It would be an understatement to say I have a sweet tooth. After every meal, you'll find me scrounging around the kitchen looking for something sweet.
These chocolate peanut butter bites are a real godsend as they're super simple to make, they make a bunch (so your efforts last a while) and they taste super indulgent. So even those these are technically "healthy," your sweet tooth won't have a clue. 😉
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Good-For-You Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Chocolate
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Makes 24 mini cups
You'll need about 25 minutes for the chocolate cups to solidify in the freezer before you can indulge, so be sure to plan accordingly.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (100% cacao), chopped
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup peanut butter (128 g)
- 3 TB coconut milk
- ¼ tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Line a mini muffin pan with mini paper liners. Set aside.
- In a small pot over very low heat, melt together the chocolate, maple syrup, peanut butter, coconut milk and ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk, off and on, until melted, creamy and well combined, about 5 minutes.
- Using a spoon, evenly distribute the chocolate mixture among the 24 mini muffin cups.
- Sprinkle the tops with a few flakes of sea salt.
- Freeze until solidified, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Notes
- For the peanut butter, feel free to use creamy or crunchy, whichever you prefer. (If your brand of peanut butter already contains salt, you may want to omit the ¼ teaspoon called for in the recipe, but I never do 😉.) And to note, as these are "good for you," I encourage you to use a natural peanut butter - the ingredients should only be roasted peanuts and maybe some salt. Santa Cruz Organics is my favorite!
- There's no need to buy a can of coconut milk just for this recipe. Use whatever type of milk you have on hand: cow's, nut, seed, rice...
- I use the Oxo Good Grips Small Cookie Scoop to divide the chocolate mixture between the cups. It's about 1 scoop per cup, with a smidge left over to fill up any that look a little skimpy.
- My favorite finishing salt is Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
- I store these in the freezer. Partly because out of sight, out of mind (otherwise, these would be gone in a day!). And partly because I love how cold and creamy they taste.
- Recipe adapted from Lisa Leake's groundbreaking book, 100 Days of Real Food.
Keywords: chocolate, vegan, gluten free, freezer, no refined sugars, no bake, naturally gluten free, Lisa Leake, 100 Days of Real Food
Caroline
OMG, these are amazing! Delicious, rich, creamy, and satisfying. Healthy or healthy-ish treats have been getting me through the pandemic, and these are my favorites. I also love your tip of keeping them in the freezer and love the small size. Will make again!
★★★★★
Sarah Marx Feldner
Thank you, Caroline! It makes me so happy to hear you enjoy them as much as I do. 🙂
Taylor
Having been diagnosed with celiac this year, I am always on the hunt to curve my sweet tooth with something gluten free. These bites are delicious, easy to make, freeze well, and go perfect with wine! Oh...and it forces me to invest in “flaky” salt, that I now put on everything!
Taylor
Having been diagnosed with celiac this year, I am always on the hunt to curve my sweet tooth with something gluten free. These bites are delicious, easy to make, freeze well, and go perfect with wine! Oh…and it forces me to invest in “flaky” salt, that I now put on everything!
★★★★★
Sarah Marx Feldner
Taylor...yes! wine!! yum!!! and isn't that salt amazing?!? i love it sprinkled on salads and buttered toast, too 😉 So happy you like the recipe. xo
Carly
These look amazing and I can’t wait to try. Question- if looking to reduce the calories what would happen if I omitted the maple syrup? Would I need to add something else?
Sarah Marx Feldner
Carly...You stumped me! 😉 The maple syrup adds both sweetness and liquid to the recipe. I would think if you omitted altogether, they would still turn out, would just be less sweet and more dense...not necessarily a bad thing 😉 You might want to thin it with a bit more of the coconut milk, or whichever type milk you're using. But not too much - as you still want them to set. Let me know what you try and how it works out! xo
Ingrid
These are great! Kind of like a healthier truffle, but they taste a lot better than your typical "healthy" dessert. They were a fun afternoon project to do with my kids. I made half with sunbutter for my peanut-allergic husband and those were very good too. They were little bit grittier and saltier from the sunbutter but overall a similar creamy texture and taste. We made them in a silicone ice cube tray and they popped out nicely after they were thoroughly frozen. I will be making these again for sure!
★★★★★
Sarah Marx Feldner
I love everything about this, Ingrid! Thank you so much for sharing!! Great to know about the sunbutter swap. And the silicone ice cube tray is genius!!
Susan
Super fun and simple recipe, delivering, (almost) immediate gratification. I very rarely make desserts, and when I do it’s generally late and I am left improvising…which is why I used an egg carton and an ice cube tray to hold my wee muffin cups. Worked like a charm. Listen to Sarah re the low and slow stir. It takes time and when I bumped my induction ‘burner’ up a click after 10 minutes, the texture began to change immediately. Don’t be like me. They are great! I will make them, correctly, again. And I have two fancy maple syrups in my fridge that might want to come to the party: one is smoked and the other is infused with chipolte and lemon grass. Thanks Sarah!!!
★★★★★
Sarah Marx Feldner
Susan, there is so much creativity in your process 🙂 And I LOVE the idea of using infused maple syrup - absolutely genius! xoxo