Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Cups

The first time I made these were for Christmas and they were such a hit. I used natural almond butter with flaxseeds for my filling. The second time I made them, I got a little bit more creative by making two kinds of cup: one with honey roasted peanut butter, and one with homemade cashew butter (raw cashews and honey processed into a food processor). I also added a cookie into each cup. The alternate dark chocolate and nut butter cookie cup recipe can be found beneath the classic dark chocolate nut butter cup recipe below:



Makes 12-14 mini cups, or 6 full-sized cups

8oz. Dark Chocolate (I like to use 60% cacao or higher)
Muffin/Cupcake Liners

1/2 C. any Nut Butter
2 Tbsp. Honey
~1 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp. Salt

Optional:
Sprinkle the tops of cups with rough sea salt, shredded coconut, crushed nuts, citrus zest or any other topping before placing in the fridge to harden


Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler over low-medium heat. Use a hand whisk to stir smooth. Once chocolate is almost all melted, turn heat to low or off.


Combine nut butter with honey, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt. You may need to add a small amount more of powdered sugar to get the proper consistency so that the cup filling can be molded into a ball and hold shape.


Homemade cashew butter (raw cashews processed in a food processor for 10-15 minutes, honey)(top); honey roasted peanut butter filling (honey roasted peanuts, powdered sugar)
Line mini muffin tins, or full-sized tins with muffin/cupcake liners. Spoon in a tsp of the melted chocolate into the bottom of each liner and roll around melted chocolate so that it coats the bottom. Scoop a tsp of nut butter filling and roll into a ball and then flatten into a thicker coin shape. Place into cup and cover with about a ~tsp. of the melted chocolate. You may need to add a little more to cover the nut butter, but I find that if you flatten the filling enough, then this won’t be a problem. Place tins in fridge to harden completely before serving.

Alternate Version With Cookies

12 oz. Dark Chocolate
Small Cookies about the size of a quarter—cookies can be broken into pieces if they are larger, or is making mini cups

The cookies that I used was a 'double dark chocolate chip', and 'orange dark chocolate chips' by Newman's Own.  The vegan dark chocolate that I used was Enjoy Life Mega Chunks, but I feel like it did not melt as smoothly as some other brands.  My favorite that I have used so far was a 60% Ghirardelli bar.

Follow all the same prep procedures above for melting the chocolate and making the filling.

After lining the tins, add a tsp of melted chocolate to the liners and roll around melted chocolate so that it coats the bottom. Scoop a tsp of nut butter filling and roll into a ball and then flatten into a thicker coin shape and press onto the top of a cookie. Place cookie with nut butter into cup and cover with about a ~tsp. of the melted chocolate. You may need to add a little more to cover the nut butter. Place tins in fridge to harden completely before serving.


The final products were:
Double Dark Chocolate Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cup w/Sea Salt
Double Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter Cup w/Sea Salt
Dark Chocolate Orange Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cup w/Coconut
Dark Chocolate Orange Cashew Butter Cup w/Coconut