Homemade peanut butter cups made with simple, whole ingredients are the reason why I know that goodness still exists in the world. This recipe is perfection.
Can we all just agree that peanut butter and chocolate are the ultimate OTP? (That’s a bit of young-people slang for you. For the record, I’m 35 and am only 35% sure I used it correctly.)
Speaking of my very limited knowledge of pop culture – there are oh-so-many things I loved about the TV series “Parks & Rec”, not least of which was Donna and Tom’s annual Treat Yo’ Self day. They would spend an entire day devoted to indulging themselves with all sorts of lavish luxuries and treats.
The characters took it to a ridiculous (hilarious) level, and I’m not saying I want to emulate the fine details, but the over-arching message of indulgence is the same: if you practice moderation and restriction 99% of the time, it’s totally okay (heck, even encouraged!) to indulge once in a while.
Why? Because you’re awesome, and you deserve to treat yourself with the best and most natural ingredients that won’t wreck your healthy lifestyle, but are also indulgently delicious.
Now that we’ve established that… I’ll just add one teeny-tiny little detail. My definition of “treat” has shifted over the years. No longer do I eye a Reese’s peanut butter cup and salivate. (They taste chalky, weird, and artificial to me.)
Instead, I look at things like this homemade peanut butter cups recipe and mmmm, I can almost taste them. My mouth starts watering and I can practically taste the perfect honey and peanut buttery flavour mingled with the real dark chocolate melting in my mouth. *happy sigh*
Real ingredients I can pronounce (and find in my kitchen) combined into mouthwatering combos like this: now that’s the definition of treat yo’ self.
I don’t believe that being healthy should equal being miserable, and if it does for you, then my friend – you’re doing it wrong. (And you need to make these PB cups immediately – that’ll fix it.)
By the way – yes I did make some of these babies and then hide them in the freezer to eat after my kids are sleeping. I let them eat one each first because I’m gunning for mom-of-the-year. It’s looking dubious but hey, worth a shot eh? Homemade peanut butter cups are highly effective bribery. 
P.S. If you don’t like chocolate and peanut butter together, I’ll obviously question the life choices that led you to this point, however you might want to try my No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Macaroons stat so that you can treat yo’ self too.
A note for Paleo friends: there’s great debate in the Paleo world about whether or not peanuts are allowable on a Paleo diet, but this article from Mark Sisson dives deep into the facts and concludes that a moderate amount of peanuts is probably perfectly fine. Of course, you can always stick with all almond butter in the recipe if you prefer.
Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Paleo Option, Naturally-Sweetened)
These homemade peanut butter cups recipe is perfect for treating yourself to something decadent with real, whole food ingredients that compromise neither health nor indulgence!
for the chocolate part
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1 tablespoon butter*
for the peanut butter filling
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon butter*
- Melt and stir all chocolate ingredients together over low heat.
- In a separate pot, mix and stir all peanut butter filling ingredients together over low heat.
- Prepare a muffin tin with muffin papers. I used mini muffin papers. (It made just over a dozen).
- Pour some chocolate into each cup – less than half full.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Spoon some peanut butter mixture on top of each frozen chocolate cup. Smooth it down to get into the cracks of the muffin paper so that it looks pretty. If you care about that sorta thing.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Pour more chocolate on top of each cup to finish off.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- 10. Once they are nice and firm, go ahead and store them in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer. They’ll stay fresh longer than it’ll take you to eat them! Enjoy!
To make these Paleo, just use coconut oil instead of butter, and all almond butter instead of peanut butter.
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