Puppy chow is a socially repressed dessert. It's allowed to make an appearance at children's sports events or elementary school cafeterias. Perhaps you remember purchasing little baggies of the powdery goodness at a soccer game or a bake sale as a kid. But have you ever come across a bowl of puppy chow at a dinner party, casually sitting next to a bottle of champagne? Probably not. This is a serious problem.

Perhaps due to its name, puppy chow gets an unsophisticated rep. The magical combination of chocolate and peanut butter should never be discriminated against, no matter what a dessert is called or whether it's 70% just a bag of cereal. My recipe, which uses brown rice crisps, is an attempt at bringing puppy chow back into relevancy. Rice crisps increase the surface area available for the peanut butter and chocolate coating. Shaping the mixture into balls imitates those accidentally—stuck—together pieces that we all know are the best. Plus, it adds a home—made appearance desperately lacking from traditional square or hexagonal puppy chow.

That's right: puppy chow has grown up. It's dog chow time.

What:

2 cups brown rice crisp cereal

1/2 cup vegan semi–sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

powdered sugar for coating

How:

Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter and heat in the microwave (about 1 minute) or over the stove until melted.

Stir in vanilla and rice crisps.

Let mixture cool in the fridge or freezer until firm enough to form balls.

Roll into balls and coat with powdered sugar.

Chill and serve.

What did I use and why?

Barbara's Organic Brown Rice Crisps, because they only have 1 gram of sugar, are sweetened with pear juice, and—most importantly—support Project Puffin.