Salted Almond Butter Cups

These salted almond butter cups mimic the traditional Reese's PB cups, minus the dairy. This recipe also calls for almond butter instead of peanut butter but since you can have it your way today (and every day) feel free to stick to traditional with PB if that's what you prefer.

Even though it's National Eat What You Want Day, you can still enjoy your favorite treats with healthier swaps every day. By limiting dairy from your diet, you're lowering inflammation in your body that's caused by the dairy protein casein which can trigger inflammation in your joints. Natural plant-based alternatives are just as good and are healthier than the real thing such as nut-based or seed-based milk.

In this recipe, you'll notice the ingredients list doesn't call for a plant-based milk alternative, but instead, we use coconut oil which has a creamy texture when it's mixed with chocolate leaving you with that buttery mouthfeel and rich, creamy taste. If you love chocolate and almond butter, this recipe is perfect for you.

Recipe Developer: Samah Dada, @dadaeats

Salted Almond Butter Cups

Ingredients

Chocolate Cup:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tsp coconut oil

Almond Butter Filling:

• 1/3 cup creamy almond butter
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp coconut oil melted and cooled

Instructions

1. Prepare a mini muffin pan by lining it with mini muffin liners. If you don’t have the pan, you can just use 12 liners and put them on a sheet pan.
2. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil in your microwave in 15-second increments until smooth and glossy. Stir throughout the melting process.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together your creamy almond butter, maple syrup, and melted coconut oil. The mixture will start to seize slightly, and that’s okay! We want it to be a little doughy so that it’s easier to add into the almond butter cup without spreading.
4. Place about ½ tablespoon amounts of your melted chocolate into the muffin liners.
5. Using a spoon or a wooden skewer, drag the chocolate slightly up onto the inner edges of the muffin pan. We want to make sure that the almond butter will be sealed well! Now place about 1 tsp (heaping) of your almond butter mixture right on top of the melted chocolate in the muffin liner. Use a spoon or a wooden skewer to flatten it into the chocolate slightly.
6. Don’t worry about spreading it too much to the edges of the melted chocolate as we want to keep it contained. Finally, add about 1 tsp amounts of chocolate on top of the almond butter, using a spoon to ensure that the chocolate fully covers the almond butter, smoothing the chocolate out and making sure it goes straight to the edges of the cup, sealing the almond butter inside.
7. Transfer the muffin pan to your freezer, until it sets – about 30 minutes. Finish with flaky sea salt and enjoy! Store in freezer.