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It feels a little dangerous to know that it’s only 5 ingredients plus salt to make everyone’s favorite candy. However, this is a small-batch recipe, so we can make Homemade Peanut Butter Cups with less guilt!
As someone who eats a lot of candy, I try to make it at home as much as possible. I feel better about eating my cocoa powder + powdered sugar + coconut oil version of chocolate than what I buy at the store. And to be honest, it tastes nearly identical. Plus, I get to choose the type of nut butter to use!
For these homemade peanut butter cups, I mixed my favorite creamy peanut butter with a small amount of powdered sugar and salt. Then, I use my homemade chocolate shell as the coating on the top and bottom.
It’s only 5 ingredients plus salt, and only takes minutes to make!
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter. To make the filling for homemade peanut butter cups, you can use any type of nut butter you like! I have made these with sunflower butter, crunchy peanut butter, raw almond butter, and even pepita seed butter! The choice is yours, as long as you have 1/3 cup of it.
- Powdered Sugar. We need a small amount of powdered sugar for the filling (1 tablespoon), and an additional 1/4 cup for the chocolate shell.
- Salt. Make sure to put a pinch of salt in both the filling and the chocolate mixture.
- Cocoa Powder. Three-quarters of a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. It doesn’t matter if you use regular or Dutch-process.
- Coconut Oil. One-third cup of melted unrefined coconut oil. Do not substitute this with any other oil, because coconut oil is firm when cold. Not all oils firm up when cold, and your homemade peanut butter cups won’t set if you substitute anything else.
- Vanilla. It’s optional, but a splash of vanilla in the chocolate mixture heightens the sweetness without extra sugar.
How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- Place 6 muffin liners in 6 cups of a muffin pan. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and pinch of salt. Combine very well, and warm in a microwave, if needed.
2. Next, make the chocolate: in a separate clean bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, powdered sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt.
3. Place 1 or 2 teaspoons worth of chocolate mixture in the bottom of each muffin liner. Tilt the pan to evenly coat the bottom.
4. Next, divide the peanut butter mixture into 6 equal balls, and place them on top of the chocolate mixture. Use a fork to flatten it out as best as you can, but don’t worry too much.
5. Divide the remaining chocolate over each cup, coating the peanut butter mixture.
6. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle extra salt on top, if desired.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
These peanut butter cups are the perfect treat and so easy to make.
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
For the coating:
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place liners in 6 muffin cups.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the filling: combine the peanut butter with the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. If it’s hard to combine, you can warm it in the microwave. Set aside.
- In a separate clean bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, powdered sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt.
- Place 1 or 2 teaspoons worth of chocolate mixture in the bottom of each muffin liner. Tilt the pan to evenly coat the bottom.
- Next, divide the peanut butter mixture into 6 equal balls, and place them on top of the chocolate mixture. Use a fork to flatten it out as best as you can, but don’t obsess over it.
- Divide the remaining chocolate over each cup, coating the peanut butter mixture.
- Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. You can sprinkle extra salt on top, if you like.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 112mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 3gSugar: 7gProtein: 5g
You saved me so much time from thinking about what to make for Halloween!! This is perfect :) The buttercups look divine!!
Haha. Love the chocolate math you did. Makes sense! And I agree with you, I have so much respect for store-bought candy–it’s incredible if you actually think about it. Also thanks for calling me cool!
hmmmmmm. I’ve always loved PB cups but I just got this wild ass idea. What about cashew butter or almond butter? Have you ever tried using either? Gotta calculate the possible carbs……
Both sound DELICIOUS! :)
Peanut Butter Cups are my all time favourite candy…making them at home looks so easy. Thanks for the inspiration!
oh yummy for my tummy!!
I made these with melted butter instead of the coconut oil, and I topped them with a sprinkle of cocoa nibs for a little crunch. So yummy!
The calorie count for this needs to be divided by your yield size! It gave me quite a startle when the healthy cups were listed as almost 3,000 calories each. ;)
You’re so right, Zana! My nutrition calculator doesn’t automatically divide by serving sizes :( I’m going through all 800 recipes on my site and manually doing this. Send help LOL
What if using unsweetened cocoa?
How come my chocolate is turning out super firm?
Let them sit out on the counter for a few minutes. THey’re firm from the cold.
I just made this recipe and my chocolate turned out firm too, almost like a fudge or dough consistency. I think the trick is that you really need to make sure that the coconut oil is warm. Put it into a bowl and then slowly stir in the cocoa powder until it is mixed in. Then add the maple syrup and vanilla. I ended up doing this the second time around and it was smooth and was more like melted chocolate. So my PB cups had firm chocolate on the bottom and on top was the second batch of chocolate I made that I could pour on top. I think the first time I just put everything thing in the bowl as it was listed in the recipe so it went hard instead of a smooth more liquid texture. These PB cups are good but if you are use to the store bought or other homemade PB cups that have tons of icing sugar in them, then they’ll take some getting use to. Definitely a more healthier version of a PB cup. My hubby and kids were not overly fond of them. I’d eat them as a treat once in a while or if I needed something for someone who had dietary restrictions.
Didn’t think they would be so easy to make! Will definitely make this from now on, I hate all the added sugars and palm oil (bad for the environment) in my store bought chocolates. Used melted butter and honey and it still came out awesome. My natural pb already had sugar and salt so I omitted it. Lastly, I used silicone ice cube trays since I don’t have cupcake liners and they popped out nicely. Thank you for sharing your recipe :)