With Halloween approaching and the rest of the holidays not far behind, sweets and treats are going to be just about everywhere, tempting us at every turn. While I don’t see anything wrong with the occasional indulgence, I still also maintain my concerns about the quality of ingredients in most treats. From loads of refined sugar to, often times if store-bought, a lengthy list of fillers, thickeners, “natural flavors”, soy products and who knows what else. There’s just no reason for it, especially when you can make your own.
These Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Cups are ready in no time and you can customize the filling to your preferences. Choosing almond, cashew or peanut butter, or for nut allergies, simply swap in sunflower seed butter. We prefer super dark chocolate. Usually 85-90% around here, but if you’d rather use milk chocolate, that works, too! A sprinkle of sea salt on top is also our preference, smoke sea salt is even better if we have some.
Though you could easily become a neighborhood celebrity with these, sadly it’s not be acceptable to hand out homemade treats to Trick or Treaters, but, they are a perfect option for switching out some of the candy your kiddos bring home, they also make a great gift and a perfect treat for sharing at any holiday or special occasion. Or Mondays. These chocolates are guaranteed to make your Monday better, promise!
Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Cups
Ingredients
- 8 ounces high-quality dark chocolate, I prefer 85% dark. I like this brand
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- ½ cup chilled unsweetened, unsalted almond butter*
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, or raw honey
- 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds, you can just grind whole chia seeds in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet
- pinch fine grain sea salt
- flaked sea salt for on top, optional
Instructions
- Line a mini muffin tin with mini muffin cups.
- In a small bowl add almond butter, ground chia seeds, the maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Stir until well combined and place to the side.
- Chop or break the chocolate into pieces and melt it in a double boiler (or place it in a bowl and microwave at 10 second intervals stirring in between each interval until melted.) Remove from the heat and stir the melted coconut oil into the melted chocolate. Mix well.
- Drizzle about a teaspoon or so of melted chocolate into mini muffin cups then carefully use a spoon to paint the chocolate up the sides, You can also carefully and slowly rotate the cups to line the sides with the melted chocolate.
- Once all of the mini muffin cups are filled and lined, place the tray into the fridge to let the chocolate set, about 5-10 minutes.
- Roll the almond butter mixture into 12 equal sized balls. Place each into the center of the molds and press down slightly.
- Drizzle the remaining melted dark chocolate over almond butter filled molds, with just enough chocolate to cover completely.
- Place in the fridge until hard. (at least 20 minutes). Once set, sprinkle the flaked sea salt over each finished chocolate, if you'd like.
Notes
Option to make your own chocolate: start with 1/2 cup coconut oil and melt over a medium-low heat, and whisk in 1/2 cup raw cacao or cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup. Stir until well blended and use in place of the melted chocolate as above (not adding the additional coconut oil).
2 Responses
the first ingredient (the chocolate) of this recipe is not dairy free or vegan
So strange, I am not sure why the ingredient listing on Amazon says that it contains dairy. It doesn’t. The 85% dark chocolate’s ingredients are the following: ORGANIC CHOCOLATE, ORGANIC COCOA BUTTER, ORGANIC COCOA, ORGANIC RAW CANE SUGAR, ORGANIC VANILLA EXTRACT.
So it IS dairy-free and vegan, however I believe that due to the fact that they are made in a facility that processes dairy, they may not be able to legally say that it’s vegan, due to possible cross contamination, but the chocolate itself IS vegan AND dairy-free.
Here is the product listing on the company’s website: http://us.greenandblacks.com/our-products/king-bars/dark?p=0865610041#first