These delicious and healthy peanut butter cups are made with just 4 main ingredients. Simple, dairy free, vegan, gluten free, and perfect for a healthy, treat to satisfy your sweet tooth!
This post has been created in partnership with iHerb.
Let’s Talk Healthy Peanut Butter Cups!
Homemade peanut butter cups, how original….I know, I’m not the first person in the world to make my own homemade version of this all-time-favorite treat but I can tell you, there’s no chance you’ll find homemade healthy peanut butter cups just like mine anywhere!
That’s because they contain a special secret little ingredient that takes these healthy homemade peanut butter cups from totally delicious to totally delicious with a gut-friendly boost!
I’ve teamed up with iHerb, one of my favourite online health and wellness stores, to introduce you to a bunch of fantastic probiotics they carry by Nature’s Way!
Let’s talk about Probiotics for a sec…
If I were to make a list of the top 5 supplements I truly believe that everyone should be taking, probiotics would definitely be on that list. Not only has taking probiotics hugely helped me with my own digestive issues that I struggled with for years, they also have been proven over and over again to boost overall health because not only do they impact gut health they actually improve immune function, heart health, and even some mental health disorders (read more here!).
Back in my nutritional consulting days I worked with hundreds of clients and increasing the intake of or starting to take probiotics regular was probably the most common recommendation I made. Our bodies thrive off of a healthy microbiome and one way to ensure that we have that (a healthy balance of bacteria in our bodies) is to take probiotics as a supplement and eat probiotic rich foods.
The best probiotic foods:
If you are taking a probiotic supplement like Nature’s Way that’s amazing, you can also eat probiotic foods to help maintain a healthy microbiome as well. The best include:
- Yogurt (dairy or non dairy)
- Kefir
- Sauerkraut
- Kombucha
- Tempeh
- Kimchi
- Apple cider vinegar
- Fermented foods in general
While chocolate peanut butter cups don’t make this list usually, when you add probiotics too them they do! That’s exactly what I did for this recipe.
The Nature’s Way probiotics from iHerb include a children’s probiotic that comes in powdered form called Primadophilous Children and I’ll be honest, it’s the best powered probiotic I’ve discovered yet. Not only is the quality great but the powder is so fine and completely flavourless so it blends into virtually anything including the peanut butter filling of these tasty homemade healthy peanut butter cups!
The powdered probiotic mixes into the delicious peanut butter filling so well in this recipe it’s completely undetectable yet gives each peanut butter cup around just under 1 billion CFU of probiotics! If you wanted to amp up your probiotic intake even more you could crumble bits of one peanut butter cup over a small bowl of coconut yogurt, a probiotic rich snack that tastes like dessert!
Along with the children’s powered probiotic, Nature’s Way also carries a special line called Fortify Dual Action, including a Women’s Probiotic, Immune Defense, Digestive Complete, and Energy Support. Each of these probiotics are dual action because not only do they contain 20 to 50 billion CFU’s of probiotics, they also have added benefits specific to their name.
The Women’s Probiotic contains 50 billion live probiotic cultures per capsule that come from specific strains to support vaginal health, the Immune Defense contains added Vitamin C and Zinc, the Digestive Complete contains an added proprietary enzyme blend, and the Energy Support contains added B vitamins which is great because I always take a vitamin B complex, so it’s like two supplements in one, hence the “dual action”!
I’m a huge peanut butter cup fan and I’ve always loved making them as a homemade treat but now I’m so happy that I can make them with the extra benefits of added probiotics, and especially for Hemsley too!
How to make the best homemade healthy peanut butter cups…the 3-step trick!
I’m happy to say that making this particular recipe for the blog confirmed that I have finally figured out the best chocolate to peanut butter filling ratio for homemade peanut butter cups that actually have the same texture as the real thing. When I first started making these years ago I would end up with what looked like an Oreo cookie – chocolate on the top, chocolate on the bottom and a layer of peanut butter in the middle rather than a “cup” with peanut butter inside.
