Happy Halloween! Raw Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

For the first time in at least a decade, I went trick o' treating this Halloween in rural Woodbury, CT with an old friend. We had a blast, and of course in true Halloween spirit, after coming in from the cold, I dumped my booty out on the floor and counted how many candy bars I had scored in each flavor. My favorite candy bar has always been Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and I could not resist unwrapping that shiny orange paper and biting into its saccharin sweetness. It tasted good because it brought back childhood memories, but let's face it, the Reese Cup is pretty low on the quality scale for chocolate and peanut butter.

So today I decided to make a raw version! I researched a few recipes, and finally decided on the one from Gone Raw. This was my first attempt at raw candy, so I would definitely do a few things differently next time. For example, melt the coconut oil before processing it with other ingredients. And I definitely made the chocolate layers way too thick- the recipe was enough to make 16 and I only produced 9 so the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate was low. Overall, however, I produced a much tastier Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, as confirmed by my father during an official taste test. His official comment: "I like the chocolate better." Raw cacao baby!

And perhaps one could argue this version of the Reese Cup is healthier, but raw or not, it's still candy. Yes, there is such a thing as raw junk food!

Raw Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
From Gone Raw 
Servings: 16 candies

Ingredients: 

½ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup coconut butter (Ed. note: I thought this was a bit high, would reduce next time to 2/3)
½ cup agave
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon sea salt
5 tablespoon raw peanut butter

Preparation: 

Blend all ingredients except the peanut butter in a food processor until smooth. Then put half of the batter into a 16 cup mini muffin tin that has been lightly greesed with a little oil. Put in the freezer for two minutes. Then put about one tsp of peanut butter into each cup and then cover with the rest of the chocolate sauce. Freeze (about five minutes-but I keep them in all the time and just take them out when I want one) and enjoy.