Say hello to 5-ingredient healthy peanut butter cups. Think rich and luscious peanut butter filling encased in silky dark chocolate. Sounds like heaven right?
Not only are these vegan peanut butter cups insanely delicious, they’re also easy to make, require little to no effort, and make the best healthy post-dinner treat or snack.
But wait, it gets even better if you can believe. Unlike most recipes, this peanut butter cup recipe uses no sugar. Yep, these are refined sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan and super easy!
Healthy Peanut Butter Cups Ingredients
This vegan peanut butter cup recipe needs just 5 ingredients…so no excuses not to make these! I’ve also included a few subtitusiona and brand recommendations for some of the ingredients in case you’re interested.
- Peanut Butter: Obviously you’ll need peanut butter to make these. If you’re allergic to peanuts or just don’t eat them (like me), Sunflower butter is a great substitute. It tastes almost identical to peanut butter. I love the brand SunButter for a good quality unsweetened sunflower butter.
- Dark Chocolate: Duh! Highly recommend using Hu Chocolate, as it’s refined sugar-free and great quality. I’ll link the Hu Gems I used here — use code munching for a discount + free shipping.
- Honey: If you’re fully vegan, feel free to either use maple syrup or date syrup instead. However, I love the taste and flavor the honey adds to the filling.
- Salt: This is non-negotiable. Add the salt!
- Vanilla: Totally optional to use this, but I like the added depth of flavor it gives to the peanut butter filling.
Tips and Tricks for Perfect Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
While this recipe couldn’t be easier to make, there are a few factors that make the process that much smoother.
- Use a piping bag or plastic bag to add in the peanut filling. I prefer the plastic bag method as it’s most likely what you’ll have on hand in your kitchen. Simply dollop the peanut butter filling into the plastic bag so that it goes into the bottom right or left-hand corner of the bag. Twist up the top zipper portion of the bag to make a funnel with the filling. Cut off the tip of the bag where the filling should come out — try not to make the opening too big! And that’s all there is to it, pipe away.
- Prep the muffins tin with liners ahead of time. Once the chocolate is melted and you have your filling, you want to move fast to just fill and coat each muffin liner. Having to line the muffin tin as a go will become one big messy disaster.
- Make space in your freezer ahead of making these, will ensure the process of letting the peanut butter cups set is that much smoother.
- Store the peanut butter cups in the fridge, specifically if where you’re living is super hot. Since the chocolate isn’t tempered, these will start to melt after 10-15 minutes in a hot room. So just be sure to store them in either the fridge or freezer.
Are These Peanut Butter Cups Actually Healthy?
Absolutely! These couldn’t be any healthier or better than Reese’s cups. Just for fun, let’s compare ingredients and nutrition!
Ingredients
Reese’s Cups have Milk Chocolate [Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Non-Fat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, Lecithin (Soy), PGPR, Emulsifier], Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Partially Defatted Peanuts, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil [Palm Kernel Oil, Soybean Oil], Contains 2% of Less of: Corn Syrup, Contains 2% of Less of: Salt, Contains 2% of Less of: Palm Kernel Oil, Contains 2% of Less of: Artificial Color (Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Blue 1 Lake), Contains 2% of Less of: Confectioner’s Glaze, Contains 2% of Less of: Lecithin (Soy), Contains 2% of Less of: Modified Corn Starch, Contains 2% of Less of: TBHQ and Citric Acid, Contains 2% of Less of: To Maintain Freshness, Contains 2% of Less of: Carnauba Wax, Contains 2% of Less of: Vanillin, Contains 2% of Less of: Artificial Flavor.
On the flip side, these dark chocolate peanut butter cups that use just five wholesome ingredients. Like Organic Peanut Butter, Honey and refined sugar-free Chocolate.
Nutrition
Overall, the homemade has infinitely less amounts of sugar and sodium not to mention saturated fats as well. Just think, the homemade peanut butter cups have 64% less sugar and 38% less sodium!
Reese’s Cups: 220 calories, 13g Fat, 150mg Sodium, 22g Carbs, 22g Sugar, 5g Protein.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups: 125 calories, 8g Fat, 93mg Sodium, 11g Carbs, 8g Sugar, 3g Protein.
More Healthy Desserts
Made This Recipe?
Please leave a review below and don’t forget to snap and picture and tag me on Instagram or TikTok at @munchingwithmariyah — I love seeing your photos!
The Best Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: Dessert, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
Say hello to 5-ingredient healthy peanut butter cups. Think rich and luscious peanut butter filling encased in silky dark chocolate. Sounds like heaven right?
Ingredients
- 1 cup Hu Gems or any refined sugar-free Dark Chocolate ((linking the gems here))
- ½ cup Peanut Butter ((sub with Sunflower butter if allergic))
- ⅓ cup Honey ((can sub with date syrup or maple syrup))
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Begin by lining a muffins pan with paper muffins liners. I recommend using a mini muffin pan, that way the peanut butter cups are giant.
- Next, add the chocolate into a bowl and microwave it into 30 second bouts until melted. Alternatively you can melt it in a double boiler over the stove. Once melted, set the chocolate aside.
- In a bowl, add in the remaining ingredients — peanut butter, honey, vanilla and salt. Whisk well.
- Next, add the filling into a piping bag (this will make it easy to fill each peanut butter cup). I prefer the plastic bag method as it’s most likely what you’ll have on hand in your kitchen. Simply dollop the peanut butter filling into the plastic bag so that it goes into the bottom right or left-hand corner of the bag. Twist up the top zipper portion of the bag to make a funnel with the filling. Cut off the tip of the bag where the filling should come out — try not to make the opening too big! And that’s all there is to it, pipe away. Alternatively, you can just dollop in the peanut filling with a spoon.
- Pour about 1 tbsp worth of melted chocolate into one of the muffin liners. Pipe about 2 tsp worth of the peanut butter filling mixture in the center. You will need to smooth out the filling so it's not sticking straight up. Finally, cover the filling with another tablespoon of melted chocolate. Repeat this process until all the filling and chocolate is gone.
- Pop the muffin tin in the freezer and let the peanut butter cups chill and set for about 20 minutes. Enjoy!
- Please note that these should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, otherwise the chocolate will melt if stored at room temp.
Notes
Nutrition Facts | 1 Peanut Butter Cup
125 calories, 8g Fat, 93mg Sodium, 11g Carbs, 8g Sugar, 3g Protein.
Leave a Reply