What if I told you that you could make HOMEMADE HEALTHY PEANUT BUTTER CUPS with only 4 ingredients? 5 if you count salt.
You’d jump for joy, right?
But then, what if I told you that these healthy peanut butter cups were not only easy but also low carb, low sugar, vegan, and gluten-free?
You’d love me forever and ever, right?
Or maybe you’re like me, and the most exciting thing about these healthy peanut butter cups is the fact that you can whip them up in 15 minutes and they replace your favorite Halloween candy (Reese’s peanut butter cups).
Basically, all I’m saying is that you need to make them ASAP. They’re in our fridge or freezer constantly (just store them in ziploc bags) and they’re a more nutritious alternative to regular candy bars. In fact, Tony I prefer these over Reese’s.
Everything you’ll need to make healthy peanut butter cups
You’ll only need four (yes, 4!) ingredients to make these easy homemade peanut butter cups. They’re naturally sweetened and seriously taste better than the store-bought version! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Chocolate: I like to use an 85% dark chocolate bar for extra rich chocolate flavor. Feel free to use your favorite dairy free chocolate, too, to make dairy free and vegan peanut butter cups!
- Peanut butter: be sure to use a natural, creamy peanut butter for the filling.
- Maple syrup: these homemade peanut butter cups are naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup.
- Coconut flour: you’ll need a tiny bit of coconut flour for the peanut butter filling so that it sets correctly.
- Salt: if your peanut butter isn’t already salted, add a pinch! I also like to sprinkle a little fancy sea salt on top of each cup.
Can I use a different nut butter?
I highly recommend sticking with peanut butter for that true peanut butter cup flavor, but yes, you can use any other nut butter that you’d like! Be sure that it’s a natural, creamy nut butter made from just nuts and salt. Using almond butter or cashew butter will also make this a paleo-friendly dessert.
What about a different sweetener?
I think that honey, brown rice syrup, and date syrup would likely work just fine, but I recommend sticking with maple syrup to get the best flavor. Honey tends to be a bit overpowering.
How to make homemade peanut butter cups
- Prep your pan. Line a mini muffin pan with 9 mini liners. You can also double the recipe to make 18 mini cups if you’d like!
- Melt the chocolate. Place half of your dark chocolate bar in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. You can also melt the chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat.
- Prep the cups. Add a teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of each cup, then use a spoon to spread the chocolate all the way up the sides of each liner. Place the pan in the freezer for a few minutes to harden the chocolate layer.
- Make the filling. Mix the peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut flour until smooth, then add 1/2 tablespoon of the mixture to each cup on top of the chocolate.
- Re-freeze the cups. Place the pan back in the freezer while you melt the rest of the chocolate.
- Top, freeze & enjoy! Melt the rest of your chocolate bar and spoon about 1 teaspoon on top of the peanut butter layer, covering all of the filling. Sprinkle with sea salt and freeze for 5-10 minutes until solid. Once they’ve solidified, store them in the fridge or freezer for a quick treat any time!
Make them jumbo-sized
You can make these into large cups by using a regular muffin tin and liners. I would suggest doubling the recipe if you make large cups.
How to store homemade peanut butter cups
Be sure to store these healthy peanut butter cups in your fridge or freezer. I recommend a freezer-friendly bag or container to keep these treats frozen. These cups can stay in your freezer for up to 3 months, so go ahead and make a double batch if you’d like!
More no bake treats you’ll love
- No Bake Salted Tahini Cookie Dough Fudge
- Collagen Matcha Dark Chocolate Coconut Butter Cups
- Paleo No Bake Cookie Dough Truffles
- Healthy Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
- No Bake Superfood Brownie Energy Bars
Get all of our delicious no bake desserts here!
I hope you love these homemade healthy peanut butter cups! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Homemade Healthy Peanut Butter Cups (low carb, vegan, gluten free)
Ingredients
- 1 (3.5 ounce) 85% dark chocolate bar, dairy free if desired
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- ½ tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ½ tablespoon coconut flour
- Pinch of salt, if your peanut butter isn’t already salted
- Fancy sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Line a mini muffin pan with 9 mini liners. We’re only making half, but if you want you can double the recipe to make 18 mini cups.
- Now it’s time to melt the chocolate: Place 1.75 ounces of dark chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted. You can also melt the chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat; stirring frequently.
- Once chocolate is melted, add 1 teaspoon to the bottom of each cup (about 1 heaping teaspoon). Use the spoon to push/spread the chocolate all the way up sides of each liner, you should use exactly the amount of chocolate that you melted.
- Once you’ve filled all the cups, place the pan in freezer for just a few minutes to harden the chocolate.
- Make the peanut butter cup filling: Add peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut flour to a medium bowl and mix until smooth, place ½ tablespoon of the mixture in each cup on top of the chocolate. It should fill pretty much to the top.
- Place back in the freezer while you melt the remaining chocolate bar in the microwave (or on the stovetop) as you did with the previous bar.
- Spoon about 1 teaspoon on top of the peanut butter, making sure you cover all of the peanut butter filling. Freeze for 5-10 minutes until chocolate is solid.
- Once cups are firm, you can store them in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat. Makes 9 mini peanut butter cups.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on February 26th, 2018, and republished on October 12th, 2023.
They are by far the best peanut butter cups I’ve ever had. I do wonder, though, every time I make them, it takes me forever to peel off the paper muffin liners. Do you have any advice on this?
Anyone try as a full size peanut butter cup (like Justin’s size) yet? If so how did you change the amount for layers etc?
