I am a firm believer that chocolate and peanut butter were meant to be together! One of my greatest weaknesses are treats, desserts or anything chocolate peanut butter related! I just have the hardest time passing them up.
Now, since I've been working super hard at healing my gut, I haven't had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in way too long! This only meant one thing, I had to make a healthier version that was full of better ingredients than what Reese's includes!
Looking above, you can see that the ingredients list is full of ingredients that are less than par. Soy, which is a GMO crop (this means it's been modified and not to mention, sprayed in glyphosate - an antibiotic for plants that wrecks havoc on our guts) is in here. Then there's artificial flavor, which essentially means WARNING: CHEMICALS AND TOXINS HERE! And who even truly knows what they mean by " PGPR and emulsifier" (they use this chemical to help improve texture)?? Then of course sugar wasn't enough so they had to add the secret sugar "dextrose", and finish off the product with TBHQ, which is a synthetic preservative.
My rule of thumb, if you don't know what it is or where it came from, it most likely isn't going to be good for your body.
So, after looking at these ingredients I figured it couldn't be too hard to make my own. Guess what?! It was crazy easy and my kids loved helping too!
Here's what I did...
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cups
Makes 24 Peanut Butter cups
Ingredients
24 mini cupcake liners (optional mini cupcake pan)
1 - 9 oz bag of dark chocolate morsels (I use the Enjoy Life brand or Nestle Allergen friendly brand, which both are dairy free)
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
1 serving collagen protein powder (I get the plain collagen from Vital Proteins)
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
In a glass bowl melt half of the chocolate morsels in the microwave (approximately 1 min., stirring halfway through). Once melted pour 1 tsp of chocolate to the bottom of each mini cupcake liner. Once each of them are filled, allow chocolate to harden by placing them in the freezer. While it's hardening, in another bowl combine peanut butter, vanilla, and collagen powder together. Back in the glass bowl, melt the other half of the dark chocolate morsels, remember to stir halfway through (about 30 seconds), so as to not burn the chocolate.
When the chocolate is hardened, place approximately 1 tsp of peanut butter mixture on top of the frozen chocolate. With the other bowl of melted chocolate, cover the peanut butter mixture until you can no longer see the peanut butter. Allow chocolate to cool and harden before serving!
Finding a good chocolate chip
Typically, in a chocolate chip ingredients list, you'll find soy lecithin, milk, chocolate liquor as some of the standard ingredients. In the Toll House and Enjoy Life brands they stick to 3 ingredients, which are chocolate, cane sugar, and cocoa butter. These ingredients aren't anything special, but when it comes to reducing toxins and chemicals in our food, we want to keep the ingredients list as simple as possible.
Peanut Butter
I'd like to think that everyone has jumped on the organic, just nuts (and maybe salt) peanut butter band wagon. Peanut butter is one of the easiest pantry essentials to swap for a better product! If you turn the label over and read what's actually inside your skippy or Jif peanut butters you'll see that the list of ingredients is far longer than 2 ingredients! Common ingredients in most brands of peanut butter are: molasses, hydrogenated oils, mono and diglycerides, and last but not least, SUGAR! We don't need to add all of those other ingredients to our nut butters. Once again, let's keep the ingredients list simple! Peanuts and salt! That's all we need.
Collagen
I added collagen powder to my nut butter to, one, add more protein to help reduce the insulin spike that always accompanies sugar, but is lessened any time there is a protein and/or fat paired with it! So I figured, why not try it! Be sure to read the ingredients listed in your collagen as well, there may be hidden fillers and man made ingredients that aren't gut friendly. One of the most common ingredients I find hidden in these protein powders is "natural flavors". This is just the companies way of saying "this ingredient once came from a whole food source but is now processed and produced into a man made product that we don't have to disclose". Whenever I see that on ingredients lists I choose to avoid it. In this case, this is why I use the plain, unflavored Vital Proteins Collagen Powder.
Remember, each food serves a purpose in our bodies, whether it helps heal or contributes to inflammation and an unhealthy gut microbiome. Keeping our foods simple and whole will serve your body and your mind well! That I can promise.
Feel free to reach out and ask me any questions, and don't forget to follow me on Instagram @Nutri_Vation for tips and tricks and a good time.
Happy cooking!
Danielle
P.S.
If you're looking to learn more about how to identify which foods are going to help your body out the most, especially in this day and age, consider signing up for Nutrivation's Intro to Learning Nutrition 4 week course! This is a "do at your own pace" course, packed with valuable information to help you and your family feel your best!
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