Reese’s Cups really are one of the best candies out there.
And they are so simple! Just chocolate and peanut butter. So why not just make your own?
These “Reese’s Cups” are not only super easy, they are much better for you than the real thing. They use semi-sweet instead of milk chocolate, and they use almond butter instead of the super sugar packed “peanut butter” inside a Reese’s Cup.
But I am telling you…they are still so yummy and satisfying. The sea salt just takes them to a whole new level and brings out the flavors in the chocolate and almond butter.
Try and resist eating all of them immediately. So for this super easy, lightened up dessert, we are going to start with a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Just use the basic 12 inch bag. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips for this recipe (what chocolate is going to be better than Ghirardelli??), but you can really use any brand you want.
Dump all the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute. Take the bowl out and stir your chocolate chips.
Put the bowl back into the microwave and heat for another 45 seconds or so. Take the chocolate out and stir together until it is a uniform bowl of melt-y, chocolate deliciousness. If all the chocolate chips still aren’t melted, pop them in the microwave for another 20 seconds.
Resist the urge to lick the spoon at this time. Or don’t. I succumbed. Repeatedly.
Then you are going to take a mini muffin pan and line each little cup with a mini muffin liner. If you don’t have either of these things, I got mine at my local grocery store for super cheap. It’s something worth having.
If you don’t feel like buying a mini muffin pan, however, you can just use a regular sized muffin pan and just have longer and thinner “Reese’s Cups.”
Place a spoonful of chocolate in each lined mini muffin cup so it fills the liner about half way up.
If it’s a little less than half, that’s okay. There are no exact measurements here. As long as there is chocolate and almond butter, we are good to go.
Then take your almond butter and place it in a sandwich sized ziplock bag, and cut the tip off of one end so there is a small hole. In my opinion, this is the easiest way to get the almond butter into the cups, but if you would rather just use a spoon, go for it.
Squeeze enough almond butter into the chocolate so that it fills the liner up about 3/4 of the way.
Then just spoon a little more chocolate over the top, just to cover the almond butter.
And then just repeat with the rest of the muffin pan!
And then for the topper that makes these little “Reese’s Cups” over the top! Sea salt. If you don’t have sea salt, you can definitely just use basic kosher salt. I tried that on one just to make sure it was just as good. And it is.
Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt over each “Reese’s Cup.”
Now they just need to set and harden. If you are impatient, you can place them in the freezer or fridge to speed up this process. But beware…I left mine in the freezer the first time I made these and basically broke my teeth trying to eat one.
So let them harden and eat up!!
Here is the recipe:
- 1 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
- ¾ cup of creamy Almond Butter (I used Jiff)
- Sea salt or kosher salt
- Place your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute
- Take the bowl out the microwave and stir
- Heat for another 45 seconds and stir
- If the chocolate still isn't completely melted, put in back in the microwave for another 30 seconds
- Place the almond butter into a sandwich sized ziplock bag, and cut one of the corners off so there is a small hole
- Line a mini muffin tin with 12 mini muffin liners
- Spoon a small amount of chocolate into each cup, it should fill each liner about half way full
- Once you have repeated this process with all 12 liners, pick up the muffin tin a few inches off the counter and drop it
- Repeat this a few times; it will settle the chocolate into a more even layer
- Using your sandwich bag, squeeze a little bit of almond butter into each cup of chocolate
- Each cup should now be about ¾ of the way full
- Pick up and drop the muffin tin again to settle the chocolate and almond butter into an even layer
- Spoon a little more chocolate over the top, just enough to cover the almond butter layer
- Top each "Reese's Cup" with a light sprinkle of sea salt (or kosher salt)
- Let the "Reese's Cups" set and harden before eating
