Bill and I love chocolate! I’m not sure who is more of a chocoholic, Bill or myself, but it is fair to say that we are both up there with the best of them. I try to avoid chocolate more than Bill (I wasn’t blessed with his killer metabolism), but it is a wonderful indulgence from time to time.
Since cutting sugar from our diets, we now get most of our sugar from natural sources such as fruit, honey, maple syrup, or yacon syrup. Our taste palates have really changed. We definitely cannot stomach the highly processed chemical candies that we used to love so much. Bill, lover of all things Reese’s, and me, a previous peanut m&m; junkie, can’t handle that kind of sugar these days. We both still love the mixture of chocolate and nuts, but now on a more natural, less sweet scale. That is what brought us to today’s recipe.
I have been telling Bill for a while that after eating primally for so long, the next time he tries a Reese’s cup all he will taste are the chemicals. We decided that we wanted to put together a simple candy recipe for a ‘Reese’s’ style treat, in a more ‘Primal’ fashion. After some quick thinking on how to execute this dish, we were off in search for some chocolate candy molds. We found ours at an amazing kitchen store called ‘In The Kitchen’. Bill and I have gone to this store a few times and walked around the aisles drooling over everything, mentally putting it all on our wish lists for future kitchen adventures. A key part to making this candy was how we applied the chocolate to the molds. We used a medium sized paint brush. Bill and I are both artists, so it was fortunate for us that I had a new brush, never been used, handy for us. Sorry watercolors, that brush gets the chocolate! For any of you foodies out there that don’t have random watercolor brushes in your home, any arts and crafts store such as Michaels, or Joann Fabrics should have what you need. On to the candy!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chips (the darker the chocolate the better, but these allergen-free chips are quite delicious)
- 1/2 cup Almond Butter (Our preferred almond butter is the Trader Joe’s brand. This brand is raw, and comes in crunchy or smooth. Bill and I prefer the flavor over roasted almond butter.)
Process:
- On very low heat, melt chocolate chips in a sauce pan or double boiler.
- With a clean/unused paint brush, paint melted chocolate into candy molds.
- Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Fill hardened chocolate molds with almond butter.
- Paint chocolate over the top to cover the almond butter.
- Place in freezer for 10 minutes or until completely hardened.
- Carefully “pop” candy out of molds.
These treats were delicious! They had just the right amount of sweetness from the dark chocolate, with the perfect mix of gooey nut butter in the center – which never seemed to freeze. These are great to keep in the freezer for a healthier sweet treat indulgence, or a quick dessert option for a house party. Give these a shot, or try a twist of your own.
As always, enjoy!
I'm envisioning some shredded coconut on these already…MMM! Can't wait to try it!
Where do you find that brand of chocolate chips? Ohhhh, and the coconut that ~E just mentioned….YES!! In, on, wherever, would make a great addition!!
I use Ghiradelli 100% cacao nibs – they are unsweetened, but I love them when I need a chocolate fix (w/o sugar). 😀
Coconut sounds like a great addition to this!
The chocolate chips (by Enjoy Life) can be found at Whole Foods or most organic grocery stores. For our Mid-Atlantic friends, you can find this in the organic section of Giant Eagle. If all else fails, we sell it in our Amazon Store, too.
The unsweetened cacao nibs would be great – we'd recommend adding a little raw honey or stevia extract as they might be a little bitter for most people. The 100% cacao IS more paleo, so this is worth a shot.
Thanks for the kind comments (and Re-Tweets!)
Hayley and Bill
What a fabulous idea! My husband and I cut out carbs and sugars from our diet for the most part about a year ago, too, so this is absolutely perfect. A few squares of dark chocolate or a spoon of almond butter are a couple of my favorite desserts. This is perfect!
And great site – I'm loving it!
Thanks! We love all the great feedback we've gotten lately – its energizing. We have so much saved up to publish, so keep following!
Hayley & Bill
These look delicious! A quick note on the molds: I've used a silicone mini muffin pan to make something like this and it worked great. I've also "painted" it in with just my fingers. 🙂 Can you tell I don't want to run to the store when creativity hits?
Whitney
PS I came over from your posts on MDA. I look forward to perusing your site!
Hi Whitney!
Great tips! Nothing wrong with finger painting ;)…so glad to have you over here now. Thanks for the great feedback.
Hayley & Bill
I love your blog! Thanks for the great recipes, food porn, and fantastic tips! I've been eating paleo/primal for 5 months but my husband has been doing it for about a year. Being a carb-aholic, it took a while to finally ditch the refined carbs and grains. Now, I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner!
I just started my own little Paleo food blog: http://www.nomnompaleo.tumblr.com
Please visit 'cause I'd love to get some feedback.
Thanks again and keep blogging!
Michelle
I was also a Reeses fanatic…I've been making these nut butter cups for a while now…to help firm up the almond butter I mix in 1 Tablespoon of ground flax (per 1/3 cup nut butter) and chill it in the fridge for at least 24 hours before making the candies.
Michelle-Thanks for the food love! Great work with your blog…we will definitely be checking it out often.
Andrea-Thanks for the tip on the almond butter. I love flax seeds. I sprinkle them on salads, and eggs. Delish. We actually really enjoyed the gooey almond butter center, but i've heard of mixing flax seeds in with almond butter and have yet to try. Will be on our 'to-do' list. Thanks!
Hayley & Bill
Mmmm…. I'm wondering if there's some way to thicken the almond butter – to get that dry crumbly Reeses texture. Maybe adding extra almond meal….
Just made these – AMAZING!!!! I used the 72% dark chocolate baking bar from Trader Joe's + some of the unsweetened baking discs (to make it as dark as possible, but still "sweet" enough so my husband will eat them). MMMMM!!!
That is great! So glad you enjoyed them!!
Hayley & Bill
O.M.G.!! I cannot wait to make these after I finish my Whole30! Looks like a GREAT sweet treat as I am prone to a spoon (or two) of almond butter for dessert!
They are so good (and so easy to make) – Enjoy!
Absolutely LOVE your website!! Have tried many of your recipes with great results! These are so good, made them for my hubby whose fav dessert was reeses pre-paleo and we both went crazy over them! I made them in cupcake papers on a sheet pan (only filled it up halfway) and then folded the extra over so they are even packaged like reeses. Next time I may try cashew butter. Keep up the great recipes!!
I just found this recipe and it sounds great. I am thinking of combining it with this other recipe to see how it turns out! http://nutritionholistic.com/2011/01/paleo-peppermint-patty-pudding/