The inspiration for these incredibly yummy and good for you treats came from the plastic tray that the all natural falafel patties I bought came in. I rarely buy processed foods, even natural processed foods, so these trays were an unusual bonus! The tray had eight round molded spaces where each patty was and looked so nice that I started thinking about what I could use them for. A couple of days later I had this burst of inspiration! The final result tasted decadent and looked beautiful, since the molding on the bottom gave it the look of fancy chocolates (I served mine upside down so that the molding was on top). They looked so good I was tempted to take a picture to show you, but of course I didn’t because that would have meant figuring out how to post them. 🙄
If you don’t have any creative molds that you rescued from recycling :), don’t despair! You can use a pan or other flat container and cut them into bars, or you can pour them into metallic mini muffin cups. They’ll taste good either way.
Too Good to Be Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate layer: (some of you will recognize this as my healthy chocolate recipe)
- 1/2 c. cocoa powder
- 1/4 c. coconut oil
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1/8 – 1/4 c. honey
Melt the coconut oil and stir the other ingredients in; mix until smooth. Pour the chocolate into the bottom of the pan or fill the molds with a thin layer, leaving half of the chocolate for the topping. Let cool while you prepare the peanut butter filling. (The chocolate will have the taste of semi sweet dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. I experimented using coconut milk to see if I could make it more similar to milk chocolate, but wasn’t satisfied with the consistency.)
filling:
- 3/4 c. creamy peanut butter (I use organic, with only sea salt added)
- 2 T. honey
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1/4 c. coconut oil
- 1/3 c. ground nuts (I used pecan meal)
Melt the coconut oil, stir in honey, vanilla, and then the peanut butter. When smooth, stir in the ground nuts. Spread the peanut butter filling on top of the chocolate, whether it’s in a mold or a pan. Finally, take the remaining chocolate mixture (if it’s started to solidify, heat it gently for a couple of minutes until it’s liquidy and easy to pour) and pour it on top of the peanut butter layer, smoothing it so that the top is even. Refrigerate or freeze.
Healthy chocolates are super expensive, and these are a fraction of the price! Not only that, they’re packed with healthy fats and are very satisfying; two make a nice dessert that you don’t have to feel guilty about. And they are so good you can serve them to your junk food loving friends, too!
(This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Pennywise Platter Thursdays and Fight Back Fridays.)
Avivah
I use a similar recipe from nourishing gourmet’s site to make this almost every week for shabbos dessert. Yummy!
Really? I never saw it! And to think I just shared this on her site.
Oh, yumm! My husband is a huge fan of peanut butter cups, which he has not had for the longest time. I want to make these for him soon. Thanks so much for the great idea!
love it! thanks so much!
If I don’t have coconut oil, can I at least try them with a subsitute in the mean time or will the consistancy/taste be altered too much?
Try butter. 🙂
Oh, that sounds much better than the safflower oil I was thinking of….
What a fantastic idea. I really need to start using coconut oil but need a few recipes to get me started. This will be one of them! Thanks!
I’ve got to try these out. The ones in the store just don’t taste very good anymore. I think they keep trying to make them more cheaply and it shows. I’ve also been trying to eat more coconut oil, so that’s a plus, too.
Hi, Laurie and Melodie, welcome! This really is a fun and easy way to get some coconut oil in. 😉
I find that the food in the store has become increasingly less appealing as my taste buds become more and more used to good food. When a couple of months ago I had a chocolate bar for the first time in over two years, it left me wondering why I ever thought they tasted good! 🙂
These were amazing, Avivah. I made them last night. I doubled the chocolate layer – putting the whole amount on the bottom and another whole amount on the top. I had trouble reheating it; it did not get fluid again. I wonder if I did something wrong?
But that didn’t matter. I put that in the fridge separately to eat on its own and made a fresh batch of the chocolate layer to pour over the peanut butter filling. I did it in a square cake pan as we don’t have any molds like you mentioned.
Thanks for a GREAT recipe! We’ll be making it again (and again).
Hi, Wardeh, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe; thanks for letting me know!
I don’t know why it didn’t reheat. I’ve had that issue a couple of times before and sometimes I don’t; I don’t know what the relevant factor is. 😕
These look fantastic and I think I have everything in stock! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
made them with creamy almond butter and a bit less honey, delicious!
Thanks for sharing, Emily, I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Wow – these look great! A nourishing pbutter cup!
I’m making these again today. Mine didn’t reheat properly the last time I made them, so I intend to split the chocolate layer and cook it when I need it this time. They were still wonderful! Thanks for posting this recipe.
I made them in my mini-muffin pan. Perfect little miniature peanut-butter cups!
I like your idea of making the chocolate in two batches, Tammy – I think I’ll do that from now on, too!