Feel free to make these in a regular muffin tin and just double the ratios for everything if that makes sense!
Can you also add protein powder?
You could try replacing the coconut flour with protein powder!
Hello! Can I swap the coconut flour for almond flour? It is what I have on-hand already…
That should work!
Can you use peanut butter powder mixed with something in place of creamy peanut butter? If so, what would you suggest mixing the powder with. I am anxious to try these either way! Thank you!
I haven’t tested these with powdered peanut butter so I’m not 100% sure how the texture will turn out!
These were INCREDIBLE! I used the Guittard dark chocolate coconut sugar sweetened chips for melting, and the finished product reminded me of the dark chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s, only better! I’ll be making this regularly!
So good!! Glad you loved them!
Made these the other day.. absolutely loved it. Used almond flour instead of coconut flour.. turned out really good!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
This is a great idea! However, I’m allergic to coconut products. Are there any substitutes that can be used for this recipe? Thanks! 😊
Feel free to use almond flour!
is there a substitute for coconut flour? i truly hate coconut and don’t really want to spend the money for a recipe that calls for 1/2 teasponn (peanut butter cups)? thanks very much.
Hi! Oat flour or almond flour should both work 🙂
I get it, they would be good. But, there’s a lot of work there. Unless I’m making it for company, I’m just mixing some soft chocolate and peanut butter in a bowl and eating it that way. 😉
It really isn’t that much work, patience is key but the result is amazing!
amazing recipe
So, first of all I have to admit that i didn’t 100% follow the recipe. Before coming to that, I have to say that these are absolutely delicious 😍😍…although I would change some slight things. So, this is how I did it and what I would change: I wanted to use almond flour instead of coconut flour, discovered I had none so I just used blended hazelnuts, worked perfectly. Next I also added a little powdered sugar to the mixture, I also just gradually added the hazelnuts in and mixed until I got a consistency that i could form into a disc with my hands. Do you have to add powdered sugar? No. Would I recommend it? Yes. Now my Nr 1 tip: ❗️ If you want it to taste like real reese’s, use a sweeter chocolate. Although I kinda like the taste with 85% dark chocolate, I would definitely use a sweeter one next time, but if you want it to be healthier, the other will do great. Next, I also added some coconut oil to the chocolate, it helped with making it easier to work with. And lastly, I didn’t follow the recipe with the whole freezing and filling process… First, I added 1 teaspoon of chocolate to the thingies (it really doesn’t matter what size they are in my opinion) and just popped that in the fridge for 10 minutes, without spreading the chocolate. After that I added only very little of the peanut butter mixture to the chocolate, I guess about 1/2 teaspoon 🫢 Do whatever you like!! I slightly formed it into a disc before laying it onto the chocolate and spreading it out, leaving about 1 mm of chocolate uncovered on the outside – ❗️would recommend that. I then just added the rest of the chocolate on top of the peanut butter (i just heated all of it at the same time – makes your life SO much easier) making sure the peanut butter is covered (about a little more than 1 teaspoon per cup). I made 15 cups, I had a lot of the peanut mixture left over as I used so little, but we gladly ate that. All in all I love this recipe, sorry this is so long 🤭, but I hope I could help someone!!
Thanks so much for sharing! I am glad these turns out great for you with your subs!
I have not made this recipe yet but am planning to can I substitute the coconut flour for almond or oat flour?
You can use almond flour, I would just recommend using a bit more.
This is really awesome. Adding healthy to my daily diet is crucial for me. I was eating peanut butter with brown bread. Today you showed something new that can be an alternative to brown bread. Thanks for sharing.
Is that 162 calories for every cups or for 9 cups? The nutrition info is a little unclear- is it for every 1 cup? If so- is there a way to have less calories?
Is that 162 calories per 1 cup? Or nine cups have 162 calories? Is there a way to have less?
WOW! Just what I was looking for. I need to get better at leaving room for the chocolate to ooze down the side.
These are the BEST treat to have on hand. They are filling so you really can’t eat more than 2. They are DE-LISH and I make them probably more than I should. Thank you!!
I’m SO happy you love these, Brooke! Yay!
This recipe turned out so great.
These are delicious! I used Hu chocolate bar to make them,
Love it! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
These are so delicious! I’d compare them to the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate pb cups, but even better! I used dark chocolate chips from Aldi and a little coconut oil and that worked really well, I ran out towards the end and tried to melt some Target brand chocolate chips and they were grainy and didn’t melt well – so I wouldn’t recommend using those. Otherwise I followed the recipe and they’re perfect! Will definitely be making them regularly!
Absolutely! Glad you love these ones 🙂
If I make this with regular sized muffin tins, do I double what goes in each cup, or keep it the same?
I would double! They’ll make less total, so you could double the recipe too if you’d like.
What if i don’t have coconut flour? substitutions?
oat flour or almond flour should work great!
These were amazing!!! Spot on. I only had 1.75 ounces of regular dark chocolate, so for the other 1.75 ounces for the topping, I used Hu Kitchen Hazelnut filled chocolate and it was perfect!
Delicious! Glad you enjoyed!
These are SO GOOD! Reese are my favorite candy and am so glad to find a healthy version that are so yum and super easy to make!
Mine too! Such a great treat 🙂
I’m sure these are delicious like everything else I’ve tried! I live in Spain and it’s surprisingly difficult to find baking supplies. I have a mini nonstick silicone tray, do you think I could use that and forgo the liners?
Yes that will work perfectly!
Hi these look delicious. I was wondering what I could sub for the coconut flour? Thanks.
Hi! You could use oat or almond flour.