Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie

For the first time in a long time, I had a day off on Friday.  The last day off I had that wasn’t a stat holiday was back in MARCH.  WTH?  I had the day planned out:  Bob and I were going to take Mum out for crepes at Kawaii Crepe, go to Boonstra’s for strawberry picking, and then maybe go to Home Sense to check out some new wares.  But before all the shenanigans were to begin, I had to come up with a dessert to bring over to the ladies night dinner I was attending later that evening.

What to make?  What to make that’ll be quick and ready to go by the time I get back?  Out of our small group of awesome, foxy ladies, one has food allergies.  And the two things that she could not have were: citrus and nuts.  CRAP!  So, I’m online looking for “great!” “summer!” “desserts!”.  And what comes up?  Citrus something-or-other.  Lemony thing-she-can’t-eat.  Nuts’n-butts disaster.  I was totally boned.  Why did everything that was sounding SO amazing were the things I couldn’t make?  So, I emailed Ms. T and asked her specifically which citrus and which nuts (because it can be specific).  Turns out ALL citrus :(.  But, she was ok with peanuts.  Translation: peanut butter is an option.  HALLELUJAH!

Homemade Bubble Tea

I Looooooooooooooooooove Bubble Tea (a.k.a. Boba).  This is my homemade attempt and I think it turned out alright.

Bubble tea straws and pearls. You'll definitely need the straws unless you want to drink your tea with a spoon.

You will need:
- “pearls” (I would recommend buying the quick cook kind because otherwise you’ll be waiting ONE hour)

Different types of quick cook pearls. On the left is rainbow and on the right is green tea.

- brewed teas of your choice

Brewed teas: green on the left, orange pekoe on the right.

- simple syrup (I did the ratio of 1 cup of water: 1 cup of sugar)

The flavours I chose were:
- lychee syrup from canned lychees
- and fresh, pink grapefruit juice

Grab a glass and put some pearls in.  Pour in your desired tea choice.  For the lychee I put in about 3 tbsps of the syrup and then about the same amount of simple syrup.  For the grapefruit one, I probably put about 4 tbsps of the grapefruit juice and 3 tbsps of the simple syrup.  These are the measurements I used, but you may want to adjust to taste.

Et voila!  Bubble tea you can make at home.  It ain’t the milkshake kind (oooooh, now I have Kelis in my head – you know which song I’m talkin’ about!) but it’s just as good.  Enjoy :)

The End Result: Left is Green Tea Lychee, Right is Orange Pekoe Pink Grapefruit.