Homemade Vegan Chia Seed & Almond Butter Cups
November 18, 2009 by Sheri
Filed under Feature, Feeding Vegan Kids, In A Vegan House, Recipes
Hello! Hope everyone is doing well today!
I had a wonderful response to the “What’s In Your Fridge ?” post and several people played along and posted links to their fridge pictures. Go check out the comments section of that post if you feel like snooping in their fridges. I did and it was FUN!
My baby is napping, my boys are doing puzzles, and my older daughter is doing a homeschool lesson on Photosynthesis…so I have a few minutes to say hello and share a recent vegan treat with you. It’s chocolatey and it’s super-easy to make. Just the way I like my desserts.
This recipe idea comes from the lovely Averie. She is a groovy yogi who whips up amazing vegan desserts in her free time. She is always sharing yummy vegan dessert recipes and that makes me happy because we are ALL about the vegan desserts over here.
Averie posted a recipe for homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, vegan style. I made my own version of her recipe, and changed it up by adding a few extra ingredients, and using almond butter in place of peanut butter (we don’t eat peanuts).
I made a big batch of these babies and they are SO very good. I took a few photos of the chocolatey process and I’ll share them with you. My family loved these and I got lots of chocolatey oohs and aahs when I served them.
And they’re WAY better than Reese’s. No nasty ingredients, all organic, filled with antioxidants and superfoods….that’s MY kind of candy!
And I didn’t feel a BIT guilty when I ate six three.
First you need some chocolate. I used two different types — a Green & Blacks organic 70% dark, and a Theo Cherry & Almond organic 70% dark:
I melted them together in a small saucepan over very low heat:
And then spooned a small amount of the melted dark chocolate into cupcake liners, just enough to cover the bottom nicely:
Then I sprinkled the tops with organic ch-ch-ch-chia! seeds (the jar is frosty because it is stored in the freezer):
Added a little sprinkle of organic golden flax seeds:
And then I popped them in the freezer to harden for a few minutes.
While the cupcake liners were in the freezer, I mixed 1/2 cup homemade organic almond butter with about 4 tablespoons of Red Star nutritional yeast. My homemade almond butter is quite thick, so I found it easier to combine the two ingredients when they were warmed lightly on the stove:
Averie recommended the addition of nutritional yeast to help give the nut butter a texture like the filling of a Reese’s cup. This is the almond butter/nutritional yeast mixture:
I spooned a heaping teaspoon of the almond butter/nutritional yeast mixture onto each chilled chocolate cup:
Then I drizzled a nice layer of melted dark chocolate on top of the almond butter and sealed it in:
And I topped them with another wee sprinkle of ch-ch-ch-chia! seeds and flax seeds:
Then I popped them back in the freezer to harden for a few minutes while I cleaned up the chocolatey kitchen a bit.
And here’s what I ended up with….one organic dark chocolate chia flax almond butter cup. Say THAT ten times fast.
I looks like a hippie version of Reese’s peanut butter cups!
The flax seeds and ch-ch-ch-chia! seeds (sorry, can’t help that) gave it a terrific crunch:
The filling was delicious and I love how it layered so nicely.
I love how it tasted too. Oooh, yummy!
This recipe literally took just a few minutes, and was very easy to make. You can use whatever chocolate you like — these were very dark and rich, and we found that one almond butter cup was more than enough for each of us. We had some fresh fruit and hot tea along with this decadent treat and it was such a fun tea-time — and it fortified me for the long afternoon of decluttering that I had ahead of me that day!
My sweet, smiling little boy gets ready to enjoy his seedy almond butter cup (this cup was fresh out of the freezer and you can see the thin layer of frost on top):
Thanks, Averie, for the inspiration for this recipe! I tweaked the original recipe up a bit, and this was a hit with my gang. It got 14 chocolate-covered thumbs up from my Green & Crunchy bunch!
It was a happy, chocolatey Sunday….the very best kind of Sunday 
Have a happy day!
Sheri
How come you don’t eat peanuts?
Hi Johanna,
We don’t eat peanuts or peanut butter because they are often moldy within their shell, and a carcinogenic (cancer-causing) toxin called aflatoxin is present when they’re in this moldy state. Organic or not, this mold can grow and thus the aflatoxin is present.
There are so many other great seeds and nuts out there to make a butter/spread out of, aflatoxin-free, so that’s what we do instead.
Sheri
Yeah, I kinda thought it was something like this. I’ve heard of that peanut mold (but not aflatoxin). YIKES!!
