Made Paleo Almond Butter Cups (45/366)

"What could be better for you than eating the foods you love?"
~ Nick Yow-Woo


Nick's favorite candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Ever since we discovered Paleo eating, we've tried to cut down on grains, dairy, sugar, and legumes. Almost all of those things are in Nick's favorite candy. He still has them occasionally, but I thought for Valentine's Day, I'd surprise him by making a batch of more Paleo-friendly almond butter cups, made with dark chocolate which has less dairy and less sugar.

I started out with the chocolate. I chose three bars to make a blend for the shell - one from TCHO, a local company making chocolate right here in San Francisco, a raw organic dark bar, and a no-sugar-added bar I had discovered on our New York trip last year.


Here are my ingredients. We had creamy almond butter and chunky - I wanted to use just creamy, but brought the chunky out in case I didn't have enough. The only thing I added to the almond butter was a bit of organic honey, which along with a little extra sweetness, added a different flavor dimension. Recognize the candy molds from when Nick made cakepops last year?


I chopped up the chocolate and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time I took it out. Then I poured a tiny bit into the bottom of each mold, so the almond butter filling would have a little base.


After letting the chocolate set in the freezer for a few minutes, I drizzled more onto the sides of each mold, put about a teaspoon of my almond butter mixture in, and spread that out a bit so it would fill the shape and the chocolate-to-almond butter ratio would be correct. Then I topped the cups off with more chocolate. Here are my three stages, and a shot of the tray almost full:


After topping each cup off with chocolate, I put the tray in the freezer to firm up. The finished product:


These are an awesome little treat out of the fridge or freezer - I don't really care for Reese's Peanut Butter cups because they're actually almost a bit mushy for my taste. With these, the dark chocolate hardens beautifully, and the almond butter firms up nicely as well. I'm glad I was able to make these for Nicky. He loves his Reese's cups so much, but these are so much better - because they were made with higher quality ingredients, and lots of LOVE. Happy Valentine's Day!

Related Links:
Tcho Chocolate 8 Bar Taster Assortment (Pack of 6)
Freshware 30-Cavity Silicone Chocolate, Candy and Peanut Butter Cup Mold