these salted peanut butter cups are where it's at
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 8:33AM 
it's not all kale and cucumbers around here my friends, these *vegan* peanut butter cups have also become a staple in this house. they win every contest my mouth has ever held, hands down. sweet, salty, peanut butter & chocolately goodness, a batch of these cures my sweet tooth for weeks days. the recipe was adapted from one in alicia silverstone's book the kind diet. i'm on a dessert kick my friends, let's enjoy it! i'll be back with some meals to balance these out with soon, i promise.
the what:
1/2 cup earth balance vegan butter
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (organic, unsalted, no added sugar)
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (i found an organic, naturally sweetened kind at whole foods that did the trick)
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar or other granulated sweetener
1 cup vegan chocolate chips (preferably the kind that are naturally sweetened)
1/4 cup rice, soy or nut milk
sea salt to sprinkle on top
the how:
- line a muffin tin with papers. i used a mini-muffin tin and filled it up twice- 24 cups of heaven!
-melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and then stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar. when it's melted/mixed, spoon the mixture into the muffin tins. you can play around with the peanut butter to chocolate ratio. i prefer more peanut butter with a thin layer of chocolate, and lou prefers them to be equally peanut butter and chocolate. we're so complex.
-in a separate pan combine the chocolate and milk. stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
-spoon the chocolate over the peanut butter, filling the papers almost to the top.
-sprinkle with sea salt and then refrigerate *if you are using the mini muffin tin, i recommend sticking the first batch into the freezer for 10 minutes or so to get them to harden up so that you can remove them and make another batch. i also melted a little more chocolate/milk to satisfy lou's ratio preference. ok, i doubled the chocolate. he made me.
-there are two schools of thought on how these are best eaten: 1. taken from the refrigerator one at a time, thawed and savored- a classy approach 2. eaten straight from the freezer by the handful, with the occassional bit of wrapper stuck to the cup {mine}.
bon appetit my friends!
Reader Comments (19)
stop it. those look amazing!
Oh no! These might be too good to not eat them all at once! Thanks for sharing!
seems lou's 'chocolate chip cookie' are your 'salted peanut butter cups' ;)
yes, they are amazing and too good to not be eaten all at once. it's true.
@maggie: these are my weakness. totally guilty.
Um ... yum!
Yummm!! I'm okay with the Reese's version but I never eat them because all I can think about is how processed and sugary they are. These are such a great alternative!
Genius! I cannot wait to share these with my cousin who is a vegan!
This is the NUMBER ONE recipe from Alicia's book for me. I make them again and again. Love that little touch of salt on top. So baller!
Oh my - looks incredible! Lovely photos!
You're right, these peanut butter cups are totally where it's at! They sound and look awesome. To hell with meal recipes. I'd eat these in place of a proper lunch or dinner any day. Thanks for the great recipe. I will be making these very very soon, I'm sure. Perhaps this afternoon...
Ooh these are so amazing. I love The Kind Diet. What did you do to adapt them? Just turbinado instead of maple sugar? I didn't notice any other changes from the book. The photo of the half eaten one is delectable!
hi allie!
yes, substituted turbinado, made them mini, added sea salt, left out chopped nuts.... i think that's everything!
These look so good! I am off dairy and soy while nursing Jack and sometimes it feels like there are no treats left in the world for me. So happy to find that I am wrong.
oh louise, you're going to LOVE these! and totally new-mama friendly. :)
Made these for a pot luck and they were a huge hit :)
I just made these! I wasn't convinced at first. They were a bit gooey. But straight out of the freezer? YUM! Love the salt on top. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for helping me fail yet another diet.
I can't wait to make these gluten free! Very cool website you have. I pinned these on pinterest too so you'll have some blog traffic increase soon. :)
Funny, I thought the freezer suggestion was just so they could be eaten than much sooner. Ha ha! Looking forward to savoring these sweeties!