Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

Who doesn’t LOVE Chocolate and LOVE Almond Butter? But, have you ever imagined them together in one.  I suppose it’s a little like that commercial where you dip the chocolate bar in the peanut butter, but, this recipe from Meghan at Making LOVE In The Kitchen (LOVE that name LOL) takes it to a whole new level!

I actually came upon Meghan’s recipe when I was trying to decide what to make for my friends birthday.  I know she LOVES Dark Chocolate and LOVES Homemade Almond Butter.  At first, I thought of making Almond Butter two ways ~ Crunchy and then Crunchy Swirled with Dark Chocolate.  I decided to google how much chocolate to add to Dark Chocolate Almond Butter when I came across Meghan’s homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. The pictures alone were enough to sell me on this recipe as something I HAD to try.

Below is my take on her recipe with modifications 🙂 Thanks Meghan ~ you are seriously a genius!

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cup Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

3 bars good quality dark chocolate (one you’d actually enjoy eating by itself)

1/2 cup homemade crunchy almond butter (you can use store bought)

1 tsp vanilla extract, or 1 tsp fresh vanilla bean

pinch sea salt (plus more if you want to sprinkle on top)

1 Tbsp arrowroot, cornstarch or tapioca flour

3-4 cacao “beans, peeled (optional) – used in the butter and/or as a topper

3-4 dry roasted almonds (optional) – as a topper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Create a double boiler by filling one larger pot with water and placing a smaller one inside. Make sure no water gets into the inside pot as this will ruin the melting chocolate.  Add 1/2 of your chocolate into the small pot and stir as it melts

2.  Once melted, pour into 12 muffin liners.  Chill the tin in the fridge or freezer, until the chocolate has hardened a little (about ten minutes).

3.  Mix together the almond butter, salt, vanilla, arrowroot flour and optional cacao nibs until it is able to form little round doughy balls. You may need more arrowroot flour but best to add 1 Tbsp at a time to make sure.

4.  Remove muffin cups from the fridge.  Make 12 small almond butter ‘patties’ and place on the chocolate base in the muffin liners.

5.  Melt the remaining chocolate and pour into the cups, covering the almond butter

Optional ~ Sprinkle top of cups with  sea salt, chopped almonds and/or cacao nibs.

Store in the fridge or freezer.

Makes 12 servings, 1 HUGE “cup” each (they are like 2 x’s the size of Recess)

Nutritional Information Per Serving, 1 dark chocolate almond butter cup, 5 POINTS+ each!

STEP – BY – STEP

Start out by lining a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

The MOST important thing you can do in this recipe is to pick a chocolate that you would enjoy eating by itself, straight up, because you will be eating it “straight up”.

My first choice is ALWAYS ChocoLOVE as you all know, but, I didn’t have any on hand and whole foods was too far 🙁  Enter Ghirardelli 60% Caco which is still pretty tasty.

I used a Double Broiler to melt my chocolate.  You can MAKE YOUR OWN double broiler (it’s easy!) or melt your chocolate in the microwave if you do not have one.

I melted 1 1/2 bars of chocolate.

Then, poured a little in each cup to form the base of your almond butter cup.  Chill in the fridge until cooled, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile. whip up your almond butter filling.  I used 1/2 cup of my Homemade Almond Butter and decided to give it a little “Cacao Power”!

Cacao “Beans” in the RAW.

You have to peel the skin off your beans to get to the cacao goodness inside.

I zested a few beans into my Almond Butter with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt.

You will need to use a BINDING flour to help your almond butter form into patties.  I used Arrow Root because it is what I had on hand, however, you could use cornstarch and/or tapioca flour.  I “almost’ used coconut flour, but, I wasn’t sure if it would work 🙂

After adding 1 Tablespoon of Arrowroot, it forms into a BIG, almond butter dough ball.   Taste test it to make sure it had a flavor you like – enough sweetness and saltiness – adjust as needed.  Add a little honey if you want it sweeter.

Remove your cups from the fridge.

Top each with a mini almond butter “patty”.

Melt your remaining chocolate.

Pour evenly in each cup and gently shake your pan to level the chocolate out, if needed.

This step is optional ~ I had envisioned beautiful pieces of big sea salt and almonds on top, but, they melted in.

I improvised by zesting a few almonds on top.  Next time, I’d probably chop the almonds, use bigger sea salt rocks and put a little mound in the middle.

Place back in the fridge until cooled ~ about 10 minutes.  Remove each cup from the wrapper and sample one 😀

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

The Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups are so easy to make and honestly ONE completely satisfies so you won’t find yourself going back for more.

I just realized these might be PERFECT for Halloween too……HMMM, must go now and make more for me since I gave all but 2 away 😀

Night all!