Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
This easy recipe for Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups combines rich dark chocolate with a creamy peanut butter center for the ultimate indulgence and nostalgia. This recipe is naturally vegan, but it's one that everyone will love!
If you like making homemade candy as much as I do, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like my Homemade Crunch Bars, Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Bars, Easy Vegan Peanut Brittle Without Corn Syrup, Homemade Caramel Sauce with Bone Broth, or Strawberry Chocolate Bars.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
- Ready In: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Makes: 24 candies
- Main Ingredients: dark chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar
- Flavor Profile: chocolate and peanut butter
- Dietary Info: vegan, gluten free, eggless, no seed oils
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Why You’ll Love It: homemade version of mini Reese's peanut butter cups but dairy-free and organic!
Summarize & Save This Content On
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Dark Chocolate: These are dark chocolate peanut butter cups, which are one of my favorite candies! I love the combination of the sweet peanut butter filling with dark chocolate.
- Creamy Filling: These have a classic creamy peanut butter filling made with only a few ingredients. I also use peanut flour in the filling which gives them even more peanut flavor! If you love cream filled chocolates, also try Strawberry Cream Drops or Chocolate Cream Drops.
- Flexible: These are naturally vegan, as there’s not much in here. But if you are not vegan and want to use regular milk or even milk chocolate, then go for it, they will be just as good!
Jump to:
- A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Easy Substitutions
- Baker’s Tips
- How to Make Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups FAQ’s
- Halloween Recipe Ideas
- More Homemade Candy Recipes
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
- The Bake Shop
Homemade peanut butter cups are one of my favorite recipes! I love making my own peanut butter cups at home because I can control the ingredients. While I love indulging in candy, I don't love all the harmful ingredients traditional candy has, including peanut butter cups!
But, when I make homemade peanut butter cups, like these, I can use simple organic ingredients I feel good about eating. Rich dark chocolate is wrapped around a creamy peanut butter filling in these mini peanut butter cups with only 6 organic ingredients! Say goodbye to harmful ingredients and store bought candy and enjoy these homemade peanut butter cups for a special treat!
If you want more nostalgic candy made better, try Puppy Chow Candy Clusters, Pink Peppermint Ice, or Mint Meltaways.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter: I use organic creamy peanut butter, my favorite is Costco! If you want to use another nut butter, like almond butter, cashew butter, pistachio butter or even walnut butter, you can. You can also use tahini or sunflower butter if you prefer too.
- Peanut Flour: I also use organic peanut flour in the filling, this really brings so much flavor to these peanut butter cups. If you don't have this at home, almond flour or coconut flour is a great substitute.
- Coconut Milk: I use organic coconut milk, but almond or oat milk is also fine. If you're not vegan, you can also use cow's milk.
- Dark Chocolate: I use organic mini dark chocolate chips as these are my favorite dark chocolate for melting. They have no stabilizers and they are so tiny, making them melt incredibly easy. You can also use a dark chocolate bar, just be sure to shop into small pieces so it melts easily. You can also use milk chocolate if you are note vegan and want a more traditional peanut butter cup. But, also check out the Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups made with milk chocolate!
Easy Substitutions
- Feel free to use milk chocolate in place of dark if you want a more traditional peanut butter cup flavor.
- You can also use any kind of milk, almond, oat or even cow's milk if you are not vegan.
- Make these almond butter cups and replace the peanut butter with almond butter and the peanut flour with almond flour. Use almond milk for even more almond flavor!
- You can also make these nut free by replacing the peanut butter with sunflower butter and the peanut flour with coconut flour.
- Add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top for a sweet and salty candy!
Baker's Tips
- You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate, or you can use the microwave method, either works.
- I used my Pyrex to pour the chocolate into the mini muffin liners. You can also use a squeeze bottle or a piping bag or even a spoon.
- Store these in the fridge or in the freezer as they do have milk in them. You can also freeze them too!
How to Make Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
- Line a mini cupcake pan with liners (or mini muffin tins). Add the chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl. I like to use my Pyrex measuring cup here as this way I can just melt and pour right from it.
- Melt in the microwave doing 30-second intervals, stir between each one to ensure chocolate does not burn. You can just pour the chocolate out of the bowl, or you can transfer it to a squeeze bottle, piping bag, or pyrex liquid measuring cup for easier filling.
- Add a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of each liner, about one third of the way. Place the tray in the freezer for about 5 minutes to harden the chocolate.
- While the chocolate is setting, make the filling. Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, peanut flour, coconut milk, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl.
- Mix together with a spatula until combined.
- Transfer to a piping bag with no tip. Set aside.
- Remove the tray from the freezer, and pipe a small dollop of peanut butter filling into the middle of each liner. If you don't pipe it directly into the middle (leaving room on the sides, the cups will show peanut butter on the sides instead of chocolate). Transfer back to the freezer for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and add the remaining chocolate into each liner until full. Make sure to add enough chocolate to coat the filling completely. Place back in the freezer to set the chocolate for at least 1 hour.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups FAQ's
I use dark chocolate and coconut milk here to make these vegan. If you aren't vegan or dairy-free you can use regular milk and even milk or white chocolate if you prefer.
