Since Halloween is next week, I figure it’s a good time to share a homemade candy recipe with you. Although, really this candy is delicious anytime of year. I found this from the Nourishing Gourmet for Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on MNN.com, and thought it seemed both easy and delicious. But, then I thought, what if I use some other type of nut butter instead? Well, have any of you heard of Justin’s Peanut Butter? They have chocolate, chocolate almond, chocolate hazelnut, and honey peanut butter, and from what I hear, this is the peanut butter to end all peanut butters. I used Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, so these are really Double Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Cups.

I modified the recipe slightly — I used primarily Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, but in order to keep the salty, peanut butter-y taste of traditional Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I added some regular peanut butter too. I’ll post my amended recipe at the end of the post.

Also, I used vegan chocolate chips for the chocolate layer because I’ve found they have a richer taste than regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. My favorite are the 365 brand from Whole Foods. These are so simple and take no cooking whatsoever (unless you count melting chocolate). I’ve kept them in the freezer, and they are perfect.

Especially with some vanilla ice cream. The Roommate loved these and has already started talking about the next time I make them. Here’s the recipe:

Double Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Cups
3/4 cup Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
3 Tablespoons regular peanut butter
1/4 cup plus 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 cups vegan chocolate chips

In a bowl combine peanut butter, hazelnut butter, coconut oil, and vanilla. Mix until smooth (because of the coconut oil, I had to heat mine up a bit to get it really smooth). Taste to be sure it’s sweet and salty enough. (If you want more salt, add more regular peanut butter, and if you think it should be sweeter, add honey). Once it’s to taste, pour mixture into a greased muffin pan (or mini muffin pan — I greased it with a little bit of coconut oil). Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler until there are only a few chocolate chips solid — if you heat it too much the chocolate will seize up. Remove from heat. Add in 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil until the mixture is thin enough to spread.

Remove muffin pan from freezer, and spoon chocolate on top of peanut butter. As you spoon the chocolate onto the peanut butter, tap the pan as you go to spread the chocolate out over the peanut butter. Use a spoon or spatula to be sure the chocolate covers the top of peanut butter completely.

Freeze for another twenty minutes before eating … or even better adding it to some vanilla ice cream!