Peanut butter cups

The COVID-19 situation has pushed us out of our comfort zone. Working from home has become the new normal, correction - working from home and schooling kids from home has become the new normal. And that brings about plenty of challenges. Juggling meetings while helping kids with their online classes and their homework, fixing up their meals, answering the door and for a while managing without domestic help, it is these challenges that push us to innovate. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. 

When the lockdown was imposed, we all stocked up on essentials. I typically have supplies to last a couple of weeks, but a month's lockdown and anticipated further extensions, led me to stock up on atleast two-three months worth of provisions. And I was very apprehensive of not having the children's favourites on hand. Making my little one eat is a challenge. So I really needed to stock up on some of their favourite eats, to I could cater to their whims and fancies. 

Well for starters, I started making bread at home once a week, and kept jam, butter, nutella and other spreads handy. I had pasta sauce and a couple of pasta varieties ready in stock. Not to mention instant noodles were also in stock. 

As folks know with the stock piling and demand for packaged food increasing I was unable to get peanut butter of my choice - American Garden Creamy Peanut butter 

I went in for a different brand, considering natural unsweetened peanut butter would be a good alternative, but my elder one who is usually very adventurous with food, did not like it one bit. 

So I had to find another way to consume it. I found this recipe while looking for something to do with the that box. 

Why not make myself a nice treat with that peanut butter? It will certainly save me some time breakfast. 

Recipe (Makes about 16)

Ingredients:  

Natural creamy peanut butter (unsweetened) - 1 cup (400g) (I used Alpino peanut butter)

Organic Coconut butter - 175 g (I used Dhatu organic coconut butter)

Cocoa powder - 5 tbsp 

Method:

Line muffin cups with aluminium foil liner or paper cupcake liners. Or you can use silicone moulds, and there is no need to line the moulds.

Melt the coconut butter in a microwave safe bowl in 20 second intervals until completely melted. I melted it in the bottle in the microwave. 

Transfer the melted coconut butter to a large bowl. Stir in the peanut butter and cocoa powder. 

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop two tablespoon onto the prepared muffin cups. 

Tap the muffin cups just a bit to settle the mix, smooth on top. Pop them in the fridge for a couple of hours to set. 

Enjoy them when set. 

Store them in airtight containers in the fridge. 

One butter cup is about 215 calories. Just unmould it from the refrigerator and enjoy a quick healthy breakfast. 

Verdict: I loved the creamy richness of these butter cups. It was bitter as I had not added a sweetener, but you can add maple syrup for regular butter cups or a sugar-free sweetener as indicated in the original recipe if you want it as a keto snack. On the other hand you can use sweetened peanut butter. I have not tried the sweet version of this yet. Do let me know how it works.