1. First pour melted dark chocolate into a muffin liner that’s in a muffin tin, then before adding the peanut butter filling, you take your finger or a small spoon and swirl the chocolate around so that it makes a thin layer of chocolate along the inner edge of the muffin liner about 1 cm deep.
2. Then you add in the peanut butter filling and press it down slightly so that you can see a thin layer of that chocolate surrounding the outer edge of the peanut butter filling.
3. Then when you pour the remaining chocolate on the top of the peanut butter filling, it will envelope it and voila! a perfectly portioned peanut butter cup!
See? The chocolate isn’t too thick and there’s a nice, good portion of the tasty peanut butter filling which by the way is made with just two ingredients; natural peanut butter and pure maple syrup and a perfect sprinkle of powered probiotics. So simple!
I also skipped the coconut oil which people often used and just melted 70% allergen-friendly dark chocolate chips to make the chocolate shell.
All you need is 3-ingredients! Well, technically 5 if you count the secret probiotic powder addition and the sprinkle of sea salt to top the peanut butter cups (those are optional but well worth including)!
If you can’t have peanut butter due to an allergy you can also use any other nut butter of choice (almond or cashew would be great!) or you can even use a seed butter like tahini or sunflower seed butter! Have you ever made your own homemade healthy peanut butter cups? I’d love to hear how you make them, let me know in the comments below!
Also don’t forget to pin the photo below the recipe to save it for later and head over to iHerb to get a discount on your order (applicable for new or existing customers)!
Best Homemade Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
Healthy and delcious homemade vegan copycat Reese's peanut butter cups that contain only three main ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1 heaping cup 70% dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup natural peanut butter, salted or non salted (make sure it’s pourable, not super dry)
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1-2 teaspoons Nature's Way Primadophilus Children's Probiotic (optional)
- Sea salt to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Line a muffin tin with 10 paper muffin liners.
- In a bowl combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, and probiotic powder (if using) and stir until everything clumps together in a soft mound and all is well combined, then set aside.
- In a small pot melt the dark chocolate chips over low heat.
- Pour 1/2 tablespoon of the melted dark chocolate into the bottom of each muffin liner.
- Take your finger or a small spoon and swirl the chocolate around in each cup so that it creates a thin layer of chocolate along the inner edge of the muffin liner about 1 cm deep.
- Next, scoop 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter filling into your hand and roll it into small ball then flatten it to about 1 cm thick and almost the full diameter of the muffin liner and place it on top of the chocolate layer in the muffin liner.
- Do this for all 10 cups.
- Lastly, pour the remaining melted chocolate in each muffin cup to cover the peanut butter layer, making sure you cannot see any of the peanut butter layer.
- Once all are complete, place the muffin tin in the freezer for 20 minutes or until the chocolate has completely hardened.
- Store the peanut butter cups in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- The probiotic powder is optional for this recipe but if you are using it you can use 1 or 2 teaspoons depending on the amount of live probiotic cultures you want in each peanut butter cup.
- I do not recommending more than 2 teaspoons of probiotic powder as it may not blend as well and may change the consistency of the filling.
More about iHerb!
I just want to give iHerb as a company a little more praise! I have done a lot of work with iHerb in the past and am always super happy with the product selection they have as well as the speedy and affordable shipping they provide. iHerb carries over 30,000 brand name natural products and offers a triple guarantee: value, quality, and delivery. Whenever I order my products I choose the affordable shipping option that includes duties which means I won’t be surprised with a duties or customs charge when I get my products at the door (I can’t say how many times this has happened to me with other companies and it’s super annoying!). Here in Canada there are lots of brand names I just can’t get at local stores or even online Canadian retailers so having iHerb as a go-to option is great because there’s so much more available at my fingertips.
If you haven’t checked out iHerb yet I highly recommend you do. Go peruse their products and check out their amazing shipping rates and get a discount on your order by clicking this link. You won’t be disappointed, I promise!
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Have an awesome Sunday!
How many calories is for one Reese’s peanut butter cup?
Hi Sabrina, I’m not completely sure as I have not calculated out the calorie counts for this particular recipe. You can use an online calorie calculator like my fitness pal to figure it out pretty easily though! My guess would be around 120 calories per cup!