Homemade Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

These Healthy Peanut Butter Cups are a no bake treat every Reese’s fan will love! They’re vegan, gluten-free, low sugar, and made with 4 simple ingredients.

We also love these chocolate rice krispie treats!

I’m a huge fan of no bake desserts, especially when chocolate’s involved like in these no bake peanut butter oatmeal bars and this date bark. And since I love the peanut butter and chocolate combo, October felt like the perfect time to make healthy peanut butter cups.

I really enjoyed making these into mini cups because sometimes you just want a small bite and not a giant peanut butter cup like if you use the muffin tin.

Honestly, I love these even more than Reese’s peanut butter cups!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Perfect portion size: Just the right bite-sized indulgence.
• Not too sweet: Made with 70% chocolate and perfectly balanced with the richness of peanut butter.
• Quick and easy: Only 15 minutes of prep time and no baking required.
• Healthy ingredients: A healthy dessert that rivals your favorite Halloween candy!

Ingredients for Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

You’ll just need 4 simple ingredients to whip up this recipe.

• Chocolate chips: I like to use dark chocolate for extra rich chocolate taste, more health benefits and less sugar.
• Coconut oil: Melted with both the chocolate and peanut butter to create a smooth texture. It also helps the chocolate harden nicely, giving it a shell-like finish.
• Peanut butter: I love PC Organics, Kirkland and Great Value brands. All are natural and smooth.
• Maple syrup: Sweetens the peanut butter layer.

How to Make Healthy Peanut Butter Cups

Here’s a quick overview of how to make your own homemade peanut butter cups with minimal hands-on time.

• Melt chocolate: In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips and coconut oil. Microwave in 1 minute intervals until melted, this should take about 2-3 minutes. You can also melt them on the stovetop just like I did in the pictures.
• Prep muffin tin with chocolate: Use a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to add chocolate to each muffin tin. Then, gently swirl the pan to let the chocolate coat the sides about ½ inch up. Pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes.
• Melt peanut butter: Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Microwave for 20-30 seconds until it’s pourable.
• Fill and drizzle: Take the cups out of the freezer and pour the peanut butter mixture over each one using a ½ tablespoon measuring spoon. Then, drizzle the rest of the melted chocolate on top with a teaspoon, tilting the muffin tin side to side to help it spread.

• Freeze and enjoy: Freeze for 3 hours, then take them out and enjoy! If they’re fully frozen, let them sit for about 10 minutes to soften a bit.

Tips for Best Results

Here are my top tips for making Reese’s peanut butter cups at home.

• Use silicone mini muffin tin: It makes them easy to pop out, I love this one!
• If using metal mini muffin tin: Be sure to use parchment paper liners. Do not pour directly into the metal muffin tin because you won’t be able to get the cups out, and it’ll damage your muffin tin.
• If all you have is regular muffin pan: That’s fine. This recipe will be enough for it, you’ll just end up with jumbo peanut butter cups.
• Do not overheat the peanut butter: It thickens when heated too much which makes it harder to pour and spread evenly over the chocolate.

Substitutions and Additions

• Nut or seed butter: You can use any nut butter or seed butter you like such as almond butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter, just make sure it’s a natural, creamy butter.
• Sweetener: You can substitute agave or honey, but keep in mind that using honey will make non-vegan peanut butter cups.
• Coconut oil: If you have an allergy or don’t have it, I feel like you can omit it or use butter instead.
• Chocolate: I like to use the darker chocolate for more health benefits and less sugar. You can use chocolate chips, chocolate chunks or a chopped up chocolate bar. I like to use 70% or 85%, but of course you can use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate.
• Flaky sea salt: Sprinkle flaky sea salt on top before freezing for that sweet and salty combination.
• Add protein: You can mix in a few scoops of collagen powder to the peanut butter filling, or up to 1/4 cup of whey protein powder. I feel like vegan protein powder will thicken the filling too much.
• Using PB2: Dilute it as per package instructions. Usually for 3/4 cup of peanut butter powder you would use 3/4 cup of liquid like milk or water.

How to Store

Store: To enjoy them right away, store healthy peanut butter cups in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days before freezing.

Freeze: Store them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Just remember to let the cups sit on the counter for about 10 minutes before digging in, or they’ll be really hard!

FAQs

More Healthy Dessert Recipes

• Healthy chocolate coconut balls
• Peanut butter protein balls
• Homemade crunch bars
• No bake peanut butter pie
• Healthy peanut butter cookies
• Healthy no bake cookies