Ingredients In This Gluten Free Cookie Recipe
To make these peanut butter cookie cups you will need an assortment of standard baking ingredients like flour, baking soda, and more.
- Peanut butter: First up for these cookies, you will need 1/3 cup of natural peanut butter. I recommend natural in this recipe for three things: the flavor, texture, and nutrients! You can use the drippy kinds from Whole Foods or Trader Joes, or use your personal favorite!
- Coconut oil: Next you will need 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil. It needs to be melted to mix properly with the other ingredients. This will contribute to the final texture of your cookies!
- Maple syrup: 1/3 cup of maple syrup works as a delicious and all natural sweetener.
- Vanilla: Add a bit of flavor with 1 tsp of vanilla.
- Almond flour: Most cookie recipes require flour, and this one is no different! Use 2 cups of almond flour.
- Baking soda: Use 1/2 tsp of baking soda to help the cookies shape up properly.
- Salt: 1/4 tsp of salt makes a world of different when it comes to the flavor!
- Reeses: Finally, you will need 24 mini peanut butter cups. You can use Reeses or any other brand!
What Is Vanilla Bean Paste
Vanilla paste is a mixture of pure vanilla, vanilla bean specs , sugar, water, and gum tragacanth . I get mine from Nielsen-Massey in a huge bottle that lasts me forever. It is expensive these days, but I love the look of the specs in my baked goods and the little bursts of extra vanilla flavor in every bite.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
P.S. Here are some of the items I used to make this recipe, if youd like to use them too:
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If you try this Vegan Peanut Butter Cups please let me know in the comment section below, or tag me on instagram with the hashtag #jessicainthekitchen! For more exclusive recipes follow me on AND on Snapchat: jessinkitchen.
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How To Make Peanut Butter Cups
Once the peanut butter patties are formed, its time to build these peanut butter cups. And just like the filling, Im also picky about the texture of the chocolate. When you sink your teeth into a Reeses peanut butter cup, the chocolate is just as smooth and soft as the filling. Its creamy and just melts in your mouth.
So for the chocolate in this recipe, its melted down with more peanut butter and a bit of coconut oil. This not only creates a smooth and pourable chocolate, but it also gives these peanut butter cups that smooth and creamy chocolate shell.
To build these cups, start by lining a cupcake tin with paper liners. Then, fill the base of each liner with a spoonful of the melted chocolate. You may need to nudge it around a bit so that it completely covers the bottom.
Then place your peanut butter patties into the center of these chocolate pools and try not to let the peanut butter touch the sides of the liners. Otherwise, the peanut butter will peak through the sides once theyre unwrapped.
Gently press the peanut butter into the chocolate, careful not to let it touch the very bottom. Then cover the cups with the rest of the chocolate and give the pan an gentle shake and tap to level them out.
Once filled, the cups are chilled for about an hour or until set. Unwrap the cups when theyre firm and chilled, otherwise the paper will stick when theyre at room temperature.
A Simple Vegan Candy Recipe
Best news EVER your favorite peanut butter cups are now super easy to make in an extremely delicious homemade version! Yes, believe it these Vegan Peanut Butter Cups are about to be your new go-to fridge/freezer snack. They are perfect for your dietary needs, too: vegan, gluten free, and made without any refined sugar.
I know the idea of making vegan candy at home might sound super intimidating and complicated. But trust me, its EASY. Like you might never go back to buying the pre-made stuff.
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How To Make Homemade Chocolate
Whenever Im in a pinch and need non-dairy chocolate chips, but only have dairy chocolate chips on hand, I love to whip up my own homemade chocolate recipe.
I use this recipe all the time for a chocolate drizzle or to coat fruit or nuts in for a quick dessert. I almost always have these ingredients on hand so melted chocolate is always available when the baking itch hits. Plus, its sweetened with maple syrup which makes me love it even more!
To make your own homemade chocolate, all you need to do is whisk together:
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup cocoa or cacao powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- A pinch of salt
- A splash of vanilla.
This makes for a rich, dark chocolate, which I personally love, but feel free to experiment with adjusting the sweetness level to your liking!
How To Make Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookie Cups
Reeses cup cookies are prepared just like any other cookie recipe, but well be baking them in a muffin tin to get that cup effect!
To begin, preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a mini muffin tin.
In a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla until everything is well combined.
Then, use a separate large mixing bowl to mix the almond flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until all of the ingredients are fully mixed.
Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough at a time and roll each tablespoon into a ball.
Place the dough into the greased mini muffin dish and bake for 12 minutes.
Once removed from the oven, immediately add the Reeses cups to the centers of the hot cookies. Let rest for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
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How To Make These Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Melt chocolate chips in a saucepan over medium low heat or in the microwave for 45 seconds. Place ½ tbsp of melted chocolate in 12 small silicone molds or mini muffin pan. Refrigerate them for 20 minutes or until chocolate is hard.
In a small bowl, mix peanut butter, coconut oil, vanilla extract and monk fruit until thoroughly combined.
I used these adorable silicone molds but you can easily use a mini muffin tin. I use the USA Bakeware pans because I think they are the best quality out there, but you can use whatever you already have.
As for the silicon molds, they come in so may adorable shapes and sizes. Think about it, you can easily make these into hearts for Valentine’s Day, trees for Christmas, shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, eggs for Easter etc.
You get the idea.
Just be aware that if you do use the mini muffin tins, be sure to spread some coconut oil or butter in the pan first to prevent the cups from sticking. It definitely makes a difference.
Add 1 tsp of the peanut butter filling in each cup. Then cover with melted chocolate on top of the filling.
