Day 3 of healthy alternative Halloween Candy week!  Hope everyone has been enjoying it! 

So far we’ve done healthy alternative recipes for the Crunch Bar and the Almond Joy.

Today, we’re going to tackle the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

I found out that of all the candies we’re hacking this week, the Reese’s peanut butter cups have the least amount of ingredients with fourteen.  That being said, it’s still a lot and most all of them aren’t favorable to the body.  When we’re talking about the sourcing of where the ingredient came from, none of them are favorable to the body. For example, peanuts are a real food, however the source where the peanuts came from in a Reese’s PB cup is not likely from a clean, organic source.  Rather, they are mass produced and likely irradiated for commercial use.

The Reese’s PB cup is loaded with genetically modified ingredients, additives, preservatives, and fake food ingredients. The ingredients for them are here.

These healthier alternative peanut butter cups that I did are paleo & vegan friendly, gluten free and dairy free… and made with 100% real food ingredients your body recognizes as FOOD.

Chocolate ingredients:

1/2 cup raw, melted cacao butter

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 tablespoon coconut milk

3/4 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons maple butter

1/8 teaspoon pink salt

Optional:  I do a few different chocolate sauce recipes, but one option you can do is add 1-3 tablespoons of coconut milk.  I used one in this, but what it does is takes it progressively from a pure raw darker chocolate to a milkier chocolate.  I recommend adding a tablespoon at a time and tasting to your palate.

Filling: 

Simple, peanut butter or other nut butter if you’re strict on legumes.  About 1/2 tablespoon dollop in each (see the picture above).  For these specific ones that I did I used my homemade pumpkin cinnamon cashew butter because I had it on hand, but you can use any of your favorite peanut butter for the center that you have in the fridge. You can even try experimenting with different types of nut butters.  Have fun with it..

Equipment:

12-spot small cupcake tray

cupcake liners

note:  if you only have a bigger cupcake tray, you’ll simply make less total peanut butter cups, or you can adjust the chocolate sauce ingredients so you have more sauce to fill the bigger cup slots.

Directions:

1. Start by melting your cacao butter and coconut oil in a sauce pan for your chocolate sauce.

When doing this only melt it on lowest heat.  I even recommend having the sauce pan barely on the burner, as well as taking it off the burner and letting it slowly melt as the pan heats up.  We want to keep the nutrient contents intact and raw cacao butter begins to melt between 95-100 degrees.

2.  After your cacao butter and coconut oil is melted, add all your other chocolate sauce ingredients and stir off the heat.

3.  Once you have your chocolate sauce, line your small cupcake tray with cupcake liners and slowly pour about a tablespoon in the bottom of each spot

4.  From there add a spoonful (about 1/2 tablespoon or so) of your nut butter (see picture above ingredients list)

5.  Pour off your remaining chocolate mixture evenly into each cup so the nut butter is covered to the top (see picture above directions list)

6.  Place them in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes.  

That’s it!  Super simple and quick recipe.  Store in the freezer and indulge (I like to pull one out and let it sit for about 5 minutes before I eat).

And remember, just because these are healthier alternatives to the mass produced chemical concoction candy we all know… it still is candy.  So my recommendation is to enjoy in moderation and stick to your metabolic type ratios and an 80/20 lifestyle for your most optimal health.

Enjoy!