This Vegan Peanut Butter Cups Recipe creates a tasty treat just like the one you can buy in the store, but healthier! This Healthy Peanut Butter Cups recipe is dairy-free and low sugar and therefore can be enjoyed by vegans and people with dairy intolerances. Homemade Peanut Butter Cups are the best for that very reason! Enjoy each Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup recipe as a snack or dessert.
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I have a confession to make. I’m human. I know that might come as a shock to some of you, but it has to be said.
As a human, I have this thing for sweets. It’s part of our DNA, this craving for all things sweet. I like sweet nothings whispered in my ear, I stop for sweet smells of roses and lilacs, and I crave sweet things to eat. That’s why these Vegan PB Cups are rocking my world right now!
So what’s wrong with liking sweets, you may ask? As a vegan, being healthy is a priority too and I know there is evidence that proves too much of a sweet thing is not so sweet for our health.
However, I remind myself, as a vegan I am generally very healthy. I eat lots of fresh produce. I hardly go a day without spinach in some form or another. And our version of processed foods is usually the tortilla chips that we eat with our black bean and rice burritos.
How to Make Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
You may be asking yourself how to make peanut butter cups. If os, I want you to know it’s not all that hard. In fact, it’s so easy to make this healthy peanut butter cups recipe.
Step One: Peanut Butter Cup Filling
The first step in making these homemade peanut butter cups healthy is to create the creamy peanut butter filling without sugar! Combine creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar (I used Swerve powdered sugar!) and plant-based milk in a bowl and stir until combined.
You can use regular powdered sugar, but I love these Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cups thanks to Swerve Powdered Sugar. See nutritional information below for a comparison between the two.
Step Two: Melt the Chocolate
Combine chocolate with coconut oil in a skillet or microwave-safe bowl. Heat until the chocolate melts and stir until smooth.
Step Three: Make Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cups
Place paper molds in a mini muffin or candy tray. Drizzle melted chocolate into the bottom of each paper. Tip the pan this way and that to spread the chocolate across the bottom of the paper. Then refrigerate the whole tray for about 5 minutes so the chocolate will firm up.
Add a dollop of peanut butter on the top of the hardened chocolate. Use a spatula to flatten the peanut butter filling.
Drizzle more melted chocolate over the top and then use a spoon to spread it out across the top. Place the pan back in the fridge to allow the chocolate to set.My Amazon Picks
If you don’t have candy papers or the mini candy mold, you can do what I did and add strips of waxed paper to the candy pan compartments. That will help you remove the candy when it’s done, but you won’t get the crinkly lines in the homemade vegan peanut butter cups.
Are Reeses Vegan?
Unfortunately, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are not vegan. Even the dark chocolate Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are made with dairy. I hope Vegan Reese’s Cups are in the near future, but for now, these homemade Reese’s (aka DIY Vegan Peanut Butter Cups) will have to do.
Alternatively, you could ask Are Justins dark chocolate peanut butter cups vegan? You can buy Justin’s Mini Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups because, from what I can tell it’s a vegan product, Justin’s dark chocolate is dairy-free but it is processed in the same plant with milk products, so they don’t list it as dairy-free.
ngredients
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup sugar free powdered sugar (see note)
Chocolate Coating
- 1 1/2 cups sugar free chocolate chips (see note)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
- mini candy molds
- Place peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 20 – 30 seconds, until peanut butter is soft and stirrable. Add powdered sugar. Stir to combine. Refrigerate.
- Place 24 candy cup molds on a cookie sheet.
- Add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat until the chocolate is melted. Use a teaspoon and add a generous teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of each candy cup mold. Set aside the dish with any remaining chocolate to be used below.
- Tip each candy cup mold back and forth to allow the chocolate coating to go up the sides of each cup. Rotate the baking cup so you have nice coverage of the chocolate around the sides of the cup.
- Place the cookie sheet holding all 24 cups in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to let the chocolate harden.
- Once the chocolate is firm, portion out a generous teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and drop it in each of the 24 cups lined with chocolate. Wet the back of a spoon and use this to smooth out the peanut butter and flatten it. Return the tray back to the fridge for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add remaining chocolate chips (1/2 cup) to the chocolate bowl used in the step above. Add remaining (1/2 tablespoon) coconut oil. Heat in the microwave in 20-second increments, stirring in between until the chocolate is melted.
- Drizzle melted chocolate to each cup until all the peanut butter is covered. Use the back of a spoon to spread melted chocolate evenly across each cup. Once all the cups are topped with chocolate, return the tray to the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden.
- Store vegan chocolate peanut butter cups in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. If left out at room temperature, the chocolate will get soft.
Instructions
Notes
Use regular powdered sugar or sugar-free Swerve powdered sugar for reduced sugar and carbs.Use dairy-free chocolate chips or Lilly’s Stevia Sweetened Dark Chocolate Chips for reduced sugar and carbs (see nutritional analysis in post).
