vanilla bean coconut butter cups with chocolate peanut butter

Guess what?

Today’s recipe does not involve potatoes.

Although, you could pour the below coconut butter on top of a sweet potato. 

But let’s get back to the point. 

If coconut butter becomes solid when chilled, why not turn it into a no-bake treat? 

It’s like a chocolate peanut butter cup, except sub out the chocolate for creamy coconut butter.

And the inside isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill peanut butter, it’s chocolate peanut butter.

And the coconut butter has been taken to the next level with the addition of vanilla beans.

One of my favorite ingredients ever.

I adore all things vanilla.

The most un-boring flavor to ever live.

Instead of a heaping spoonful of almond butter with tomorrow’s breakfast, one of these will be happily plopped on top. 

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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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Add the melted coconut oil and let process for 15sec.  
4. 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.
5. Line a mini muffin pan with 20 mini liners and add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of coconut butter to the bottom of each.
6. Take about 1t of the chocolate peanut butter and flatten it slightly in between your fingers.  Place on top of each cup.
7. Top with 1 – 1 1 /2 teaspoons coconut butter and lightly tap the top to level. 
8. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired.
9. 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.

…

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

• 4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut 

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

A sneak peek from yesterday’s photo shoot with one of my best friend’s Laura, her husband, and their newest addition.  They are so very lovely.

Ashley

Orange Almond Chia Muffins

When I was younger, the breakfast muffin that trumped all others was the orange muffin.  You know, the cream colored muffins with tiny flecks of orange and that sweet, buttery-orange flavor.  They were my favorite!

Not blueberry.  Not cinnamon streusel.  And definitely not lemon poppyseed.

This muffin was inspired by my mom who has been wanting to try chia seeds but isn’t really sure what all she can do with them.  I thought muffins would be a great place to start.

I haven’t done much baking with chia seeds and was excited for a new challenge.  With the recent lemon blueberry almond flour cupcakes, I was inspired to make another grain free recipe.

Almond flour and almond meal make outstanding baked goods.  They are incredibly moist and fluffy but also quite dense.  Fluffy and dense sound like opposites, but they definitely hold both of those attributes.

A quick refresher:

Almond Flour – ground into a fine flour from blanched almonds [almonds with no skin]

Almond Meal – ground into a fine flour from raw almonds

Trader Joe’s carries 1lb bags of almond meal for about $4.  Bob’s Red Mill carries both the flour and the meal, but they are quite pricey.  There are other places you can find both products online, but you can also make your own using a high power blender, large food processor, spice grinder, or coffee grinder.  It’s best ground in small batches until very fine.  Avoid over-grinding as it will turn into nut butter!  Once ground, let cool and store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Unfortunately, there is no real substitution for almond flour/meal.  Because almonds are a not a grain, baking with almond flour [and coconut flour] is quite unique.  More eggs are required to hold the flour together and liquid [like milk] is typically left out.  The texture is also extremely moist because of the high fat content from the almonds.  In comparison, almond flour is softer and a bit lighter, while almond meal is slightly more dense and textured.

I prefer using almond flour for cupcakes and almond meal for muffins.  The heartier texture from the meal works brilliantly for muffins.

Chia seeds soak up quite a bit of moisture, so I knew I would need to add some sort of liquid to the batter.  Since I already planned to zest an orange, I decided to use the juice as well and add an equal amount of milk.  I couldn’t be happier with the results!

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Orange Almond Chia Muffins

gluten-free, grain-free // yields 12 muffins adapted from Roost

• 3 cups almond meal
• 6 Tablespoons chia seeds
• 3 eggs
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 6 Tablespoons orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 5 Tablespoons coconut oil [butter/ghee], melted
• 1.5 Tablespoons orange zest
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat your oven to 350* and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
2. Mix together all dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients until smooth.
4. Add the wet to dry and stir with a large spoon until just combined.
5. Pour evenly into muffin liners and bake on the middle rack for 25-30min until a toothpick comes out clean and the muffins are golden brown.  Top with slivered almonds before baking, if desired.

notes:  I used unsweetened almond milk but feel free to substitute 1-2% milk, soy milk, hemp milk, etc.

These make an excellent breakfast alongside a bowl of yogurt topped with fresh berries.  They have a slight crunch from the chia seeds but are incredibly soft with that sweet orange flavor I’ve always loved.

I can’t wait to share these with my mom first thing in the morning.

Ashley