Healthy Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Easy to make and nutritious to eat, these healthy homemade peanut butter cups will definitely help satisfy your sweet tooth!

Over the last few weeks, I have begun to notice just how much dessert I am eating. The sad part is, I didn’t even realize it.

At work we have a big jar of chocolate candy, at home I make cookies and when we go out I get ice cream.

I am doing this without a second thought.

I used to be more aware of what I was eating for dessert and make conscious choices whether I should have that second chocolate chip cookie or instead go for a healthier option like raspberries with chocolate chips inside or frozen greek yogurt with berries.

So, I have decided to make a promise to myself that I would start paying attention again to what I am eating for dessert.

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I do a pretty good job with making healthier choices for everything else but that dessert… what can I say, I have a sweet tooth?

One of the chocolate candies in those jars work are those delicious Reese’s Cups.

Now, who doesn’t love a good Reese’s Cup, you know what I mean?

However, have you read the ingredients?

I mean besides the milk chocolate, peanuts, and sugar… like, what does tert-Butylhydroquinone “TBHQ” mean?

Well, I did my research and TBHQ is also known as a preservative and extends the shelf life of a product.

According to the Centers for Science in the Public Interest, there was a study showing an increased rate of tumors in rats exposed to TBHQ and according to the National Library of Medicine,  there were studies that showed TBHQ caused paralysis, an enlargement of the liver, neurotoxic effects and more in lab animals.

Absolutely disgusting. 

Here’s the thing… Reese’s Cups are addicting, I get it. They are delicious.

I did not want to give up that chocolatey-peanut buttery goodness either.

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There just had to be another way.

So, I decided to create my own by using ingredients I knew weren’t harmful but still tasted pretty darn good. I came up with a quick and easy recipe that had only three ingredients and took about 20 minutes to make.

Let me tell you, these healthy homemade peanut butter cups are amazing!

Healthy Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

First, take your baker’s chocolate and melt it according to the directions.

Then put the chocolate in a ziplock bag. Cut off a corner and squeeze the chocolate to cover part of the cupcake liner.

You can just scoop the chocolate in but the ziplock made the process less messy.

It already looks delicious, doesn’t it?

Stick those babies in the fridge for a few minutes so the chocolate can harden.

While you wait, pick out which nut butter or seed butter you want to go into this recipe. 

Typically I would choose something like cashew butter or sunflower seed butter but sadly, I didn’t have either of those in my fridge so peanut butter had to do! 

I like to get my nut and seed butters from iHerb because I know iHerb offers amazing natural products! I’ve literally been ordering from them for years. 

You can read more about iHerb here and be sure to use my code CSW131 during checkout to get a percentage off of your order. 

YAY DISCOUNTS!

Keep in mind when you’re purchasing the nut or seed butter that there are no other ingredients added besides the nuts or seeds. No extra sugars, no palm oil, nothing.

Let’s keep this recipe on the healthier side, shall we?

After you add a little dollop of the butter onto the hardened chocolate, top the peanut butter with another layer of bakers chocolate.

Add a sprinkle of coarse sea salt or Himalayan salt for a little “sweet and salty” flavor. 

Did you know there are great benefits to sea salt?

For example, sea salt can help balance electrolytes, great for muscle cramps, reduce fluid retention (unlike white table salt), improves digestion, and more!

After you sprinkle your sea salt to the top of these, stick them back in the fridge.

After they fully harden in the fridge, you can go ahead and pop these babies out of their wrapper and enjoy! 

I recommend keeping leftovers (if there are any) in the fridge so the hardened chocolate and the peanut butter won’t melt. 

Why do I love this recipe so much?

1. There are only 3 ingredients (all of which I can pronounce and understand) whereas a standard Reese’s Cup has 7)
2. It took me 20 minutes to make these
3. I think these taste much better because they don’t have the “fake” sweetness taste
4. Rosie enjoys them (sorry Luna, you’re still too little) and boy does Rosie love her desserts!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!