PB&J peanut butter cups! Like a regular peanut butter cup but with a layer of jam – and made healthier. Naturally gluten-free with vegan and dairy-free options.
While I was in the US this summer, I went to Trader Joe’s for the first time. And these PB&J milk chocolate bars were probably my favorite thing. Well, after the mini peanut butter cups.
I knew the second I bit into one of those peanut butter and jelly chocolate bars that I’d have to recreate them when I got back to Germany. By the way, the only peanut butter candy we have over here is Chunky Peanut Butter Kit Kats. Have you all tried them?! They are… amazing.
These peanut butter cups aren’t the quickest candy to make. Covering all those mini muffin liners with chocolate takes some time and then there are three chilling periods. An easy way to cut down on preparation time is to use a regular muffin pan.
I made these PB&J peanut butter cups twice. The first time I used semi-sweet chocolate and the second time I used milk chocolate. I’m not a fan of dark chocolate so for me, the lighter, the better! If you’re a dark chocolate fan, go ahead and use it.
I used this homemade strawberry jam which only has 1/4 cup honey for 2 pounds of berries and I only used 1 tablespoon of honey to sweeten the peanut butter filling. So the filling isn’t too sweet. If you use really sugary jam, you may want to think twice about using milk chocolate. Or not. This is candy. ;) The Trader Joe’s version uses raspberry jam but I was more than content with my strawberry version.
Because of the jam, these need to be kept in the refrigerator. But if you take them out about 15 minutes before eating, they come to room temperature and are, in my opinion, much better! But then again, I don’t normally like cold chocolate. And these are fine at room temperature for several hours or even a day. I just wouldn’t leave them out longer than that.
So that’s it for Back-to-School Week. It was pretty much a regular week, wasn’t it? I think about 90% of my recipes are already kid and lunchbox friendly. I have the palate of a young child so it makes sense, I guess. :)
Peanut Butter and Jelly Peanut Butter Cups (gluten-free with vegan, dairy-free options)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 24 mini peanut butter cups
Ingredients
- 7 ounces (200 grams / 1 cup + 3 tablespoons) milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (Enjoy Life chocolate chips for dairy-free)
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) refined coconut oil1 (or unsalted butter for a dairy-containing version)
- 1 tablespoon (20 grams) honey (agave for a vegan version)
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) refined coconut oil (or unsalted butter for a dairy-containing version)
- 1/2 cup (128 grams) natural peanut butter (the kind with just nuts and salt)
- 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup strawberry jam
For the chocolate shell:
For the PB&J filling:
Directions
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate and coconut oil at half power in 30 second increments. Stir after every 30 seconds.
- Line a 24 cup mini muffin pan with mini muffin liners.
- Pour 1 teaspoon of chocolate in each cup. There should still be quite a bit of chocolate leftover. Set this aside.
- Tilt the pan in a circular motion to cover the liners with chocolate. Make sure that the chocolate goes all the way up the edges of the wrapper. I used a small pastry brush to do this. It's okay if the chocolate oozes over a little. Once chilled, the peanut butter cups will be easy to remove from the pan.
- Put the pan in the refrigerator and chill for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the honey, coconut oil, and peanut butter.
- Spoon a teaspoon of the peanut butter onto the bottom of each chocolate cup.
- Add about 3/4 teaspoon of jam on top of the peanut butter (or more if you like) but remember that you need to leave room to add chocolate on top.
- Put the pan back in the refrigerator for another 45 minutes.
- Melt the bowl of chocolate you previously used in the microwave (at half power) and pour on enough chocolate to fill the muffin liners.
- Return the pan to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Remove the chocolates from the molds and place them in a container.
- Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Place in the freezer after 1 week.
Notes
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28 comments on “Peanut Butter and Jelly Peanut Butter Cups (dairy-free, vegan)” — Add one!
You had me at peanut butter cups— adding Jelly oh my — I don’t think I could stop at one…or even 5!
Haha. It’s definitely not easy! ;)
My hands down favorite sweet of all time – PB cups and you just took them to the next level. And Chunky PB Kit Kats???? If you ever get back to Germany I may need to have you ship me some – in exchange for a care package of your favorite Trader Joe’s treats – LOL. Pinning this now to my PB & Chocolate board….
Haha. Guess what?! I’m still here! :D I’ll write you later! Thanks for commenting, tweeting and pinning. :)
These look so awesome! If you can’t get refined coconut oil (or even regular but I hate the taste of coconut anyway), what other oil can you use and will you get the same results?
Thanks, Ragan! You could use butter or shortening, if you like that. :)
These look delicious! Can’t wait to try them out :)
Thanks, Brandy! I hope you’ll enjoy them. :)
Oh sweet fancy moses, these look AMAZING. I’d definitely make mine with dark chocolate, and maybe homemade raspberry jam. Swooooon.
I am all about anything with pb and chocolate, what a great twist. We don’t have a Trader Joe’s near us, so I hardly ever get to go. Next time I will have to keep an eye out for that candy.
You have to try it! That and the mini peanut butter cups. SO good!
You are just so darn clever. I love everything about these cups.
Thanks, Jennie! And I’m really just a copycat. ;)
What an awesome treat! I love PB and chocolate and PB + J, so I am totally up for combining all three :)
Agreed! They’re pretty fun. :D
I’ve always wanted to make home PB cups. So fun to include the jam too!
You’ve got to give them a try! :)
Ooh, these sound so good Erin! I’ve seen that PB&J Chocolate Bar at Trader Joe’s and I thought it would be amazing but I haven’t tried it yet! I would definitely be one to make these with dark chocolate though; for me, the darker the better. :D Unless it gets to like 90% which can be a bit much…
You have to get one next time! And wow, I wish I could do 85%. Or even 60%. Semi-sweet is even a little bit of a stretch for me!
Love it, another great back to school treat here!
The kids will love it even more than I do! So cute!!
These look so delicious! I love peanut butter cups, and adding jelly makes it even better!
Love this twist on pb cups! Yummers!
Clever! Will have to try these.
Peanut butter cups are a total weakness of mine – I love the idea of these with that layer of jam in there too!
I love those bars from Tjs, gotta make these sometime since I don’t have the stores in my city.
This is such a fun snack! Lovely idea!
This looks awesome! I love making homemade peanut butter cups because I think Reeses are just too greasy and bleh. And I love peanut butter and jelly together and I love chocolate. Again, this looks way too awesome!
And those peanut butter kitkats sound interesting! I didn’t even know they made peanut butter kitkats…