You know, sometimes when you don’t try is when you succeed. Sometimes I feel I overthink, try too hard, and chase away what I was really hoping for as an outcome. What I had envisioned. This is not just in recipe developing but in life in general. Some things just come to those who wait!
Well, ok, this was for recipe developing. But still. I am very busy with my full time job now, the projects are piling and the pace is picking up so my time is limited for recipe developing during the week (which I obviously prefer), but I had to create a cinnamon-spiced recipe for a collaboration. So I just whipped something on the fly, just tossed ingredients in a bowl and thought, maybe I should have measured that? Grabbed my camera, did a quick set up for a photoshoot. Snapped some photos. Done UNDER an hour. And you know what, this is one of my favorite recipes of this season and some of my favorite photos I’ve taken! It’s a definite win — and it made it to the blog ahead of the others in line. So I can share with you all and you can make these because I just can’t keep the recipe to myself!
Peanut butter cups are always my go-to when I need a quick, easy dessert. But how do I make this fall-inspired? …PUMPKIN FILLING, naturally. The filling is made with pumpkin puree & spices, almond butter and sweetened with maple syrup, sandwiched with paleo dark chocolate. The combination of the two is just divine. And take only 20 minutes!
No oven? Lazy? Well these take 20 minutes and they worth every lazy minute.
What is in these chocolate pumpkin butter cups?
Pumpkin Puree: Canned pure pumpkin with no other added spices
Almond butter: You can substitute this for cashew butter. I don’t recommend any other nut butters, they may ruin the flavor of the pumpkin. Almond and cashew butter have a neutral flavor
Maple Syrup: Just 3 tsp in the whole batch. I don’t suggest any other sweetener, maple syrup goes so well with pumpkin, but you can try to sub for honey or agave
Pumpkin Pie Seasoning: You need this to make the filling taste like pumpkin pie! You can also mix together cinnamon, ginger, all spice or cloves, and nutmeg. Just make sure cinnamon has a higher ratio than the other spices.
Dark Chocolate: I suggest dark chocolate over milk chocolate here. The dark flavors pairs well with the pumpkin pie & seasonings. I always use Hu Kitchen because it is paleo and sweetened with coconut sugar.
What do you need for these pumpkin butter cups?
A mini muffin tin. If you don’t have a mini, you can use a full size
Mini muffin liners
A bowl or saucepan for melting the chocolate
Ingredients:
The filling:
5 tbsp of pure canned pumpkin
1/3 cup of almond butter, can sub for cashew butter
3 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp of pumpkin pie seasoning (a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice and ginger)
Chocolate layer:
1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips
2 1/2 tsp of coconut oil
Make them:
Mix all the filling ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and add more maple syrup or spices if you want sweeter or a stronger flavor. Set aside.
Line a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners. You can also make these large if you only have a large muffin tin.
In a microwavable bowl, or in a saucepan on your stove, mix together the chocolate chips and coconut oil. Heat until just melted, but be careful to not overheat. If using the microwave, I heat in 30 second increments and mix well. The chocolate chips will end up melting themselves if you keep mixing.
Pour 1 tsp of chocolate in the bottom of your mini muffin liners. This makes about 14 cups so you can start with 14 and add more if you have left overs. Now, take each cup liner and swirl it around so the chocolate covers the sides of the liner, about 3/4 the way up. There should be a little white exposed at the top of the liner still.
Place these in freezer to set for 5 minutes.
Once set, scoop 1 tsp of pumpkin filling to each cup and flatten a bit with a spoon. You want to make sure the pumpkin is in the center of the cup. There should be some space around the pumpkin to pour the top chocolate layer in.
Once pumpkin has been spooned in, spoon in the top chocolate layer. It’ll be about 2 tsp for each cup. Some may need a bit more to cover the pumpkin.
Sprinkle with your favorite crushed nuts. I used toasted pecans, or even sea salt.
Place in fridge to set for 10-15 minutes
What do you need to know for these cups?
Be careful with melting the chocolate. You don’t want to overheat it. Start with 30 seconds in the microwave and stir before reheating. The chocolate typically will melt itself when stirred.
You can substitute the almond butter for cashew butter. I don’t recommend any other substitutions here.
Make sure to let the bottom shell of the chocolate set in the freezer for 5 minutes before adding the filling and top layer
Store these in an airtight container for 7 days, or store frozen and enjoy whenever you want to enjoy.
These little pumpkin butter cups are an easy and impressive dessert for the friends and family. If you make them or have any questions, please leave in the comment section below! Would love to hear from you all!
Tag me in your creations on instagram @gutsy_baker and #gutsybakes!
xo Stephanie