Cups

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixer bowl cream together the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until very light brown in color and almost whipped looking. Then beat in maple syrup, egg and vanilla.

In another bowl toss together the flour and baking soda.

Slowly beat flour mixture into the liquid ingredients.

Drop the mixture by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for NO MORE THAN 6-8 minutes.

The minute the cookies start looking even slightly brown, pull them out. They should be still soft and doughy. Place an Unreal Peanut Butter Cups into the center of each cookie right after you pull them out of the oven. Lightly push the cup into place and allow to set for several hours. Do not refrigerate.

Makes 2 ½ dozen.

#GETUNREAL FACT: Their products contain no artificial preservatives and only natural-origin colors. Yes, you can find some of your favorites. What is great is that they don’t contain corn syrups, preservatives, artificial flavors, artificial colors, or hydrogenated oils. These are anything but JUNK food. And what makes these gems so pretty? All of the candy coated chocolates are colored with beetroot juice, turmeric root, and purple cabbage juice, not red dye #40 or yellow dye #5.

Disclosure: I attended a blogger lunch sponsored by Unreal and brought home a complimentary assortment of Unreal candy bars to review. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.