Healthy 4-Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

These healthy, homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are easy to make with just 4 ingredients! I originally posted this recipe in 2014, but am republishing it today with updated photos. Most the the text is from the original post. If you’ve never tried this recipe, I hope you will try it soon!Last weekend, Meghan and Tim went on a Father-Daughter camping trip.  I use the term “camping” lightly, as they slept in a cabin that was equipped with a bathroom, electricity, and even had a TV.

It was an organized trip with a group through the Y with a goal of strengthening relationships between fathers and daughters. The mom who introduced the group to us warned me that it would be candy-filled weekend.  All the girls come to camp loaded with snacks and candy.

You know I cringed thinking about sending Meghan with store-bought candy that is filled with preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and unhealthy oils. I decided to make her some homemade treats that would lessen the toxic load, even if just a little.

 

 

These homemade chocolate peanut butter cups might not be as pretty as a Reese’s Cup when you open the package, but you get the winning combination of chocolate and peanut butter in a much healthier way. You can trust me when I say looking perfect is not what matters to Meghan when it comes to chocolate. She and Luke keep begging me to make more of these.

I have been making different versions of homemade chocolate peanut butter cups for years now, and I always have tried to mimic the texture of the peanut butter inside the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. This time I just used peanut butter and guess what? I love it with just pure peanut butter! You don’t need powdered sugar or anything else added to the peanut butter.

Also, if aesthetics are important, don’t be lazy like me.  Freeze each layer before you do the next layer.  Clearly, I don’t have time for that.  I drop the chocolate into the paper cup, add the peanut butter, then add the chocolate.  My family doesn’t mind the little imperfections this causes and neither do I.  I totally could have done it the slow way for the pictures, but I thought I’d keep it real.  I hate it when I make something and it doesn’t turn out like the pictures, don’t you?

Edited to add: the picture above is of one I did take the time to freeze the layers. I also used a full-sized muffin tin for the updated pictures. You can use either a full-sized muffin tin or a mini-muffin tin. 

One last thing, then I’ll get to the recipe, I promise.  I used mini-sized paper cups.  You can make these into full-sized cups if you prefer, but the ratios I’m talking about refer to mini-sized.  I found the best ratio of chocolate to peanut butter was 1 teaspoon chocolate+3/4 teaspoon peanut butter+1 teaspoon chocolate.  I was playing with the ratios so there are some with more chocolate and less peanut butter, and those are shown in the bottom two pictures. Nobody liked those as much.  Just so you know.  Ok–recipe time!

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