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Vanilla Bean Coconut Butter Cups with Chocolate Peanut Butter

yields ~20 mini cups // *edited 2/28/13

for the cups:

1 cup coconut butter, melted

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

2 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil, melted

1 tablespoon warmed honey/maple syrup, or pure cane sugar, optional

for the chocolate peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon maple syrup, warmed

pinch fine grain sea salt

In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and pinch of salt. Stir until smooth. Mixture will be thick. Set aside. Add your melted [see notes] coconut butter to your food processor and turn on. If you just made the coconut butter, keep it spinning in the food processor. Add the melted coconut oil and let process for 15sec. Add the vanilla bean seeds and warm honey or 1T pure cane sugar if using. Continue to process until smooth. Add 1T extra melted coconut oil to smooth out if necessary. If using honey it can take an additional 5+ minutes to smooth out again. Line a mini muffin pan with 20 mini liners and add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of coconut butter to the bottom of each. Take about 1t of the chocolate peanut butter and flatten it slightly in between your fingers. Place on top of each cup. Top with 1 – 1 1 /2 teaspoons coconut butter and lightly tap the top to level. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired. Place the pan in the freezer or fridge to set. Best if stored in a sealed container in the fridge.

notes: I use an 11c Cuisinart food processor. *One reader informed me that the honey did not allow the mixture to smooth out after adding. Mine worked after 5min of processing, but to play it safe you may just want to add sugar. If you don’t have coconut oil to add to the butter, do not sub any other oil. To melt your coconut butter: Place glass jar of your coconut butter a cold water bath in a medium sized pot. Make sure the water is below the top of the bowl/jar. Turn the heat on low and gently heat the coconut butter. You don’t want to start on a higher heat or start with hot water or the bowl/jar can crack. Stir until melted. Or, heat in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring after each until smooth.

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How to make coconut butter: [yields ~ 1 1/3c]

4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

In a food processor [11c works great with 4c of coconut], add the coconut and turn on until the coconut is creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary [I’ve found a butter knife works the best because plastic spatulas will tear from the blade]. Takes about 6-10min. Once it’s smooth, I make sure to scrape the bottom + sides really well and continue to process for another 1-2min until completely drippy. If using, add in vanilla beans, warmed maple syrup [or honey], etc. while turned on. Process until smooth. For every cup of coconut butter, I recommend adding no more than 1T of warmed honey/maple syrup or the mixture won’t smooth out. You can also use pure cane sugar. Store in a sealed jar, in a cool cabinet. Melts at about 75 degrees.

Check my post on common problems when making coconut butter and other nut butters if you need a little help!

And for a little refresher:

Coconut Oil: Oil that is extracted from the coconut meat. Extra virgin unrefined coconut oil turns clear when melted and has a smoke point of 350*. It’s great in baked goods as a butter/oil replacement.

Coconut Butter: The coconut meat is pureed into creamy butter. Coconut butter contains all of the oil, plus the fiber [and other nutrients] from the meat. It has a bit more texture because of this as well. Coconut butter is a milky, white color when melted.