homemade peanut butter cups

You know that sweet something-something we all need after dinner? My friend Lori calls it “sealing the meal” and that’s exactly right. It’s a finishing touch, a bit of insurance that keeps you from tilting over into a bowl of ice cream or a wedge of cheesecake, and I have found the perfect thing.

Weirdly, I was in the library pretending to study, when I discovered it. My eye wandered to the cookbook shelf and fell on the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, a blockbuster I normally wouldn’t read. Looking for any excuse not to do my homework, though, I flipped through it to see what the fuss was about and stopped at a recipe for “fat buster” peanut butter cups (who’s going to resist something called fat buster?). The author calls for unsweetened chocolate and a no-sugar sweetener, but I stripped out the voodoo science and put the fun back in. In other words, I used chocolate chips. Still, I kept the coconut oil (which gives the chocolate shell smoothness and firmness when it chills) and the unsweetened peanut butter. These taste exactly like candy, but are way better for you than Reese’s. They’re not going to bust any fat, but they will bust the urge to eat something more fattening after dinner. They’re the real meal-seal deal.

ingredients

1/2 cup unrefined (pure) coconut oil
8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
About 1/2 cup unsweetened natural peanut butter,
nutty or smooth, chilled (stick the jar in the fridge in advance)

directions

Line mini-muffin tins with 16 paper candy liners. (If you have one with only 12 holes, like I do, you can do this in batches.) Set aside.

Spoon the coconut oil into a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 30-second intervals until melted. (If it’s too stiff to spoon and it’s in a glass jar, you can microwave it with the lid off and pour out 1/2 cup; the remaining oil will firm up again when cooled). Set aside.

In a metal bowl above gently simmering water, stir the chocolate chips until melted. Turn off heat under pan and pour coconut oil into bowl with chocolate. Gently stir with a rubber spatula until completely blended.

Spoon a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture into the bottom of each paper liner then place the muffin tin(s) in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up the chocolate. Remove and scoop a teaspoon of cold peanut butter into each liner (don’t overfill it or peanut butter will stick out of top of cups). Spoon the remaining chocolate over the peanut butter, dividing equally. Chill 1 hour in refrigerator or 30 minutes in freezer before eating. Store peanut butter cups in a plastic bag in the refrigerator or freezer for up to a month. They soften quickly at room temperature.

adapted from Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox