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I just realized that I’ve turned on my oven maybe once in the past week. What a glorious thing.
What could be worthy of turning on the oven during a heat wave, you might ask? Two words: sweet potatoes! Yes, even in the summer, heat wave be damned, I need my sweet potato fix.
This is my favourite way to eat sweet potatoes lately: Dice the sweet potato (leave the skin on), roast until tender, and then toss the cooked potato with coconut oil, sea salt, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Finally – and here’s the best part – a generous spoonful of hemp seeds sprinkled on for good measure. The hemp seeds stick to the coconut oil, coating every delicious bite of sweet potato. I seriously drool when I think about it!
But this post isn’t about roasting things like a crazy person when it’s 40C with humidity, it’s about not roasting things! Aside from my precious sweet potatoes, I’ve been relying heavily on raw foods to make up much of my diet. Raw Pad Thai, Detox Tabbouleh, hummus and veggie wraps, fruit galore, and a huge smoothie every single morning, just to name a few. Summer rules and winter drools. Period.
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Speaking of drooling. These raw almond butter cups! Oh my goodness. Eric declared them one of his favourite treats and this is coming from a non-almond butter fan. I’m not buying it, Eric. I have a peanut butter cup recipe on the blog already (oh, and peanut butter cups in a jar, let’s not forget), but I wanted to make something with the batch of raw almond butter I made recently.
For the almond base, I initially tried a combo of almond butter, coconut oil, and sweetener, which was super tasty, but the cups melted and were pretty greasy. In an effort to make the base more substantial, I reduced the almond butter and added in almond meal and a touch of oat flour. It was the perfect solution. Not only did it hold up better, but it tasted like cookie dough! What’s not to love about that? noooooothing.
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I used a mini silicone muffin holder since they are so flexible and I just popped the cups out after freezing. Easy! You can certainly use a regular muffin tin lined with paper liners though. For the thick chocolate coating, I made my own chocolate using cocoa powder, coconut oil, and sweetener. Feel free to simply use melted dark chocolate if that floats your boat! I added some sliced almonds on top before freezing which added a nice crunch.
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As you can see the chocolate topping started to melt during my photo shoot because it was a gazillion degrees, so I recommend enjoying these straight from the freezer for best results. Either way, I wasn’t complaining too much!
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![Raw Almond Butter Cups](https://ohsheglows.com/gs_images/2019/01/Rawalmondbuttercupsvegan-73501-595x768.jpg)
Raw Almond Butter Cups
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Yield
1 dozen cups
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
45
Total time
Like the peanut butter cup candy, but so much tastier and better for you! These raw almond butter cups are the perfect solution to any sweet craving. I used a mini silicone muffin tray since they are so flexible and I just popped the cups out after freezing. You can certainly use a regular muffin tin lined with paper liners too. For the thick chocolate coating, I made my own chocolate using cocoa powder, coconut oil, and sweetener. Feel free to simply use melted dark chocolate if that's what you have on hand. Be sure to keep these chilled until just before serving and store them in the freezer for best results. I personally love them straight from the freezer.
Note: Use certified gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten-free. NEW: See below for a nut-free version!
Ingredients
For the base
- 3/4 cup raw almonds, ground into a meal
- 1/4 cup rolled oats, ground into a flour
- 2 tablespoons raw almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
- 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil, warmed if necessary
- 1.5 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or agave nectar)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of fine grain sea salt, to taste
For the topping
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or 2 tbsp agave nectar)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- pinch of fine grain sea salt, to taste
Directions
- Add almonds and oats into a high-speed blender and blend on high until a flour forms. Dump into a large bowl and break up any clumps with your fingers.
- Add the nut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup (or agave), cinnamon, vanilla, and salt into the bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined. The dough should be fairly sticky like cookie dough.
- Line a mini (or regular) muffin tin with paper liners or use a silicone muffin holder. Portion the dough into each muffin cup and press down until even and smooth.
- To make the chocolate sauce: Whisk together the coconut oil, sweetener, cocoa powder, and salt until no clumps remain. Spoon the sauce over top each of the cups, distributing evenly. Garnish cups with sliced almonds if desired.
- Place in the freezer in a flat area for 30-45 minutes, until firm. Pop out the cups & enjoy immediately! These are best consumed straight from the freezer.
Tip:
If looking for an oat-free option, you might be able to substitute the 1/4 cup of oats for more almond meal. My guess is that you’d need to add another 1/3-1/2 cup almonds to avoid the dough becoming too sticky. Please report back!
For a nut-free version, sub the almond meal for an equal amount of rolled oats (so use 1 cup total rolled oats). Sub the almond butter for sunflower seed butter. Works great!
Hi Angela,
I’ve never used coconut oil before. I have it in my cabinet and it is “firm”. When measuring it out for this recipe/working with it, do I heat it first or use it straight from the jar?
Thanks!
