Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

What is amazing about making your own peanut butter cups is that you can control everything, from what size to how much filling is in each cup to how dark the chocolate is. You know exactly what is in them and you can adjust the sweetness level but still completely eliminate the refined sugar element. You can even mix things up by using almond butter, cashew butter, or macadamia butter if you prefer. My girlfriend Kara is the biggest Reese's Peanut Buttercup fan so I thought I'd create my own version minus the refined sugar, diary and even gluten.

They are super easy to make, love to hear your comments!

Prep time 30min

Makes 16 mini bites or 8 cupcake size

Ingredients

16 mini or 8 cupcake paper liners

Chocolate Coating:

1 1/2 cups vegan dark chocolate (I used MYLK from @Loving_Earth)

ALT * 2 tbsp coconut oil

*50g-75g cacao butter

*2 tbsp maple syrup

*6 tbsp cacao powder

*2 tbsp coconut cream

Peanut Butter Filling: 1/2 cup all-natural organic smooth peanut butter 4 tablespoons maple syrup 2 tablespoon coconut flour 1/4 teaspoon fine pink salt

Coarse pink salt, for topping (if desired)

Method

Line a mini muffin pan with the 16 paper liners or a cupcake tray with 8 liners and set it aside. To prepare the peanut butter filling, mix together all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, until the mixture is just starting to stick together (not too wet its sticky, but not too dry it wont bond together). Use a teaspoon to measure out the filling evenly then roll to form a ball and press down with the back of a spoon so they are slightly flattened and set aside.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. I use a Thermomix but you can simply arrange a heat-safe bowl over a sauce pan that has been filled with a few inches of water, and then bring that to a boil without allowing the bottom to touch the water and stir.

Once the chocolate is melted, use a teaspoon to scoop the chocolate into the sides and bottom of each muffin liner, then set in freezer for a couple of minutes.

Press the peanut butter filling into each muffin cup, then spoon the remaining dark chocolate over the top. You want to try and keep the tops to be flat, just like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, so you might need a little bit more than a teaspoon to fill out the tops. Place back into the freezer for a minute, while the chocolate hasn't quite set, sprinkle the tops with coarse pink salt, if desired.

As this recipe calls for natural peanut butter, I’d recommend storing these in the fridge if you don’t plan on serving them all within a couple of days, for real, they probably wont last that long! Enjoy