These all-dressed up almond butter cups are a very sweet way to celebrate all the ones you love.
It’s almost Valentine’s Day! which means I have a perfectly legitimate excuse to play with chocolate and make a disaster of the kitchen in the process. Lol.
Every time I pretend to be a chocolatier, I feel like I’m in that ‘Job Switching’ episode of ‘I Love Lucy’. You know the one…Lucy and Ethel work in a candy factory and have their very famous assembly line scene where they try wrapping chocolates coming down a conveyer belt. While that scene is a favorite, the one that really resonates with me is when Lucy is instructed on how to swirl chocolate into a very perfect ball of candy. The other candy maker does it with such ease and beauty. But Lucy makes a goopy chocolate mess. That’s me.
So believe me when I say these lil’ almond butter cups are not perfect; you can see the almond butter peeking through most and the chocolate was not a consistent coat all the way through. But I totally don’t care because they still look beautiful and taste great. My best advice with these is to just have fun and then use pretty toppings to cover the holes. Ha!
I decided to dress these up three ways for all the loved ones in my life.
For the hubby, I made a rocky road version by topping with a mini marshmallow, toasted almond slices, dried cranberries, and Himalayan sea salt.
For my galentines, I topped with edible rose petals, duh… and some toasted pistachios. These are my favorite of the bunch. I mean, they’re just so pretty!
For my little love bugs, I added some raspberry jelly filling for a fancier PB&J. And then of course sprinkles!
The Assembly
Here’s a few tips about the assembly.
You want to have all the toppings ready before you begin melting the chocolate.
I like to use the microwave method to melt the chocolate. Just short bursts…start with thirty seconds, stir and then do another thirty seconds.
Use a small spoon or an offset spatula to add the chocolate to the mini paper cup. Make sure to have the chocolate go up the sides of the cup before adding the filling.
If you’re including jelly in the filling, put that first before adding the almond butter.
Use a ziploc bag to pipe in the almond butter mixture. And then use a damp finger to press down and make even.
When you top the almond butter with the chocolate, remember that you don’t want it to be too thick of a topping. You just need enough the cover the filling.
Give these a try friends! Once you have the basics down they are totally customizable for the fillings and toppings you love!
Hope you all have a fabulous Valentine’s Day! And thanks as always for reading!
xoxo
Valerie
- 1 bag of chocolate chips
- For the almond butter filling:
- 1 cup almond butter
- ½ cup date syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Marshallows
- Almonds
- Dried cranberries
- Rose petals
- Pistachios
- Raspberry jelly
- Sprinkles
- Set mini paper baking cups on a baking sheet.
- Place half of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until chocolate is completely melted.
- Spoon about a teaspoon of chocolate into each baking cup, and use a small spoon to spread the chocolate slightly up the sides and even out the chocolate at the bottom of each cup. Let cool for 20 minutes.
- While the chocolate is cooling, make the almond butter filling. Stir together the almond butter, date syrup, vanilla, and salt. Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic bag and seal tight.
- Cut one corner of the plastic bag and pipe about 3 teaspoons of the almond butter mixture into the center of each cup. Lightly moisten your finger with water and tap down the almond butter to flatten. Leave a ring of space between the almond butter and edge of the baking cup.
- Melt the rest of the chocolate chips and spoon ½ teaspoon of chocolate onto the top of each cup. use a small spoon to spread evenly.
- Refrigerate until solid, at least 30 minutes.
Leave a Reply