Dark Chocolate Cups with Nut Butter Filling and How NOT to Mess Them Up

Sometimes, just sometimes, things don’t materialize like I plan them. It happens in every area of life, you know?

Like getting braces practically the first time I walk into a dentist office.

Or watching the garden burn up from withering hot temperatures of 113 with no sun-ripened, picked-right-off-the-vine, heirloom tomatoes in sight.

Or turning 30 so soon!

Or making imitation Reese’s cups that don’t turn out. That one really gets me.

Somehow we get carried along as “life goes on” and one unplanned thing after another rises off the pages of our carefully written script morphing into something we never imagined. As annoying as these little (or sometimes huge!) edits can be, I know that they will make the story better – more readable. In the end, when the last page is turned and the cover softly closes, we will see why it all happened like it did, and how the tweaks and turns are what made the story one that just couldn’t be put down until it was over.

In other words, I trust the Editor. It doesn’t always make sense – in fact, it rarely makes sense, but I know the One Who really authors my life knows what He is doing. I’ll leave the pen with Him…

…and keep making messes in the kitchen.

So, I don’t know about you, but I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Well, I used to. That was before my taste buds started changing and milk chocolate started tasting like chocolate milk, or milk with sugar, or something like that.  A couple weeks ago a friend of mine turned me on to making my own chocolate nut butter treats using healthful ingredients. Rich dark chocolate, coconut oil, peanut butter and honey – that’s about it!

The first batch I made turned out great using a mixture of honey and maple syrup to sweeten. Unfortunately I wasn’t prepared to blog about it, so I made another batch about a week later. This time I used maple butter and honey for sweetener and butter instead of coconut oil. If you like gooey, caramel-y treats follow this route, but this wasn’t the result I wanted.

Nix that (well, eat that!) and try again! My Dad had mentioned trying an almond filling, so that was my next test.

“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best…” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.

I decided to use just honey to sweeten and I knew immediately something wasn’t right with the chocolate. If it hardened it’d be okay though…

The filling was 3 heaping T. almond butter, 1 T. coconut oil, 2 T. honey and 1 t. vanilla. Pour a heaping teaspoon of chocolate into foil or paper muffin liners (foil holds it’s shape best). Dollop a teaspoon of almond filling in the middle.

Drizzle with remaining chocolate and freeze.

Something was not right.

The chocolate was too soft. Not gooey, but not what I wanted either. And it made a mess on the wrapper!

Definitely not good.

Back to the drawing table, so to speak.

Chocolate  –

2 heaping T. coconut oil

6 heaping T. cocoa powder

1/3 c. maple syrup

Yes, this was it.

This time for the filling I used plain peanut butter as the almond butter was too mildly flavored in my opinion. You can add coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla for more flavor, but I liked the sweet/salty combo of the peanut butter all by itself.

Now we’re talkin’!

I tried one more batch using butter instead of coconut oil. It worked fine, but the coconut oil is my favorite. I love how it melts in your mouth.

Besides, coconut oil is my “bestest” friend right now. I don’t know why one’s lips get so dry with braces, but there’s nothing like your upper lip sitting on top of a shelf of metal because it’s too dry to slide over it. Was that too much information? Sorry!

Yes, I got my braces on yesterday and so far it hasn’t been too bad. Should I be worried that it’s not as painful as the spacers? And I can chew real food – though I have to be very careful that I don’t bite wrong. My front teeth are very sensitive.

Here’s the end results recipe – if you haven’t had enough about chocolate and peanut butter already!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate  –

2 heaping T. coconut oil

6 heaping T. cocoa powder

1/3 c. maple syrup

Filling –

plain natural peanut butter or

3 heaping T. peanut butter, or almond butter

1 T. coconut oil

1-2 T. maple syrup or honey (honey works fine in the filling part)

1 t. vanilla

Combine chocolate ingredients in sauce pan and warm just until melted and combined. Spoon a good teaspoon of chocolate sauce into 15 muffin liners. Place in freezer and chill 5 minutes while you combine the ingredients for the filling.

Remove from freezer and place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of chocolate base. Flatten a bit with the spoon and drizzle on remaining chocolate (about a teaspoon each). Freeze until hardened – about 20 minutes.

20 thoughts on “Dark Chocolate Cups with Nut Butter Filling and How NOT to Mess Them Up

  1. Wow! This recipe looks wonderful….. Definitely going to try these when I get back to a kitchen. I know a couple of my family members who would love the almond filling!

  2. I got lost in all these beautiful photos of chocolate and peanut butter…yum! But something you wrote really stood out to me and I’m quoting it…
    “In other words, I trust the Editor. It doesn’t always make sense – in fact, it rarely makes sense, but I know the One Who really authors my life knows what He is doing. I’ll leave the pen with Him…” Love that, Sarah!
    And I love the dainty little chocolate treats filling the freezer. Well done!

  3. One of my most favorite posts yet! The peanut butter cups look excellent and the first part reminded me of 1 Cor. 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”. Sometimes I get really antsy to be on the other side of that glass.

    • I hear you, Sister! Sometimes it hurts deep down to not be over there already, you know? It always amazes me how much we can miss something we’ve never experienced. It’s almost like we’ve been there before…and that sounds really weird probably, cause we haven’t, but sometimes I feel it anyway. :D Thanks for commenting, Grace!

  4. Those look soo good, Sarah! You’ve inspired me, I want to try this now. :)
    And hey, congrats on getting braces! Haha…I totally know what you’re feeling. You sort of get used to the dry lips after a while. And just for the record, spacers are THE WORST PART. Hands down.

    • Thanks for the encouragement, Joanna! That makes me feel better. :D You know, the bummer about the spacers is that they didn’t do what they were supposed to do (I think they put them in too early) so they had to shave off part of my teeth to fit the bracket on. I’m sitting here thinkin’ “All the pain, and no gain”. Sometimes those sayings drive me nuts. :P
      Thanks for stopping by!

      • Ugh! That’s a bummer. :( I cringe at the thought of having teeth shaved down. I have some of the hardest times trying to figure out if my orthodontist made a mistake or if it just feels wrong on purpose. I’ll bet there’s a good lesson in there somewhere… ;)

  5. I laughed and cried reading this. Really.

    Love those peanut butter cups. I can just see them sitting on that cookie sheet in the freezer at home right now. MmmmMMM!!!

    Love your bit about The Editor. Glad it doesn’t have to make sense for me to be able to believe. SO happy to “leave the pen with Him”.

    LOVE the Pooh quote, of course.

    Love YOU!

    • Thanks, Sage! Isn’t that Pooh quote great?! And it’s so true. Now if I can just learn to stop at the point of enjoyment before the bite I’ll never be disappointed! :P

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