Recipes using Balanced Bites spices Recipes using Balanced Bites spices

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER CUPS

nightshade-free
dairy-free
egg-free
gluten-free
  • Prep Time: 40 minutes + time to chill
  • Cook Time: less than 5 minutes
  • Servings: 2 dozen small or 1 dozen large almond butter cups

Peanut butter cups were a favorite of mine for many years. This updated version uses very little sweetener and more wholesome ingredients! This is just one of over 120 delicious and easy recipes in my new book, Practical Paleo

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil 
  • 1/4 C Coconut Cream Concentrate 
  • 1⁄2 Tsp Vanilla Extract 
  • 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup, divided (omit for 21DSD) 

  • 3 Tbsp Almond Meal (use homemade if you have it) 
  • 3
 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (unsweetened) 
  • Dash of Cinnamon 
  • 2
 Tbsp Raw Almond Butter 
  • Pinch of Celtic sea salt

You will also need:

  • a whisk 
  • mixing bowls 
  • a rubber spatula 
  • a plastic bag, one corner snipped off 
  • a mini muffin pan 
  • mini muffin paper liners

Instructions

Melt coconut oil over a low flame and whisk in half of the coconut cream, the vanilla extract and (optionally) 2 Tbsp of maple syrup. When that's blended together, whisk in the rest of the coconut cream. Once that's combined, whisk in almond meal, cocoa powder and cinnamon. Pour into a paper-lined mini muffin tin just enough to coat the bottom of each hole (this recipe made 9 for me but you can make them bigger or smaller). Place your tin in the fridge or freezer until that sets and is hard. 

While the first part of the cups are chilling, (optional) whisk the almond butter with 1 Tbsp of maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Then load in the almond butter into a plastic bag and snip the tip off of the end to make a homemade pastry bag. 

Remove the hardened chocolate from the fridge/freezer and proceed to pipe a small amount of almond butter into the center of each one. Be sure to allow an edge of chocolate to show all around the peanut butter so that the rest of the chocolate you pour in has more chocolate to bind with. 

Pour the remaining chocolate over each almond butter dollop until they're covered and place back in the fridge/freezer. I

 found these to be room-temperature stable but I live in San Francisco and if it's warmer than 70 in your house, it's best to keep them in the fridge.

Notes

You can make these without the almond butter and make a simplified, solid chocolate version.

Substitute walnut butter for almond butter for a different flavor.

You can also make these without cocoa powder for a coconut-vanilla almond butter cup recipe or add mint extract to coconut cream and use that as the filling instead of almond butter for a chocolate mint cup