Lots of good info on aflatoxin online if you’re in the mood to google it. We just decided that peanuts could be avoided easily enough in our diets and replaced with other nuts. I do miss the taste of pb though!
Hi Sheri!
These look DELICIOUS! I will take homemade organic candy over processed and packaged junk food any day!
Just curious – why don’t you all eat peanuts?
Thanks for another drool-worthy post and recipe!
Eliza
I replied to Johanna (above you) about the reason we don’t eat peanuts
Hold the phone!!! Those look aMAZEzing!!!! I’m going to try them out tonight. YUM diddly YUM! My hub will probably make me grind down the flax tho… he has this fear (after listening to someone speak about flax seed) that it will get stuck in his colon if not ground up. Have you heard about this? Hope you have a lovely day- always look forward to what’s going on in the Green & Crunchy kitchen! Thanks.
Your hubby’s fear cracks me up!
Whole flax seeds will travel through your body and come out…whole.
To my knowledge, they will not get STUCK in his colon if they’re not ground up. Rather, they will CLEAN OUT his colon! GREAT great fibre!
The nutrition from flax seeds is in its most readily available form if they are ground up. This is easy to do with a coffee grinder or blender, then just store the fresh ground flax meal in a jar in the fridge/freezer to maintain freshness. But for this recipe, I wanted a little CRUNCH and I knew the whole flax seeds would provide that. And they provided us with some great fibre too
Ok, so geeky question that YOU might know the answer to. I raid the bulk bins at my local grocery and make my own trail mix out of unsweetened dried fruits and raw nuts. Do I need to be storing the resultant mix in the fridge? It does take me a few weeks to eat it all because I make one big batch at once.
And thanks for reminding me that I forgot to stick my flax meal in the fridge!
(Next time I go to a party I am bringing these btw. I will sneak healthy deserts into the gathering. I have a bit of a dark chocolate sweet tooth.)
Hey Lisbet,
You’ll preserve all the goodness in the nuts by keeping them in the fridge. If you’re short on fridge space, you could just fill a small jar and keep it in the fridge for easy snacking, and keep the rest in the freezer — could store in ziplocs laid flat if you need to.
That’s a really great idea to make your own trail mix from the bulk bins — I would definitely keep it in the fridge (or freezer) just to keep it fresher longer. Especially since it takes you a few weeks to munch it all. Oils in nuts tend to go rancid after a bit, and rancid nuts taste yucky
Yes, once I grind those flax seeds into flax meal, I definitely store it in the freezer (or fridge, wherever there’s room).
The almond butter cups would make a great party dessert! Good idea! I’ll try to do that too
I want to make these right now!! I’ve been wanting to make vegan and healthy (well, healthier) versions of the Reese’s cup for a while now. I know someone who’s addicted to the brand, and I try to point out to him it’s filled with oil and other crud that’s not good for him! He doesn’t care, of course, and continues to eat them daily (gross).
I told him months ago I could make them vegan for him, and have yet to do it because I thought I needed special candy liners. Ummmmmm, using regular cupcake liners? CHECK! I have those, yippee!! I also didn’t know how to get the peanut butter the right consistency . . . nutritional yeast? Genius! These will be in my belly very soon =)
I so would love to come over and have you make me all the yummy goodies you post about! This look heavenly! I love Reese Peanut Butter cups.
BTW – I have two $1.00 off coupons for the So-Delicious Coconut Milk…we don’t drink it…I would be happy to send them to you, if that wouldn’t be too weird…you know, giving out your address!
Actually, I might be able to scan them and email them to you…if you want.
Hi Kelly!
Thanks for the kind offer! We don’t drink the coconut milk regularly so I don’t think I’d use the coupons. But thank you for offering. So sweet of you!
Sheri
That looks DELISH! Thanks for sharing and keeping me inspired, Sheri! Have you found anything out yet on that raw chocolate?
Greetings from Colorado,
Angela
Based on what I continue to read on this topic, I still think that in moderation it is actually quite good for you!
So I’m going with that…small quantities of high quality fair trade organic dark chocolate, or else raw organic cacao nibs or powder will continue to have a small place in our diets.
Sheri
Cool! I just bought for my family our first raw cacao powder ever. I have to try make some of your chocolate balls, they just look to delicious! Thanks for your feedback!
Oh my how tasty……after being up at 3am my kiddakins are happily snoozing and i am off to my kitchen to make these tasty treats
Hi Sheri!
Thanks for the link back and the credit… I am already seeing people who aren’t, so I totally appreciate your kind words on the email you sent me, and the linkage
And your AB Cups look amazing!!!
When you’re cooking for a brood, you need to make in bulk. I couldn’t believe how much AB + Nooch you needed, but yeah, you did…b/c your creations look awesome!!!!!!
Love the chia seed addition and flax, too. Wow. You’re just full of healthy fats n fiber over there aren’t you! I wanted mine authentic so I kept it basic but love the variations!
Will go out in a tribute post over the weekend…
You’re welcome for the link-love…it’s the least I could do after you created and shared this fab recipe
Yes, I shop in bulk, and I cook and UNcook in bulk! We HAVE to…so many of us!
The seeds were a great addition…gave it a nice crunch and loads of healthy fats and omegas.
Thanks again!
Oooo, these look SO good! I need to get some good quality chocolate so I can make some, asap. My kids would love it (and mama too!)
Oh man! I wish I was part of your family!!!
Can I just call you mom? HAHAHA! J/k!!! 
XOXO!
I am too young to be your mama!
(haha, I knew you were kidding. You WERE kidding, right? Right? RIGHT?)
Haha–Of course I was kidding, I was even going to add, you are too young to be my mother!
Give me one of those!
I love how you work extra nutrients into your candy with those seeds, so that a treat isn’t a bad thing or a worrisome thing, just a good, nutritious part of your daily food.
Amazing! Love your add-ins also. I am trying this with Mexican chocolate (Ibarra) tonight. I see that the inital freeze is a few minutes but how long, when it’s all done, in the the freezer for it to set? I obviously don’t want to wait one more minute than I have to.
I love Mexican chocolate too. I saw on TV how it’s just pounded from the nibs, and sugar and cinnamon added, very simple and pure. I use it for hot chocolate all the time.
Mexican chocolate? Sounds divine! I’d love to know how they turn out!
Just a few minutes in the freezer should do it…I left them in just long enough to clean up my little saucepans and wipe down the counters.
Enjoy!
Report back on the use of Mexican chocolate: delicious? Yes! (cinnamon, chocolate and sugar, what’s not to love?) a Reese’s Peanut Butter stand in? No. This is a (delicious) work in progress since I also need to work on my chocolate/nut butter ratios. I used too much nut butter per cup. But as a healthier, vegan sweet treat this is a real winner. Plus from now on I am adding nutritional yeast to nut butter on a regular basis. Genius.
I added too much nut butter per cup too, and had to remove some before topping with the top layer of chocolate. A teaspoon of almond butter seemed to be about right.
I need to find some mexican chocolate, it sounds delicious!
The nutritional yeast added to the chocolate was Averie’s genius idea, not mine…I love how it changed the texture of the nut butter! Gave it an awesome boost of B12, too, which we vegans need : )
Sheri…. Holy WOW, those look amazing!!!!!!
My other half is IN LOVE with Reece’s PB cups but it’s really hard to get them here (Australia). I think I’ll have to try a home made version that’s vegan so I can eat them too!!
P.s. Not sure what the deal is over there, but about 6 months ago, our Green & Black’s chocolate (all varieties) started showing up with milk solids on the ingredients list… Just letting ya know, you might want to double check. I now buy a brand called Cocolo (vegan/fair trade/organic).
I heard that from another reader about the Green and Blacks label. Mine doesn’t mention milk solids on the label, but I will watch for that on future purchases of G and B. Thanks for the heads up.
I haven’t heard of Cocolo, but I’ve just discovered Theo (vegan/fair trade/organic) and wow is it yummy.
Nice to have so many chocolatey options, isn’t it!!
I LOVE it! Me and my hubby used to LOVE the holiday reece’s PB cups because the the filling would be nice and thick. I must try making these! Of course… I’ll probably change it up a little
) LOL!!!!
Those look SOOOOO freaking good! Yum, yum, and yum again.
Care to send a few my way? *L* I don’t think they would survive the trip to Istanbul.
I don’t think they’d make it out of my house…my kids would put a stop to that!
Ooo Mon Dieu!! That is amazing…wanna take a bite of the screen Lol!
Green&Black’s that is THE chocolate I use as well. rich thick and good for the soul;-) their spread is not 70% tho! ( the 1 in my fridge;-)
XoXo.
Wow. Those look amazing! I am definately making those for the holidays! It is so hard to find good chocolate, most have all kinds of nasty additives. I finally found some dark organic chocolate at Trader Joes that only has 3 ingredients- cocoa, cane sugar, and cocoa butter, I am so excited!
