What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of Valentine’s Day? Love, hearts, cards, red? For me, it’s definitely chocolate! As a kid I loved waking up to find that little red heart full of chocolates waiting for me on the dining room table, and the truth is, I wouldn’t be disappointed to wake up to one now. The other side of that truth is, I know I would eat the whole box. Mike on the other hand, has incredible self control and he can make a small box of chocolates last for months. That never happens though, because after 3 days I consider it to be fair game and it’s gone before he knows what happened!
So this year I decided to make him some homemade chocolates.
I figured this would be good for 3 reasons:
I can make him exactly what he likes, while at the same time making them healthier
If I eat them all on him I can quickly whip him up a new batch … maybe he won’t even notice 😉
I know he’ll appreciate the effort of something homemade
Mike loves almond butter cups, so when it was easy for me to decide what to make. What I didn’t realize was how SIMPLE it is to make homemade almond butter cups! I went through a ton of recipes on Pinterest and ultimately decided to go with my own recipe. These almond butter cups are only 5 ingredients, about 5 minutes of prep time, and 2 ½ hours in the freezer. And if you prefer peanut butter cups, feel free to switch out the almond butter with your favorite all natural peanut butter.
Almond Butter Cups
Ingredients
1 cup Almond Butter
¼ cup Raw Cacao Powder
¼ cup Pure Maple Syrup
6 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Combine all the ingredients except the almond butter in a pot on the stove over low heat. Stir until smooth. While heating, line a muffin tin with foil liners, or you can use a silicone tray. Fill each muffin cup ⅓ of the way with the chocolate mixture. Place the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove chocolate from the freezer and fill each cup up another ⅓ of the way with the almond butter. Put the cups back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.
Remove from the freezer once again and top each cup with the remaining chocolate. Place in the freezer one more time, this time for 2 hours. These should be stored in the freezer. I like to eat them frozen, but I love all of my chocolate frozen. If you don’t like to eat frozen chocolate move a few into the fridge about 20 minutes before you want to eat them. These do become soft and start to lose their shape if they are kept out of the fridge for too long.
Enjoy!- written by : Jessica Dooley
If you try this recipe, let us know how you like it! For more clean and healthy recipes, join my FREE Clean Eating 101 group on Facebook next week. 5 days of clean eating essentials, tips, food prep, and recipes to help motivate you towards a healthier lifestyle. Send me a PM or like my page and I will add you to our private group!
