By KRISTY CHONG

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

This recipe is the perfect dish to serve after dinner or to have as a sweet after-school snack. It is easy to prep, make and store!

If you don’t already know, I am peanut butter obsessed. Actually any nut butter OBSESSED. So don’t be surprised if you find a bunch of recipes here that require globs of it. I currently house five different kinds of nut butter in our pantry … No, I will never admit to having a peanut butter problem.

And in case you haven’t noticed already, these cups are peanut butter on the outside and chocolate filling on the inside. So I really call these inside-out peanut butter cups.

I will admit, during quarantine, my peanut butter obsession has gotten a little extreme. Not that I’m opposed to consuming a jar a week, but I decided to try something new for this recipe.

These peanut butter cups are made with powdered peanut butter and coconut oil, which lightens them up without losing any of the rich full nutty flavor you get from the jar. Powdered peanut butter contains 90 percent less fat and 70 percent less calories. You can read all about its benefits on the PB2 facts page. You can also purchase your own jar of PB2 on Amazon, where I get mine!

How to Make Healthy Peanut Butter Cups:

Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside. This recipe makes six cups, so if you have a six-cup muffin tin I’d recommend using it so you aren’t taking up so much freezer/fridge space later on!

Mix your powdered peanut butter and melted coconut oil together until a paste forms. You want the consistency to be a little runnier than scoop-able peanut butter – kind of like the consistency of molasses.

Next, microwave your chocolate chips in 20-second intervals until completely smooth. Make sure you stir every 20 seconds (even if they don’t look like they can be stirred) to keep the chocolate from burning.

Start by filling each cup with two tablespoons of peanut butter mixture, then one tablespoon of chocolate. And then one tablespoon of peanut butter mixture to top it off.

For the chocolate filling I love using Lily’s dark chocolate chips. Feel free to swirl your top layer with a toothpick or fork to create a fun look. Top with flaked sea salt.

Repeat for all six cupcake tins and freeze for 15 minutes. You can either refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes.

Store in the fridge for up to four weeks or freeze for up to six months. I love to snack on these peanut butter cups as a frozen treat, so I tend to freeze them. Enjoy!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cups Recipe:

Ingredients:

• • 1 cup powdered peanut butter
  • ¾ cup water
  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips i used Lily’s dark chocolate chips for this recipe
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil optional for heating chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp flaked sea salt optional for sprinkling on top of cups

Instructions:

• 1. Mix together powdered peanut butter, water, melted coconut oil and maple syrup.until completely smooth. The mixture should be thick,but pourable, like molasses. Add more water as needed, if this mixture is too thick.
  2. Scoop two tablespoons of peanut butter mixture into each cupcake liner and smooth out.
  3. Heat chocolate chips and coconut oil in a separate bowl and microwave in 20 second intervals until chips are melted. Make sure you stir in-between intervals or else the chips will burn!
  4. Fill each cup with one tablespoon of chocolate in the center of each cup.
  5. Scoop the second peanut butter layer on top of the chocolate and smooth or swirl the tops to flatten.
  6. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt (optional) and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for 20 until hardened. Enjoy!

Notes:

.Sweeteners: I like to add pure maple syrup or honey to these because I find the powdered peanut butter can be bland without it. Feel free to omit this if you don’t want these to be sweet.

Also feel free to use any kind of chocolate chips for the center filling. White chocolate, cinnamon chips, milk chocolate, semisweet will all work great in these and have the same microwave melting instructions.

KRISTY CHONG is a self-taught home baker and cook with a background in documentary photography. She currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where she works out of her home studio creating food, developing recipes and styling photo shoots. Her recipes are inspired by her travels as well as culinary traditions brought on by friends and family. Her culinary mantra is to make recipes that inspire confidence in the kitchen and to make foods that are mostly nutritious, but always delicious. You can check out more of her recipes on her blog or on her Instagram page.

…Oct. 12, 2020