Recipe for Raspberry-Jalapeno Almond Butter Cups

Are you looking for a home-made treat for Easter?  Give these easy almond butter cups a try.  I’ve seen quite a few recipes for home-made candies based on popular commercial brands but they all seem to have stuff in them that I don’t really want to use like tons of powdered sugar or cornstarch or other stuff that I didn’t even know what it was.  I guess that’s what makes those candies taste so good, and probably not so good for us! 

So I thought I just give it a try with the basics: chocolate and nut butter, and added in a couple of things for fun: raspberry-jalapeno sauce and kosher salt. 

I was going to use raspberry all-fruit but I was out.  I had the raspberry-jalapeno sauce in the cupboard and thought that would give it a grown up kick.

I’m really happy with how these turned out.  I’m sure they’d be good with peanut butter too, but I’m partial to almond butter.

Makes 16 mini cups, each approximately 92 calories, 6 grams fat, 9 grams carbs, 1.5 grams fiber, 1.5 grams protein

Ingredients:

10 oz dark chocolate, 60% cacao bars

8 +/- TBSP freshly ground almond butter

8 +/- tsp raspberry-jalapeno sauce, or raspberry all fruit (optional)

Baking spray

16 Mini muffin tin paper liners

Kosher salt (optional)

Method:

Line 16 mini-muffin wells with paper liners and spray lightly with baking spray. I don’t know if this is necessary but I was worried about the liner sticking to the chocolate.  You can see how nicely the top mini-cup in the photo above came out of the paper liner so I'll use the spray when I make these again.

Break the chocolate bars into large pieces in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on 50% power for about 3-4 minutes, stirring briefly every 30 seconds until almost all melted.  Remove and continuing stirring until all chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and creamy.

Using approximately half the melted chocolate, place about ¾ TBSP in each paper lined muffin well. 

Place in freezer for about 5 minutes to firm up.  Remove from freezer and spoon about ½ TBSP almond butter on top of chocolate and spread (if you wanted a solid chocolate side, keep the almond butter mounded in the middle of the chocolate).  Add about ½ tsp fruit sauce on top of almond butter and then cover with the remaining chocolate, again about ¾ TBSP per piece. 

Chill in fridge until set and sprinkle with few grains of kosher salt (I sprinkled before they were set this time, but I’d do it after they are set next time so the salt doesn't sink into the chocolate so much).  Store in the fridge and remove about 10 minutes prior to eating to remove the chill. Take the paper off when you remove from fridge.

These do not disappoint!    You know you're going to get the taste of the salt but the spicy kiss of fruit inside is a great little surprise!  Even without the raspberry-jalapeno sauce, I’m sure they’d be good.

Have you made any yummy treats lately?



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