Hi Suzy, You can use it straight from the jar! enjoy :)
Angela, I LOVE these!! I sub-ed brown rice flour for the oat flour and it worked great! Also, I ran out of agave after making the base, so I used brown rice syrup in the chocolate sauce for the top instead, and it tasted great! Might be good in the base too, just didn’t try it!
Thank you again for another great recipe! Can’t wait for your cookbook!! =)
Just made these with agave and unrefined coconut oil (to get more coconut flavor). They aredelicious. I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years and just recently decided to go vegan/gluten free. This website has changed my perception on vegan/glutn free eating. Thank you!
Thank you Christina! That means a lot :)
I made these and they were soooo delicious! Thanks for sharing!
These look delicious Angela! I just made little all chocolate tarts with sliced almonds as the toppings too! I love almond butter, as I use it for everything….desserts, dressing, etc.
AMAZING!! They didn’t even last 24hrs.
I made these the other night after dinner and they are fabulous. Thanks so much for the recipe. I did however use pre-ground almond meal (worked fine) and I used half peanut butter and half almond butter since I was literally almost out of almond butter and that was all I had. That worked fine too. I am sorry to read that so many people are being told that coconut oil is bad. It is extremely good for you in many different uses not just cooking. Thanks again for the recipe.
Oh my goodness, these look so good! I have a recipe that I use for almond butter cups, it’s super simple – but I’m looking to shake things up. Thanks for sharing with us =)
I have been eating gluten free and vegan (for the most part) for the past month in an effort to clean out all of the junk food from my body. My nutritionist specifically stated that I should eat twice as many vegetables as fruits, but I could eat healthy oils, nut butters, maple syrup, etc. in small doses and as long as it was all natural.
The big problem is that now I have sugar cravings, but I don’t want to overdo it on fruit, and I have to eat a lot of fruit to satisfy the cravings (never had sugar cravings before by the way). So, I discovered this recipe and thought I would try it. I am waiting for the cups to set in the freezer, but I wanted to say that the “dough” and “icing” were both amazing right out of the bowl, so I can’t wait to see the end result.
I am so impressed with the culture that surrounds gluten free and vegan foods. My main qualm about going this route was that I would miss out on wonderful blends and amazing taste combinations with a severely limited ingredient list. On the contrary, the ingredient list is full of possibilities, and every blogger who puts out recipes has a different amazing style and a story to tell. Thanks for what you do, and thanks for the good food!
Hey Kristy, Thanks for such a lovely comment! I’m so happy to hear this.
Update: Not only did my pastry-obsessed boyfriend love these, but I brought them in to work on the same day. Turns out, everyone loved the almond butter cups and I have shared this website with several co-workers, some of whom eat healthy as a habit, and some who just loved the dessert!
Angela – can i just use almond flour (ground almond) and oat flour? If so, how much for the already ground meal?
Hey Kelli, Yes you sure can – I would use a similar amount – maybe a couple tablespoons more flour as needed. It should have the consistency of cookie dough
OH MY GOODNESS! I just made these & they were aMAzing. (my toddlers loved them, too!) I used cacao powder instead of cocoa & topped with some nibs & a bit of shredded coconut… & added cardamon instead of cinammon… & gluten free oats.
Was such a treat & a nice change from the cacao/date truffles I usually make. LOVE that crust base! Thank you for sharing! xo
I made these this weekend and used coconut nectar in place of the maple syrup, they were incredible!
These are AWESOME, Angela! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe! I’m gonna put them on my blog this week too – I will link back to you!
OHHH MMMMMM GEEEEEEEEEEEE. These are incredible. Everyone needs to make the NOW. Wow, just wow!
Thank you for sharing!!!!!
I have made these at least 4 times.. Cannot keep them in the freezer. Who needs any other dessert!? Thanks for perfecting all of your recipes before releasing to us, Angela. Yours is my go-to website to keep me on the nutritious road to health.
So glad you enjoy them so much!
I made these and they came out perfect! I did have just a small amount of extra chocolate topping and I think it’s because my silicon mold is so small. They came out so delicious that I’m making them again! Thanks for the Fabulous recipe :D
Fairly new to the site and the first recipe I tried. I love peanut butter cups and this is definitely replacing them! Soooooo good!
A lot of your recipes look delicious! I saw this one, but unfortunately, I am allergic to coconut oil and I see you use it for a few of your recipes. Any suggestions on what to substitute it with? I did try this recipe with melted butter and it came out tasty, but just wanted to know if you had other suggestions/substitutes for coconut oil. Thanks!
Hi Naya, I’m sorry I don’t have a sub in mind – coconut oil firms up and is great in no bake desserts. Sorry about that!
Thanks for responding! One of my friends suggested Avocado oil, another MCT oil. I’ll keep you posted if they work well!
these look amazing!!!!!
I made these today subbing hazelnuts for almonds and adding instant espresso to the chocolate mixture! It was awesome. I wanted to do something to commemorate a recent trip to Italy :)