They taste even better! While I hadn't had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in a very long time because I don't eat those kind of ingredients anymore, Reese's came out with organic peanut butter cups recently. I was so excited, so we bought them. But, they were incredibly dry and not very flavorful like I remember from my childhood. And, this confirmed that they are so much better when you make them at home!
Make sure your chocolate is chopped finely and it's the same size. This is why I like using the mini dark chocolate chips I mention above, as they are small and uniform. The smaller the pieces, the easier your chocolate will melt. And, when they are uniform in size, it will prevent burning as they melt evenly. You also want to ensure you melt doing 30 second intervals and stir between each one. This will help heat the chocolate evenly, so it doesn't burn.
Measuring incorrectly will give you a peanut butter filling that's too soft or crumbly. Be sure to weigh ingredients and measure properly. But, this can also happen if you are using organic or natural peanut butter and it wasn't stirred properly! If you get portions of peanut butter that is very oily, this can cause your filling to be too soft. If you are using the dry peanut butter bits from the bottom of the container, this can cause it to be too crumbly. If this happens, you can fix it by adding in a little more coconut milk to fix a crumbly filling, or a little more powdered sugar to fix a soft filling.
The peanut flour helps dry out the filling so it can easily be piped into the cups and it's not too runny. I use peanut flour (instead of another flour like coconut or almond) so you get more peanut flavor! But, if you don't have peanut flour, coconut flour is a great substitute.
Yep, you can substitute any nut butter like almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter, or pistachio butter in place of the peanut butter. If you are doing this, you can use coconut flour in place of peanut flour too. Or even nut-free butter like tahini or sunflower butter also works!
Yes, because I use coconut milk here, these need to be stored in the fridge. I keep them in an airtight container.
These are best kept in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container. I always keep mine in the freezer, that way I don't feel pressured to eat them all right away and I just thaw out a couple whenever my craving strikes. You can let them sit on the counter and come to room temperature before eating.
These will last in the fridge for about 2 weeks. You can store them in the freezer for even longer. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months!
Yes, just store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can move to the fridge when you're ready to eat or let them come to room temperature on the counter.
Halloween Recipe Ideas
If you're hosting a Halloween party, you may want to make some nostalgic favorites with better organic ingredients! And these homemade peanut butter cups are a must! Try some of my other nostalgic Halloween desserts made better like Organic Halloween Cookies With Sprinkles, Homemade Twix Bars, Vegan Snickers Bars, Healthy Almond Joy Bars and Caramel Lollipops.
More Homemade Candy Recipes
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Vegan Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Heatproof Mixing Bowl
- Mini Cupcake Pan
- Piping Bag
Ingredients
- 510 grams mini dark chocolate chips
- 113 grams peanut butter
- 71 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 28 grams peanut flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line a mini cupcake pan with liners (or mini muffin tins).
- Add the chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl. I like to use my Pyrex measuring cup here as this way I can just melt and pour right from it.
- Melt in the microwave doing 30-second intervals, stir between each one to ensure chocolate does not burn. You can just pour the chocolate out of the bowl, or you can transfer it to a squeeze bottle, piping bag, or pyrex liquid measuring cup for easier filling.
- Add a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of each liner, about one third of the way. Place the tray in the freezer for about 5 minutes to harden the chocolate.
- While the chocolate is setting, make the filling. Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, peanut flour, coconut milk, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl.
- Mix together with a spatula until combined.
- Transfer to a piping bag with no tip. Set aside.
- Remove the tray from the freezer, and pipe a small dollop of peanut butter filling into the middle of each liner. If you don't pipe it directly into the middle (leaving room on the sides, the cups will show peanut butter on the sides instead of chocolate). Transfer back to the freezer for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and add the remaining chocolate into each liner until full. Make sure to add enough chocolate to coat the filling completely. Place back in the freezer to set the chocolate for at least 1 hour.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to use milk chocolate in place of dark if you want a more traditional peanut butter cup flavor.
- You can also use any kind of milk, almond, oat or even cow's milk if you are not vegan.
- Make these almond butter cups and replace the peanut butter with almond butter and the peanut flour with almond flour. Use almond milk for even more almond flavor!
- You can also make these nut free by replacing the peanut butter with sunflower butter and the peanut flour with coconut flour.
- Add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top for a sweet and salty candy!
- High Altitude – Follow the recipe as noted.
Nutrition
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Mimi’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cups are amazing! Rich creamy chocolate with nice peanuts butter center. You will never be able to eat a Reese’s PB Cup again!
Thanks Mary!
WoW, these are a punch of chocolate. I will never be able to enjoy a Reese’s cup again after tasting these with the rich chocolate. Soooooo good!
Amazing, thank you!