Does anyone have exciting Valentine’s Day plans? I will be working this weekend so we will probably have a low-key Valentine’s Day night. My main requirement for V-Day is chocolate, I mean…is there really anything else that you need? This year I am all about homemade chocolate treats.
I’m still deciding if it is a good thing or a bad thing so I have started to experiment with making my own chocolates. Good thing because they are darn delicious and so easy to make but a bad thing because I end up eating them all! To me, there is something so satisfying about watching chocolate melt and become velvety smooth. I could stand at the stove and stir chocolate all day.
You could go down the route of melting actual chocolate bars or chips but I have been digging into using coconut oil to make chocolate. Mainly because it only requires three ingredients that I almost always have on hand – just coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup. Plus, I don’t have to keep real chocolate lying around which would most likely be eaten before it could ever get to the candy-making stage.
Does this taste exactly like milk chocolate? No, but for me, it is close enough. And when you add in creamy almond butter, I’m just as happy with these as I would be with a peanut butter cup. The possibilities for toppings and fillings are practically endless. I decided to go with raspberries since to me they are such a sexy little fruit but you could do strawberries (maybe cut them in little heart shapes -cute!) or dried fruit like cherries or crystallized ginger would work really well too. The filling is optional or you could use peanut butter or jam or jelly might taste really good too.
Chocolate Almond Butter Cups with Raspberries
- Makes 6 chocolate cups
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons almond butter
- Raspberries for topping
- Sprinkle of sea salt if desired
Place 6 muffin liners in a muffin tin. Over very low heat, melt coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup in a small saucepan. Whisk until combined and smooth with no lumps. Pour about one tablespoon into each muffin liner. Chill in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Then spoon about 1/2 tablespoon of almond butter into each cup. Cover with remaining chocolate sauce until almond butter is covered. Place pieces of raspberries on top and finish with a sprinkle of sea salt. Chill for another 20-30 minutes or until the chocolates are firm. Store in a covered container in the fridge until ready to eat.
