Dark Chocolate. Espresso. Coconut Butter.
All layered together in one perfectly bold, dark, satisfyingly sweet cup.
YES. PLEASE.
Let’s make some grown-up candy, shall we?
Halloween is only three days away, and I’ve found myself craving candy off and on for the past week or so.
But, real talk: the halloween candy I enjoyed as a kid just doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I’m still crazy about many of the flavor combinations- chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, coconut, etc, but even if I pretend for a second that the vast majority of halloween candy wasn’t produced by companies with little to no regard for farmers or the planet, who knowingly exploit women and children for their cheap labor, there’s still the plain and simple fact that…it just doesn’t taste very good.
There, I said it.
I know, I know, I’m such a party pooper. But I’ll also bring homemade treats to the party so am I really spoiling the fun that much?
I THINK NOT.
To make these seemingly fancy but actually quite simple coconut butter cups, you literally just need the ingredients in the title + a little bit of sugar and salt.
Coconut butter gets mixed together with instant espresso or coffee (I like to use decaf//see above for information about how much of a party pooper I actually am) and your preferred sweetener (coconut sugar, powdered cane sugar, maple sugar, etc), then sandwiched between melted chocolate in a muffin tin. Just a few minutes in the freezer and you’re ready to dig in.
The combination of dark chocolate, creamy coconut butter, bold espresso powder, and flaky sea salt is seriously just so perfectly balanced and complex that I can’t. even. with these cups. There are no more words.
If you make this recipe, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your Dark Chocolate Espresso Coconut Butter Cups and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!
Dark Chocolate Espresso Coconut Butter Cups
Time: 15 minutes
Yields: 8
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
- 1 teaspoons instant espresso or 2 teaspoons instant coffee
- 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar, powdered cane sugar or maple sugar
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
- Flaky sea salt, for topping
Instructions:
- Line a muffin tin with 8 paper liners.
- Place coconut butter in a small saucepan and turn heat to low. Stir until soft/melted, then add in espresso and sugar, stirring well to combine. Turn off the heat and set aside. Alternately, the coconut butter can be microwaved for 30-40 seconds until warm and liquidy to achieve the same results.
- Place chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe dish or in a double boiler on the stove. Heat on low, stirring often, until melted.
- Place 1/2 Tablespoon of melted chocolate into each cupcake liner, and use the back of a spoon to spread it 1/4 inch up the sides of each cup. Transfer the pan to your freezer for 2-3 minutes, to allow the chocolate to solidify.
- Spoon 1 Tablespoon of the coconut butter mixture on top of each, then top with another 1/2 tablespoon of melted chocolate, spreading the chocolate all the way to the edges of each cup. If desired, sprinkle each with a pinch of flaky sea salt.
- Place the pan back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes, or until chocolate is firm. Transfer cups to an airtight container and store at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. Coconut butter solidifies when cold, so I prefer the texture of these closer to room temp!
NOTES:
- Coconut butter is the thick, creamy white paste made from shredded coconut (much like peanut butter is made from peanuts). Coconut oil can NOT be used in its place here. You can make your own coconut butter (toasted or not) with this recipe or buy it already made. (<–affiliate link)
- Since instant espresso tends to be a finer grind and have a stronger flavor compared to instant coffee, I recommend using 1 tsp of espresso or 2 tsp of coffee. Feel free to use more or less of either to achieve your desired intensity of coffee flavor in these cups! I like this brand of fair trade/organic instant coffee (<–affiliate link)