Finally! A recipe I am going to put in the “Christmas Goodies” category! So…these are bit time-consuming, as so many things are with paleo if you are going to try to avoid refined sugars and such–but, we voted the end result was worth it! They are messy as the chocolate doesn’t seem to harden up like typical “candy”, but still tasty. Basically, I’ve combined my Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with the Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups recipe, made a few minor changes and this is the end result.

Almond Butter Cookie Cups

Ingredients:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. coconut oil

2/3 cup almond butter
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. arrowroot
1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup almond butter
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut

Directions:

*Disclaimer: I have two different sized “mini-muffin pans”. I used the smaller of the two for the candy cups and the bigger of the two for the cookies so the cups would fit in them…I have not figured out a good way to do this if you don’t have two different sized pans…sorry.

1. Line [smaller] mini-muffin pan with 24 mini-muffin paper liners.
2. Melt unsweetened chocolate, honey and coconut oil in a double-boiler over low heat.
3. Using a spoon or pastry brush, coat bottom (and sides if you can) of paper liners with melted chocolate. Place pan in fridge.
4. Combine 2/3 cup almond butter, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. honey, 2 Tbsp. arrowroot and 1 tsp. vanilla in a small bowl.
5. Once chocolate has hardened, spoon almond butter mixture over the bottom of each cup.
6. Top with more of the melted chocolate. Place pan back in fridge to harden. Once hardened, remove cups from pan and remove papers from candies. Place candies in fridge or freezer until cookies are ready.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Combine last section of ingredients and mix well. Scoop dough evenly among 24 greased [larger mini-muffin pan] cups.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 7-9 minutes or until edges are starting to brown.
10. Remove pan from oven and immediately press one chocolate almond butter cup into each cookie (press down). Let cool completely in pan, remove from pan and enjoy!

*Notes: The chocolate doesn’t seem to harden up like a typical candy. If you use my other recipe for Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups using dark chocolate chips, it should harden up more in the fridge. I was trying to figure out a way to make a chocolate that didn’t contain soy lecithin and refined sugar…hence the unsweetened chocolate. Let me know which way you try and if you like it!