30 Minute Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

My daughter met a little friend the other day, Kaya. Kaya is 5 years old and is a vegan. She is very proud of her veganism and when my daughter offered her some of her snacks at our drive-in movie party she responded with a "no thank you, I only eat vegan." Since then, my daughter has been telling me that she wants to become a vegan too. And so it begins, the "I want to do what my cool older friends are doing." I asked her what it meant to be a vegan and she told me something along the lines of "let me think about it..... when you eat vegan stuff you eat Oreos or apple vegan." Well she IS close, Oreos are vegan and so are apples but when I explained to her that ice cream is off the table she wasn't too keen on the idea.

But to respect her wishes, I am implementing more vegan meals and treats so she can have exposure to veganism and then make an educated decision.

Today we decided to make Vegan Peanut Butter Cups as a special treat and an introduction to yummy vegan treats. These are fun because it requires no baking, only 5 ingredients, and only 30 minutes of your time.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients (makes 12 peanut butter cups)

1 cup of vegan chocolate chips

2 TBS virgin coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup peanut butter, PB2 or almond butter

1 TBS grade B maple syrup

Drop of vanilla extract

Coconut oil spray

Procedure

Place the chocolate chips and melted coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until completely melted and smooth. If after a minute of stirring, it isn't completely smooth, throw in the microwave for 15 more seconds and continue to stir until blended.

Next place your cupcake liners into cupcake pan and spray with coconut oil to avoid sticking. Spoon a small amount of chocolate mix into the cupcake liners (just enough to cover the base) and place into the freezer for about 5 minutes

While chocolate is in the freezer, mix 1/4 cup of peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla into another microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Stir until well blended and smooth.

After 5 minutes remove your, now hardened, chocolate and spoon about 1-2 teaspoons of peanut butter onto the tops of your chocolate. Smooth down as much as possible (I used the back of a spoon to flatten and smooth.)

Once you have added peanut butter to all the cups, add a TBS of chocolate mix to the top of peanut butter to cover filling.

Place back into the freezer and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Enjoy straight from freezer or wait about 5 minutes to allow them to soften some. Store cups in freezer to avoid melting.

Enjoy!

I know my son did! It got a bit messy but what doesn't with 19 month olds!