Low sugar chocolate peanut butter cups are totally something you can do on your own! You'll be so happy you did!
Home hacks for popular sweets are kind of a fun thing to pull off in the kitchen. And the best part? You can adapt the ingredients to what you have on hand or what you prefer. These peanut butter cups are low in sugar and easy to pull off because at the end of the day, it's just a few basic ingredients, really. It's the mass production of such treats, however, that makes them less than stellar for us, in the long run—and not necessarily the consumption of peanut butter and chocolate together, ya know?
Low Sugar Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Ingredients
• 9 ounces dark chocolate (72% cacao), finely chopped
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons smooth, natural peanut butter*
• Cacao nibs, to garnish
How to Make Low Sugar Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or spray them with nonstick spray, for starters. Then, you melt the dark chocolate, unsweetened chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler. What's that all about? A double boiler is basically a saucepan with a bit of boiling water, and you nestle a heat-safe bowl over the circumference of the saucepan with the ingredients in it. Everything melts together gently over controlled heat, rather than in a saucepan itself or in the microwave, which isn't the best for combining ingredients like this and melting evenly.
Once you've done that, pour some of the melty chocolate into the muffin cups and refrigerate until it's set. Then, you top it with some peanut butter, and add more chocolate as the final layer. Sprinkle with cacao nibs if desired. Refrigerate again, until everything has set.
How to Store Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
These keep best in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to a week. You can also freeze them in a similar container for up to 3 months. Freezing some right off the bat will guarantee you have what we like to refer to as "emergency chocolate" on hand. Future you will be so happy! Just make sure they're wrapped tightly if you do freeze them so they don't get freezer burned.
We've also pictured these peanut butter cups as a meal prep, too, if you want. Pack them up with some of your favorite snacky fruits and veggies and a handful of unsalted raw nuts. (Apples are especially good with both chocolate and peanut butter.)
Substitutions and Alterations
- Peanut butter and chocolate are a classic combo, but feel free to use cashew or almond butter, or a seed butter.
- Sprinkle the top with some unsweetened shredded coconut on a few or all of these cups.
- Skip the cacao nibs if you can't find them or don't like them (they can be a bit bitter), or use a small amount of mini chocolate chips.
- To make it a little fancy, use a nice flaky sea salt on top.
- Add some chopped peanuts to the top in addition to the cacao nibs. Or, if you use cashew or almond butter instead, use chopped versions of those nuts. It adds some extra flavor and a nice crunch on top.
- A smidge of vanilla extract (about ½ teaspoon or less) is never a bad idea when working with chocolate. Add it with the other ingredients when you melt the chocolate. Other extracts to play with include coffee or chocolate extract. (Yes, those things exist!)
- Chunky peanut butter is also ok, if you want some texture.
Tip!
We recommend that you only use natural peanut butter that contains peanuts and salt (or no salt, if desired). This will produce the best results.
READ MORE: If you like this recipe, you're going to love these peanut butter chocolate bars!
Or maybe these Protein Peanut Butter Energy Balls?