I also usedLily’s sugar free chocolate chips to make these peanut butter cups. I also tried them with Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips which are soy free, nut free, gluten free, dairy free, paleo and NON GMO for my kids which they loved.
Refrigerate for half and hour or until peanut butter cups are hard enough to remove from molds.
How To Make Peanut Butter Cup Brownies:
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Tips For The Best Peanut Butter Cups
- Leave the Liners: While its fine to remove the muffin liner from each peanut butter cup, you can also leave them on. Trim them down like store-bought peanut butter cup wrappers, or fold the upper edges down over the top of the candies. This definitely makes them easier to handle and store!
- Peanut Alternatives: Yes, its definitely possible to make these using almond butter or sunflower seed butter. You may want to add a pinch of salt if the almond butter is on the mild side. Ive also seen pecan butter and even cookie butter used!
How To Make This Recipe Vegan
This recipe can be made vegan-friendly so easily! Lets take a peek at the ingredients.
Since eggs and butter are not used, weve already skipped two of the most frequently used non-vegan cookie ingredients. After that, the only ingredient left to switch is the peanut butter cups, which typically contain milk.
For a vegan-friendly cookie, simply choose your favorite dairy-free butter cups like Chocolate Sunflower Butter Cups from Free2b, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from Hive, or Non-Dairy Peanut Butter Cups from Oh!Nuts.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick & easy to make: These cookies are made with pantry staples that you likely already have in your house. Yes, they require some chill time, but from start-to-finish, you could be eating these gluten-free peanut butter cup cookies in just over an hour.
- Freezer-friendly: These cookies store well in the freezer, either as dough balls before baked, or finished cookies. Simply bake dough from frozen, or allow finished cookies to come to room temperature. Great to prep ahead so you can have cookies any time!
- Easy for everyone to enjoy: It’s hard not to love these chocolatey and peanut buttery cookies. Gluten and non-gluten eaters alike will surely gobble these cookies up.
Ingredients In Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- chocolate chips I like dark chocolate chips, but traditional milk chocolate chips would be great as well. For cups that are lower in sugar and calories, use Lilys Sweet chocolate chips . Theyre sweetened with stevia and if you use these chips, the cups will only have 6 grams of sugar per serving. For a vegan version, use dairy-free chocolate chips. I like the Enjoy Life brand.
- coconut oil melting the chocolate with coconut oil helps the chocolate harden and act more like a shell.
- peanut butter I prefer natural peanut butter but you can use any nut or seed butter you like! Ive tried different flavors of peanut butter and they are delicious with fun flavors! I want to try these with my pumpkin almond butter or cinnamon vanilla peanut butter too.
- honey or maple syrup this sweetens the peanut butter layer and makes these homemade peanut butter cups taste like the real deal. I really like the taste of them with honey but for a vegan version you can use maple syrup or agave.
- sea salt this ingredient is optional, but if your peanut butter isnt salted, I highly recommend adding a pinch of sea salt to the peanut butter mixture or sprinkling flaked sea salt on top of the cups.
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The Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Allow me to explain what a peanut butter cup cookie is, and why this peanut butter cookie cup recipe is the ultimate recipe.
Youre going to flip.
So we start with a chocolate chip cookie cup. Basically a gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookie based off of my simple vegan chocolate chip cookie .
Then we stick a homemade 2 ingredient vegan peanut butter cup in the middle and call it a day.
Yes homemade! Trust me, its the reason why these cookie bites are so dang delicious. And addicting!
Yet incredibly low sugar, the only added sugar comes from the coconut sugar, and were using a very small amount when you compare that to regular cookies!
But youd never know because theyre so decadent!
Now do I have your attention? Thought so Okay lets make these deliciously decadent cookie cups!
Tips For Avoiding Gluten
When reading labels, some gluten-containing ingredients aren’t obvious. Be aware of the different varieties of wheat such as einkorn, durum, emmer, spelt and kamut, recommends the Mayo Clinic.
Likewise, wheat flours have different names, but they all contain gluten: These include semolina, farina, self-rising flour, enriched flour and graham flour.
If a label includes malt or brewer’s yeast, it also contains gluten, per the Gluten Intolerance Group.
Look for a gluten-free label, because the Food and Drug Administration requires that these claims meet a clear standard. Another reliable sign to check for is a third-party gluten-free certification.
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How To Make Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Start by lining a muffin tin with 10-12 paper or silicone liners. Cover the bottom of each liner with melted chocolate. Place the tray in the freezer so the chocolate can set.
Make the peanut butter layer by heating peanut butter, honey and coconut oil together. Pour over chocolate and place back in the freezer to set.
Spoon the remaining chocolate over each cup, making sure the peanut butter layer is completely covered. Place back in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour to set completely and enjoy! My mouth is watering just typing out this recipe.
One tip: Be sure to keep your peanut butter cups in the fridge or freezer for storing. They melt easily because of the coconut oil.
More About Big River Bakehouse
Turman, who is a TV digital producer for Fox 13 for her day job, launched Big River Bakehouse in November 2020 with a line of hand-crafted small-batch granola.
She quickly realized making granola was too labor intensive for a one-person operation. So in the spring of this year, she reinvented her company and launched a line of Paleo and gluten-free brownies.
Her Mudstone Brownies and Walnut Brownies took off in popularity. Each of the brownies comes in a small two-bite size that Turman said helps with portion control.
The Better Butter Cups were launched in October.
She hopes to add more Paleo and gluten-free products in the new year.
Maybe a Paleo cookie will be next, she said. When trying to make things low-carb and gluten-free, it takes time to get it right.
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.
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