So Thankyou for sharing this!!!
thanks for another inspirational post! Definately want to make some of those. I just found a nice 85% cocoa bakers chocolate that is organic and vegan, just need to find some chia seeds now
They look so good! I’m sure my boys (and I) will absolutely love them!
Ever thought of using the Avocado-chocolate pudding as your outside.. I’ve frozen it before and it was pretty awesome by itself. I bet it would be even better with big glob of almond butter in the middle of two layers!!
Manda, you’re brilliant! I need to try that when I need my next choc fix!
WOW! I’m so going to try this. But do you think it’ll also work if I mixed raw cacao powder with agave or maple syrup to make the chocolate layers?
Hmmm…sounds like they would need to really firm up in the freezer, but why not try it? Good combination, bet it would taste great too. Bet the maple syrup would lend such a nice mapley flavor too.
Does the nutritional yeast change the taste of the almond butter much? Just thinking of the cheesy-ness of NY, and wondering how it works together. I might try it with just almond butter and see how it works…I don’t mind if it’s a bit messy!
The nutritional yeast didn’t change the taste of the almond butter, it just made it a bit more…gritty, textured, grainy. I still tasted all that almond butter flavor, and the nutritional yeast changed the texture.
Enjoy!
Just curious- I found your site pretty recently, so you might have answered this before. Where do you get your goji berries and chia seeds? We have a whole foods nearby, but the goji berries are covered in yogurts and outrageously expensive, and I can’t find chia.
Hi Bee,
I am in a bulk buying club and buy alot of my bulk food through it. But I purchase on Amazon too — they have an impressive selection of bulk organics, I bought a 10 lb bag of organic gojis on sale through them for a great price and it has lasted more than 6 months. You can find chemical free chia seeds there too.
Enjoy!
Mmmmm!!!!! Those look sooooooooo good <3 I love how you used 2 kinds of chocolate, they must have been so yummy with that little hint of cherry, mm!!
I think I need to go make some homemade chocolate goodies right now! Thanks for the inspiration
OH and also, i’ve heard a lot of good things about nutritional yeast, but I’ve been weary/nervous to try it, since I don’t really know what it is/how it’s made… it just seems weird to me (I’m more comfortable with plain old raw foods. There’s no question: This is an apple. lol)
But seeing you use it, I may reconsider, given that you guys are a high-raw vegan family and you’re careful not to give your family anything harmful, processed, etc.
So what IS nutritional yeast, exactly? Perhaps there’s a good site you could recommend that would both educate me and calm my nerves about these mysterious yellow flakes
These look absolutely wonderful! Scrumptious and fun to prepare
Gena, hi! I read your fabulous blog, and am star-struck to see you here
Oooh I just loved your amendments to this treat and I am still hoping one day to be your sixth ‘child’ hehe.
YUM!
I’m always finding great stuff in here – thank you so much.
Can you share how you make your almond butter? We used to have a nut butter grinder but when it broke we could no longer find the personal sized ones – just the mega expensive industrial ones.
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
I toss the unroasted unsalted almonds into my food processor and turn it on. I let it run about 15 minutes, stopping the machine to scrape down the sides a few times during the processing. The longer it runs, the creamier it gets. That’s how I make a raw nut butter, and I do other raw nut and seed butters the same way.
For a roasted nut butter, you could always lightly roast the almonds and cool them, and then run them through the food processor. Roasted nut butter is delicious too.
I have also made almond butter by soaking/sprouting the almonds, dehydrating them, and then grinding them into nut butter. More steps, but also good.
So I don’t have a nut butter grinder like you mentioned, but a good powerful food processor does the job nicely!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I am sooo gonna makes these little puppies as soon as I can get my hands on some good chocolate (I live in India). Hubby is in Dubai for a meeting, so I have just added the choc to his ‘list’! Any idea for using nibs or raw cacao powder instead? I thought that I could mix the powder with organic coconut oil for the shell, but then they would taste coconut-y, which I suppose is not a bad thing, but would take away from that classic peanut butter cup taste… Also thanks for sharing your chocolate pudding recipe in an earlier post. I added raw vanilla bean powder to mine for the first time last night after seeing that you put vanilla in yours, and it was the best version that I have ever made! So good!
Hi Jennifer! I think Averie’s original pb cup recipe suggested making them as a raw option by adding cacao powder and coco nut oil, so yes, you definitely could try that. It would firm up in the fridge nicely, I would think. So that’s an option to try if you can’t wait for hubby to get back from Dubai with your chocolate!