Oh this looks amazing! I’m going to try Emily’s version as we are out of PB and I have a nice large jar of almond butter! Yummm….I’ve been looking for a great treat just in time for Lent!
Thanks!
Hi, Carrie, welcome! I’ve visited your site and it’s nice to see you here. 🙂
I think using any nut butter will be delish!
So what did I do wrong??? I melted the Coconut oil and then added the honey, cocoa powder and vanilla. Mix mix mix . . . . mix, mix, mix, mix, mix – all i have is a big glump of stick in the middle and brown liquidy coconut oilhanging out around the edges. It simply will not mix together for me. I was so looking forward to serving this to my guests tonight! I guess I have to find something else. Any tips on what went wrong?
Celina, try adding the coconut oil in slowly and being careful not to overmix; I once read somewhere that coconut oil desserts like this can separate if they’re overmixed. It’s worth it to try making it again for your guests tonight – it’s really good!
Ok, so I tried it again – you convinced me. Actually maybe it was chocolate, peanut butter that convinced me 🙂
I ended up mixing the coconut oil and the cocoa powder thoroughly before adding any of the other ingredients. After I did that everything incorporated just fine. The first chocolate layer and peanut butter layer are in the fridge chilling right now and I’ll add the second chocolate layer when they are firm.
Try #2 – so far so good 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad it’s working out. If you need to reheat the chocolate for the second layer, try slowly reheating it and adding a very small amount of coconut oil. I found it easier to refrigerate the first chocolate layer, then put the peanut butter layer on, and added the second chocolate layer right away. That kept the chocolate layer still liquid and it didn’t start to solidify when it touched the cold peanut butter layer. Hopes this makes sense!
Yum! I’m eating one right now! Thanks so much for this. I used walnuts as my nut meal and I didn’t have any vanilla (I keep hesitating to buy it because I have a friend who says it’s so easy and much cheaper to make. Gotta get on that!). Still really, really delicious, thanks!
I’m glad you liked it Chava! I’ve found that most recipes can pretty easily be adapted and still taste great, including this one.
I wanted to share with you that I had extra peanut butter mixture, so I looked around for something to use it in. I didn’t measure how much I had left, but I found this recipe: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/healthy-treat-for-today-peanut-butter-honey-bars-gluten-free and it worked out really nicely! They are yummy.
Also, what kind of honey did you use? In hindsight, I wish I had used raw honey since this is a raw recipe. Next time!
Thanks agian, Avivah. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this, Chava! I usually use regular honey because the raw is so much more expensive where I’m at. There was a time I shopped in a particular Amish area and was able to get raw local honey at a price that was only slightly higher than the regular honey, so I got that. But I no longer shop in that area.
Ok, I saw this today and I had to share it with you:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/mounds-candy-bars/
I can’t wait to try this! Although I have to alter it a bit. No agave nectar, and I want to try to use your chocolate recipe. What do you think?
Also, how do you melt your coconut oil? We haven’t got a microwave, and I’ve been using a little metal dish in my toaster oven. How do you do it? Maybe your way is easier than mine. 🙂
These have turned into a regular thing around here! I’m eating one now!
Yum, yum, yum – thanks for this link! I’d probably do exactly what you’re suggesting, use my chocolate recipe and replace the agave with honey.
I melt my coconut oil in a small pot on the stove. Couldn’t be much easier! I’m glad you like the pb cups.
Looking forward to trying these!
I’d love to make these for a family get together on Sunday, but my mom is allergic to tree nuts. (Peanuts are fine.) Would either ww flour or matzoh meal work in place of ground nuts, or would the consistency be wrong?
Thanks to GNOWFGLINS for linking to these! Made them on V-day for my friend who loves reese’s pb cups, but has had to give them up for a time while dealing with some digestive issues. She loved them and was grateful to see there are healthier version of her fave treat out there.
I had to do the chocolate 3 times before I perfected it. Reading the comments was really helpful. I mixed the oil and cocoa first then added the honey and vanilla and it was nice and liquid. I did however have to cool my first layer of choco and the pb layer before putting on the last layer, which was fine. I used my silicon cupcake mold and they looked exactly like reese’s. And it was so easy to just pop them out too! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’m working on these right now. I’ve been trying to make a healthy nut butter cup for my family (and readers) so I so hope that they work out :-).
I hope they work out for you – they’re amazingly delicious, and if you have a nice mold to put them in, come out looking really beautiful! (I’m sorry I didn’t have a camera to take pics, because I haven’t yet seen any that look as good as these did!)
What’s the reason for adding the nut meal? Does it affect the flavor? Could I do without it or add flax see instead?
The nut meal thickens it, you can leave it out and see what the consistency is like. I don’t think flax seed would taste good, but it’s just my opinion.