5 Ingredient Healthier Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

5 from 19 votes
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These super simple, 5-ingredient healthier vegan chocolate peanut butter cups are refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and absolutely delicious for any sweet and savory cravings!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

Homemade peanut butter cups are such a guilty pleasure of mine, and luckily when making them from home I can control all the ingredients in order to create wonderful refined sugar-free treats that are also 100% vegan. Plus, with only 5 ingredients and less than half an hour of your time (or slightly longer depending on how long they take cooling), you can whip up a batch of these Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups throughout the week.

6 Ingredient Healthier Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

What I love about these homemade goodies is that I can be in control of how creamy the peanut butter center is. You’ll find when blending the nuts that the longer you blend, the runnier the peanut butter so you can decide what type of filling you want for your batch. I personally love to have them quite runny so it’s like a juicy, salty peanut butter explosion in the mouth. Yummy!

Plus, if you’re in the mood for any of my other homemade sweet treats then check out my recipe for homemade Snickers, Homemade Bounty, Chocolate chip cookie cups or even healthy stuffed dates with almond butter and chocolate.

peeled peanuts in a bowl

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Recipe for the Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

For the homemade 2-ingredient peanut butter

a bowl with unshelled peanuts
  • Peanuts and salt

For the refined sugar-free chocolate ‘cups’:

Ingredients for chocolate peanut butter cups
  • Raw cacao powder, cacao butter
  • Maple syrup, salt

Here is the method for these chocolate cups

Making the peanut butter

I like to use full peanuts, so I first have to remove the shells. Then they are ready to roast.

a bowl of peanuts

Roast the peanuts in the oven at 160ºC (fan assisted) for 7-10 minutes. The longer you roast them, the deeper the colour of the peanut butter. I myself like the flavour more toasted, so I roasted them for 10 minutes.

As soon as the peanuts come out of the oven, carefully peel them. The skin should just come off easily when you scrunch them in your hands or with a towel. I then used a hairdryer to remove all the skins (although be warned, this can be messy! )

Put the peanuts and a pinch of salt in a high-power food processor or blender and blitz them until you obtain a smooth butter. The longer you blend it, the runnier the peanut butter becomes. Store in a glass container.

Making the chocolate cups for the Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Use a double boiler to melt the cacao butter on low heat. Then add the maple syrup and salt and stir well.

Sift the cacao powder into the liquid ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. This is how you make the perfect homemade melted dark chocolate. 

Carefully pour about a teaspoon of chocolate into the molds and tilt on all sides to make sure they are well covered. Mini muffin tins or mini muffin cups are the perfect size for these peanut butter cups.

coating mini muffin moulds with melted chocolate

As soon as you’ve covered the molds with the melted chocolate, put them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. The chocolate will harden quickly.

frozen chocolate inside muffin moulds

Note: If the chocolate coating is too thin, you can add a second layer and put the molds back in the freezer otherwise the vegan chocolate Peanut Butter Cups won’t be strong enough when biting into them and will ‘explode’.

Add some peanut butter to the middle of each chocolate cup. You can put the molds back in the freezer but this step is not necessary as long as your peanut butter isn’t too runny.

Finally, cover the peanut butter layer with more chocolate so that you create completely coated cups. Put back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Healthy peanut butter cups covered with melted chocolate

These vegan chocolate peanut butter cups are ready. Remove the molds and enjoy them right away or store them in the fridge.

holding 1 chocolate peanut butter cup

Customizing the Peanut Butter Cups

These peanut butter cups can be a great addition to any festivity or make for a fun gift as well. It’s so easy to customize them and make them look like little reindeer for the Holiday Season. 

Holiday Reindeer - Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

To make the reindeer cups, all you need to add is some pretzels for the antlers, some redcurrant for noses and edible eyes. Alternatively, for the eyes and nose, you can use small colourful button-shaped chocolates.

Holiday Reindeer - Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

You will need to carefully break the pretzels in two so they resemble antlers. You can, of course, use them whole for an even more fun look. Also, you can just melt some dark chocolate over a double-boiler, instead of making it with the cacao butter and raw cacao powder.

The first step is the same – fill the molds with melted chocolate and put them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Then add the peanut butter and coat it with more chocolate. As soon as you do this, arrange the nose, eyes, and antlers to make a reindeer face. Then quickly put them in the fridge to set. 

Steps to making Reindeer Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Your festive reindeer chocolate peanut butter cups are now ready to enjoy!

Holiday Reindeer - Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

If you have any questions, leave a comment below Also, I love seeing your recreations so feel free to tag me on Instagram @AlphaFoodie.

Healthier Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

5 from 19 votes
By: Samira
These super simple, 5 ingredient healthier vegan chocolate peanut butter cups are refined sugar-free, dairy-free and absolutely delicious for any sweet and savoury cravings!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12 cups

Ingredients 
 

For the peanut butter (optional):

  • 2 cups peanuts
  • pinch salt

For the chocolate 'cups':

  • 1 cup raw cacao powder
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup cacao butter melted
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions 

Making the peanut butter (optional):

  • I like to use full peanuts, so I first have to remove the shells. Then they are ready to roast.
  • Roast the peanuts in the oven at 160ºC (fan assisted) for 7-10 minutes. The longer you roast them, the deeper the color of the peanut butter. I myself like the flavor more toasted, so I roasted them for 10 minutes.
  • As soon as the peanuts come out of the oven, carefully peel them. The skin should just come off easily when you scrunch them in your hands or with a towel. I then used a hairdryer to remove all the skins (although, be warned, this can be messy! )
  • Put the peanuts and a pinch of salt in a high-power food processor or blender and blitz them until you obtain a smooth butter. The longer you blend it, the runnier the peanut butter becomes. Store in a glass container.

Making the chocolate cups:

  • Use a double boiler to melt the cacao butter on low heat. Then add the maple syrup and salt and stir well.
  • Sift the cacao powder into the liquid ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
  • Carefully pour some melted chocolate in the molds and tilt on all sides to make sure they are well covered. Put the molds in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. The chocolate will harden quickly.
  • Note: If the chocolate coating is too thin, you can add a second layer and put the molds back in the freezer otherwise the vegan chocolate Peanut Butter Cups won't be strong enough when biting into them and will 'explode'.
  • Add some peanut butter to the middle of each chocolate cup. You can put the molds back in the freezer but this step is not necessary as long as your peanut butter isn't too runny.
  • Finally, cover the peanut butter with more chocolate so that you create completely coated cups. Put back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
  • These vegan chocolate peanut butter cups are ready. Remove the molds and enjoy them right away or store them in the fridge.

Video

Notes

These peanut butter cups can be a great addition to any festivity or make for a fun gift as well. It’s so easy to customize them and make them look like little reindeer for the Holiday Season. To make the reindeer cups, all you need to add is some pretzels for the antlers, some redcurrant for noses, and edible eyes.  Alternatively, for the eyes and nose, you can use small colorful button-shaped chocolates.
 
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Freezer friendly: 6 Months
Shelf life: 1 Week

Nutrition

Serving: 1Cup, Calories: 155kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 20mg, Sodium: 155mg, Potassium: 181mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 236IU, Calcium: 25mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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