Raw vanilla bean powder sounds like a tasty addition to the raw choc pudding! I don’t have any of that, but I do have some vanilla beans that I could scrape in to the next batch, which may be made today since I now am craving it
Hey Sheri!
I got a surprise of two organic vegan chocolate bars from my better half, and just cranked these babies out this morning (while I was supposed to be packing but am in denial about that)! I had yet to try making almond butter on my own, so thanks for inspiring me to get going with that – it turned out beautifully (I had to use the coffee grinder – I am sure there is a better way…). I was a bit too conservative with my centers, though, as I was afraid I would run out of chocolate. I’ll stuff them better next time. The raw vanilla bean powder is a fairly new addition to my pantry. It was on the expensive side (in my opinion as a starving student), but well worth it, as I just have to use a tiny amount and it smells soooo good. It came from http://www.TheRawFoodWorld.com. Anywho, thanks again for inspiring so many of us with what you do and how you live!
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer!
Choosing chocolate-making over packing…I like the way you think! I’m glad they turned out for you — hope you enjoyed a few while you tackled the packing
Thanks for the link to the vanilla bean powder, I’m very interested in trying it out!
Sheri
thanks for the idea, I made these this weekend, yum! PB cups are my favorite candy and I can eat these feeling like I’m actually eating something that’s good for me! (in moderation of course)
Wow. Those look delish! I love, love, love flax and chia seeds. LOVE how you incorporated them into this yummy candy!!!
mmm these look scrumptious nom nom nom.
We are going to make these ASAP!! My kids are drooling at the screen! Sad to hear about the peanuts – I want to learn more about that. Would you believe we live on a peanut farm? We don’t farm it – my husband’s family used to and his BIL still grows peanuts….so we have always made our own peanut butter – but now I’m wondering about this???
Thank you for posting this! I don’t eat peanuts due to a high risk of having a peanut allergy and I miss peanut butter and chocolate. I’m going to try this soon!
I can’t wait to try this one!
I especially love the “Ch Ch Ch Chia” bottle!
Thank you for your wonderful website/blog! You are such an inspiration to me, every time I run out of ideas on what to feed my family – you come to the rescue with beautiful presentated, organized, tasty, healthy meals.
I am struggling with switching to a totally vegan diet. My 2 yr old has severe ezcema which is really bad right now, she can’t sleep at night, crying from itching. We don’t know what is causing it (possible allergies to milk or other products). She’s not much of an eater, likes (caw milk) yogurt a lot. Also, my husband is big milk/cheese/ bread kind of guy (we don’t eat much meat, only fish occasionally). We are drinking green juice and green smoothies daily but I’m struggling with the rest of the meals because she doesn’t take to new foods easily and I don’t have enough experience to provide good variety. I would love to get some advice from you, book recommendations, meal plans, any advice you can provide would be appreciated. Feel free to email me if you have time (I know you are busy, busy, busy mom). Thanks again and blessings to you and your wonderful family.
Hi Natalie,
Since you mentioned that she may have allergies to milk and other products, have you removed the cow milk products from her diet? Oftentimes the problems go away when the dairy is removed. That happened with us many many years ago when we stopped the dairy products.
There are some fantastic books on vegetarianism and veganism — off the top of my head, I’m think of Jeol Fuhrman’s Feeding Kids Right and also his Eat To Live, Dreena Burton has excellent books and lots of info in there related to vegan children, then there is Becoming Vegetarian, or Becoming Vegan, those are some good starters for you. I am a fan of some great Raw books but that’s probably not what you need right now.
get your baby a new plate to eat her foods from, serve a new food with an old favorite, keep exposing her to the new foods, let her see you eating these healthy new foods (leading by example is the best)….
Good luck!
Sheri
Sheri,
Thank you for your response. I will check out the books you recommended at the library or Half price bookstore. Actually, I wouldn’t mind your Raw books recommendations, since that’s where I would like to be, eventually. We are about 50 % raw right now(some days more than others). We eliminated all dairy, except very little raw goat milk at night, my daughter is doing better. But it’s a slow process… Also, I just have to give praise to your section plate idea once more! I found a really nice rectangular section plate for my baby at a Goodwill, it has 5 litte sections and looks like a little airline tray. Well, she gobbles up everything I put on that little plate! What a wonderful idea, I’m looking for more plates!!!
Just wondering, is there any way to subscribe to your posts, so I would get them in my email? I don’t want to miss anything.
Thanks again
xoxo
There’s a little subscribe button in the top right of my website
Great job on the section plate, glad that is working so well!
(and you didn’t say, but isn’t it FUN to fill the sections? Or is that just me…)