Rich crisp dark chocolate with a smooth almond and hazelnut butter maca powder infused filling! Homemade chocolate doesn’t get much better!
It’s an expensive treat, a little time consuming though a hell of a lot less tedious than you might imagine and not all stressful. In fact making homemade chocolate, especially chocolate nut butter cups has become one of my favourite things to do.
It requires a little patience, waiting for the first layer and then the final case to firm up…
But peeling off that muffin liner is oh so satisfying. Seeing those crispy edges, knowing what lies inside.
The first bite, rich, intense, positively dreamy and so incredibly moreish! I’m a HUGE maca powder fan. I’m convinced it helps balance out my hormones, keep my skin clear, and I just can’t enough of it’s slightly sweet malty flavour.
I never really do a hell of a lot with it other than adding it to smoothies and sprinkling it on fresh fruit and yoghurt.
Well low and behold maca in chocolate makes for one awesome bite. Non detectable to those who aren’t familiar with its flavour, subtly adding goodness and deliciousness when you seek out it’s flavour in each bite.
I’ve made nut butter cups in the past but never posted them. I kind of felt like I was cheating with store bought peanut butter and dark chocolate straight from a wrapper. Each and every element of these wonders is homemade…I used my new favourite nut butter…roasted hazelnut and almond (recipe to come soon!)…but straight up almond butter would also be incredible be it store bought or homemade.
With Easter only around the corner (and my birthday the day after!), I’ll be whipping up another batch of these, possibly with the addition of some coarse salt on top because I’m a MASSIVE fan of the sweet and salty combination, especially when chocolate and nut butter are involved!
Gluten free, grain free, dairy free, low on sugar…these are vegan and paleo friendly and would make for a mighty homemade gift this Easter rather than picking up a standard chocolate egg made of chocolate you could have any day of the year; not that I’ll be holding back on making these again well before next year!
Ever made nut butter cups? What’s your favourite chocolate combination?
I’m quite the fan of minty chocolate myself!
Superfood Nut Butter Cups
by
Prep Time: 3 hours
Keywords: raw dessert snack gluten-free grain free paleo vegan almond butter cacao butter coconut oil maca powder
Ingredients (8 large nut butter cups)
Chocolate Shell
- 1/2 cup (110g) melted coconut oil
- 3 tbsp (42g) raw cacao butter
- 3/4 cup (90g) raw cacao powder
- 1/3 cup (80ml) raw honey (or use maple syrup to make vegan!)
- 2 tbsp maca powder
- 1/4 tsp fine grain Himalayan rock salt
Filling
- 1/3 cup (80g) all natural almond and hazelnut butter (I used homemade but plain all natural almond butter would be perfect, raw or roasted)
- 1/2 tbsp maca powder
- 1/2 tbsp raw honey/maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Place coconut oil and raw cacao butter in a jug. Place jug in to bowl large enough for the jug to sit flat and with sides high enough for the boiling water your about to pour in to come right the way up the sides – I used a large mixing bowl.
Allow the coconut oil and cacao butter to melt, whisking every now and then until fully melted.
Meanwhile mix together filling ingredients and place in the fridge to firm up a bit.
Whisk cacao powder, maca, honey/maple and salt into melted cacao butter and coconut oil until perfectly smooth.
Pour 1/3 of the chocolate in to 8 silicon muffin cases – have them sitting on a tray to make them easy to transfer to the fridge. Place in the fridge for 45 minutes to firm up.
Roll filling in to eight balls and flatten slightly between the palms of your hands.
Place a piece of filling in to each muffin case (once the chocolate is firm to the touch). Pour remaining chocolate into each silicon case ensuring nut butter filling is centered and covered in over the top. If chocolate has firmed up in the jug simply return the jug to a fresh bowl of boiling water to remelt it.
Return to the fridge for a further 45 minutes – 1 hour to firm up. Gently remove the liners and dig in! They can be stored in the liners in the fridge until ready to eat.
Store in a seal tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
{ 1 comment }
