Halloween is almost upon us which means little, individually wrapped candy everywhere. Find my recipe below for Package-Free Peanut Butter Cups. These are inspired by Reese’s, but without the plastic packaging and with ingredients that are sourced responsibly. See ya trash bin filled with all the evidence of my candy addiction. See ya.
I wish I could say that as I got older, I lost my taste for candy. But it’s just not true. And my favorite candy has always been the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. White chocolate, milk chocolate, big ones, little ones – these are what I would dig through the candy jar to find. But with chocolate and sugar being two of the main ingredients, and no Fair Trade label, I couldn’t buy these in good conscience this year. I also did a little research and, according to KnowTheChain, a resource for companies to understand and address forced labor risks within their global supply chains, The Hershey Company has some improvements to make (See here: https://knowthechain.org/companies/128/).
Plus, the packaging! So many little plastic wrappers getting tossed, in schools, in homes, in offices. There just had to be a better way.
And I’m very pleased to say… there is!
A Delicious Package-Free Alternative
These Package-Free Peanut Butter Cups are better than the real thing! I know this is a big claim, and I was ready to be the biggest critic of all, but they are absolutely delicious and really simple to make.
Now in most neighborhoods you probably can’t hand these out to trick-or-treaters, since parents are (understandably) wary of unwrapped candy for their kids. But it’s a great option to bring into the office, to prepare for a party, or just to have around the house (though they don’t last long in my house!)
I also wanted to see if you could skip the paper muffin cups so tried to make some peanut butter “balls” that were just rolls of the peanut butter filling dipped in chocolate. I found it pretty tricky to dip the balls in chocolate, so the final results weren’t necessarily beautiful but they were still so very tasty. If you have chocolate molds those would also work!
These Package-Free Peanut Butter Cups are also completely adaptable to your personal taste – you can make substitutions such as using dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet, using almond butter instead of peanut butter, or throwing a little sea salt on top. Go nuts! (Ooo or add nuts!)
What Kind of Peanut Butter?
For the peanut butter, I bring my jar to Whole Foods and get the fresh stuff that churns out right there. The only ingredient is organic roasted peanuts that are grown in the United States. And it is delicious. It is also the PERFECT texture for this recipe. If you have an option in your area for freshly churned, locally sourced peanut butter, I highly recommend using it in this recipe. You can also make your own peanut butter in a food processor or high speed blender. Just grind up roasted peanuts.
Otherwise, store bought natural smooth peanut butter will work well. Try to get one that has less oil sitting on top, and make sure there aren’t other sneaky ingredients in there like sugar or palm oil.
What Makes Package-Free Peanut Butter Cups Revolutionary?
1. You choose the ingredients. See my Guide on Foods to Buy Fair Trade.
- Sugar: I suggest using Fair Trade certified sugar in this recipe (and always). If you can’t find Fair Trade powdered sugar, you can put Fair Trade cane, turbinado, or coconut sugar in your food processor or blender and make it yourself! I recommend Downshiftology’s great guide on How to Make Powdered Sugar.
- Chocolate: I had to search for awhile for chocolate that was certified Fair Trade for all of its major ingredients. Pro tip – in the USA, companies can have a Fair Trade USA label on the front of their product if any one of their ingredients is fair trade, e.g. in chocolate chips the cocoa might be fair trade but the sugar might not be, and they still have the label on the front. So check the full ingredient list!
2. No plastic packaging. If you use paper liners, look for ones that are certified compostable so you can compost them at the end.
3. Can easily be made completely vegan. Just use vegan chocolate chips.
Enjoy and Happy Halloween!
Package-Free Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients
- 1 heaping cup Fair Trade semi-sweet chocolate chips Can also make recipe vegan by using vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tsp Fair Trade coconut oil
- 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter freshly churned if possible
- 1/8 cup Fair Trade powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp Fair Trade vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Prepare your paper liners by putting them into a muffin tin, which will help keep them still as you work. You will need about 12 for regular-sized paper liners. You can skip this step if you are using chocolate molds or opting for chocolate covered peanut butter balls!
- Stir together the peanut butter, vanilla extract, salt, and powdered sugar. You may need to add more powdered sugar to get the desired consistency. You should be able to roll the peanut butter filling into a ball that holds its shape.
- Prepare peanut butter filling by taking out approximately two teaspoons at a time and forming them into small disks. These disks should be smaller than the width of your cupcake liners, so that the peanut butter filling will be nice and hidden inside the chocolate shell. Put these disks on a plate or cookie sheet in the fridge during the next step.
- Melt chocolate and coconut oil, stirring to combine. You can melt using a double boiler, the microwave, or by placing chocolate and coconut oil in a heat safe bowl within a large pot filled with a couple inches of water (I used this method). Bring the water to a simmer, stirring chocolate until its melts. Once melted, remove pot from heat but leave the bowl of chocolate inside so it stays melted while you work.
- Spoon just enough chocolate into the liners to cover the bottom, about 1-2 teaspoons.
- Place peanut butter disks on top of first layer of chocolate, in the center of each liner.
- Cover each disk with more melted chocolate, about 2 teaspoons. You can slightly tilt the muffin tray to move the chocolate around, or use your spoon to gently push the chocolate around. This can also give you a nice swirl on top of your chocolate!
- Put the muffin tray in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to let the chocolate set.
- Remove from fridge and enjoy! Store in an airtight container in cool, dry place.
These are our go-to for dessert now! So easy, absolutely delicious, and you only need one to fulfill a chocolate craving!
Thank you, Kelsey! Agreed – they are somehow so much more satisfying than the originals!
These are dangerously good
Agreed! Thank you!