Low Carb Peanut Butter Cups

This recipe makes about 24 mini cups, though your mileage may vary depending on thick you paint the chocolate, or how much you fill up with the peanut butter mix. :) Less than 2 net carbs per cup (my base recipe results in about 1.6 carbs per, but if you add more chocolate & peanut butter, it will obviously increase that count. Different types of chocolate may have different counts, too. Use purer chocolate and lower the carbs per cup.

Step 1

8-9 pieces of 75% chocolate, broken up (I use Lindt)
8-9 pieces of 90% chocolate, broken up (Lindt here too)
1 1/4 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp xylitol or erythritol (or your preferred sweetener, to your taste)

1. Melt chocolate pieces & coconut oil in a bowl in the microwave, in 20 second intervals - stirring in between. Stop before all the chocolate is fully melted to prevent burning it - once it's hot and soft enough, you'll be able to stir the remaining few pieces to finish melting them.

Alternatively, you could melt the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove on medium-low heat.

2. Once chocolate is melted, add sweetener and stir until smooth.

3. Place mini paper muffin cups in the wells of a mini muffin pan or another dish wide enough to hold them but small enough to fit inside your freezer.

4. With small paintbrush or a basting brush (whichever you have/prefer), 'paint' the melted chocolate into the cups. Ensure you've covered the entire bottom of the cups and at least 1/2 to 2/3 up the sides.

5. Freeze until the chocolate is set (this usually happens while you're preparing the filling).

Step 2

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 2/3 Tbsp softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp xylitol + 1/4 tsp stevia
1 Tbsp whipping cream
sprinkle of salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
Nutritional yeast (add to your taste - this is mainly to reproduce some of that slightly 'gritty' crunch in store-bought PB cups) Increase all these amounts by 1/3 to 1/2 if you want your PB cups fuller.

1. Cream peanut butter & cream cheese. Add remaining ingredients (go light on the nutritional yeast at first - you can always add), and stir till smooth.

2. Fill the chocolate cups with PB mixture to your liking.

3. With lightly damp fingers, smooth the top of the filling. This makes the chocolate easier to smooth over the top.

4. Carefully spoon the remaining chocolate mix over the filling, ensuring that the chocolate covers the entire top & meets with the edges of the set chocolate cup base. You want the edges to meet so it forms a 'seal' - this will make the cups easier to remove from the paper once they're set.

5. Freeze finished PB cups again, for... at least an hour, and keep stored in freezer. The chocolate will melt a little in your fingers when you eat these, or if left out on the counter. You could add wax to the chocolate to help with this, but I have no experience with that so I have no tips. :)


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