Reeses peanut butter cups have always been a favorite treat of mine.  Growing up, I remember splitting a package of the large ones with my dad on the way home from many a fishing trip.  The mini cups were our ranch special to finish off dinner after cleaning whatever game we got that evening.  After going Paleo, I have very much missed them.  Luckily, they are easy to mimic on your own with almond butter (or other nut butter of choice).  I can't believe I haven't shared their simplicity on here yet!

Anyway, do you remember all of those awesome things I got for Fair Trade Month last week?  Well, here is my first creation with some of the ingredients!  What better way to celebrate National Dessert Day (and soon Halloween!) than to make some delicious desserts that also support a good cause?  Make sure to check out the #BeFair campaign and each of the products I link to in my recipe, as they are all Fair-Trade Certified and working to make farmers' lives better.

Almond Butter Cups

Prep time: 10 minutes   Cool time: 20 minutes   Total time: 30 minutes

Yield:  12 mini-cups

Directions

Ingredients

  1. Melt coconut oil until it is completely liquid using method of your choice.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine coconut oil and cacao powder with a whisk until the clumps are all gone from the powder.
  3. Add honey and vanilla extract to the mix and whisk again until well-incorporated.
  4. Line 12 molds of a mini muffin tin with paper liners or simply grease with extra coconut oil, if you prefer not to use the liners.  The cups may be more difficult to remove without them, though.
  5. Pour 1/2 of the chocolate liquid into the molds evenly.  Place the tin in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to solidify.
  6. Remove muffin tin from the freezer and dollop teaspoon-sized scoops of almond butter into each of the molds, on top of the chocolate layer.
  7. Pour the other half of the chocolate liquid on top of the almond butter layers and place back in the freezer for an additional 10 minutes to solidify and finish.  If serving immediately, remove from the freezer after this time and enjoy.  If storing for later, keep the cups in either the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.*

1/2 cup Nutiva Virgin Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Lake Champlain Organic Unsweetened Cacao Powder

2 tbsp honey (can adjust to taste)

1/4 cup almond butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

*If you are in an area where coconut oil is solid at room temperature, it will be safe to allow them to sit out for a short while.  If you live in a place like I do (Texas, where it is still in the 90ºF's in mid-October) then you probably want to leave them in the fridge as long as possible before pulling them out to serve.