Homemade Peanut Butter Cups (Vegan + Gluten Free + Refined Sugar Free!)

peanut butter cups stacked on upside down white plate with top candy missing a bite white flower and flaked salt around.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups (Vegan + Gluten Free + Refined Sugar Free!)

Craving something sweet? Try these Homemade Peanut Butter Cups! Homemade peanut butter sandwiched in rich and silky dark chocolate. The best part? You only need 5 super simple ingredients and about 30 minutes to make these candies!

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 2

Total Time: 27

Servings: candies

Calories: 262kcal

Ingredients

2 cups roasted unsalted peanuts
⅜ teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons maple syrup
5 cups dark chocolate
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Line muffin pans with paper liners. Set aside.
Place peanuts, salt, and maple syrup in blender.
Blend on medium low - medium power, scraping down sides and pushing peanuts back toward blade, as needed.
Continue blending and scraping until the peanut butter is your desired degree of smoothness. Set aside.
Combine chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring well after each, until chocolate is melted and smooth.
Working with one at a time, spoon 1 Tablespoon chocolate in bottom of liner.
Scoop out 2 teaspoons peanut butter filling.
Roll in to ball.
Flatten slightly.
Set on top of chocolate.
Top with another Tablespoon of chocolate.
Repeat until all ingredients are used.
Allow to set.

Notes

Substitutions:

If desired, almost any nut can be used to make the filling. Walnuts, almonds, or cashews are a great substitute!
Any liquid sweetener/sugar can be used to sweeten the nut butter. Just keep in mind that the amount needed may need to be adjusted depending on the sweetness level of your chosen sugar.
A neutral flavored oil (such as vegetable oil) may be used instead of the olive oil to melt the chocolate.

Expert Tips:

Be sure to use roasted unsalted peanuts for the nut butter! This will provide the most amount of flavor.
One of the most important things to have for this recipe is a powerful blender. A lot of blenders will struggle with trying to make the peanut butter smooth.
It takes a while to process the peanut butter. Remember to be patient!
5 cups chocolate is about 30 ounces. In most cases, this will be about 3 bags of dark chocolate chips!
While most dark chocolate is naturally vegan, be sure to check the label if this is something that is important to you! You can also check to make sure your chocolate is gluten-free and refined sugar free.
If desired, you can temper the chocolate instead of just melting it with oil. If you do decide to temper your chocolate, remember that you will not need the oil! Instructions on how to temper the chocolate is in the post above.
You can refrigerate or freeze candy to make it set faster, but keep in mind that the chocolate may bloom.
Want the candies to look authentic? Once the chocolate is set, you can take a pair of scissors and trim off the excess paper to make it really look like peanut butter cups!

Nutrition