Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cups
It was just an ordinary morning, a blessed, ordinary, everyone still in their pajamas, babies whining, me trying-not-to-loose-my-poop-morning, when I crammed a bunch of coco crispies in my mouth (like, the same way you'd irreverently cram popcorn in your mouth?) - when it hit me - I NEED to make something from these cocoa crispies... (aka there's gotta be a better way to eat this cereal! lol!)
Behold: my chocolate peanut butter granola cups.
By the way, do you eat breakfast?
Like are you a legit, sit down for breakfast person? I’m not. I don’t know why. I love breakfast, I really do, but most of the time I find myself savoring my son’s leftover toast crusts, grape halves and um, cramming cocoa crispies in my mouth. Not my favorite?
These are my favorite though. These feel like a treat, are full of chocolate, fiber, good fats, protein, have a great crunch and keep you full for a few hours. Everyone that's had one, loves them.
They're basically everything I could ever ask for in a quick, grab-it-and-go breakfast and if I had to chose one thing to eat for a week straight it would be these.
Because chocolate, amen. Please make these, and have a blessed, still in your pajamas ordinary morning too. xo
Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cups
2 cups / 200g rolled oats ((not instant))
1 generous cup / 33g puffed rice cereal, brown rice or chocolate puffed rice (cocoa crispies!) is preferred ((especially chocolate!))
¼ cup / 36g / 3 Tablespoons raw hemp seeds or whole flax seeds (if you don’t have them on hand don’t stress)
½ cup / 49g pecans, walnuts or cashews, pretty finely chopped (I prefer pecans - choose a soft nut here, almonds are too crunchy and hard )
½ generous cup / 128g smooth, salted peanut butter
½ cup + 2 tablespoons / 212g liquid honey ((be generous, if the mixture is dry add a little more))
2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted) (plus more for greasing / pressing)
1 cup / 170g dark chocolate chips (be generous )
½ teaspoon kosher salt ((if using sea salt, you may need a little more) )
for sprinkling on top:
Little chocolate chips or chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (see resources)
Flaky sea salt (see resources)
Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin with coconut oil. Yes, you need to rub each and every little cup with plenty of oil so the granola mixture doesn’t stick - but also, it creates beautiful brown crispy edges to your granola cups - so it’s worth it.
In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until the mixture becomes totally combined. I find it easiest to lather my hands in coconut oil and mix everything by hand.
The mixture should stick together when you squeeze it - so kinda form a little ball with your hands here by pressing the mixture together and see if it sticks, if it falls apart easily, add a little more honey and a tiny bit more coconut oil and tiny bit more nut butter until your mixture sticks together.
Making sure your hands are coated in coconut oil, press the granola mixture into each of the cups, filling about ¾’s of each cup, pressing down and filling each cup. I prefer to make slightly bigger / more full cups only yielding 10 cups total, but if you want to make them slightly smaller and yield 12, go for it.
*Make sure you really press hard when filling each cup or else the mixture will not stick together after it’s baked.*
Press each top of the granola cup down with a well oiled hand (we want some of the oil to stay on top to brown them a bit) and sprinkle with a few more mini chocolate chips + sea salt. (I used to say this sprinkling was optional, but the bars are just not the same without more chocolate and salt on top.)
Bake for 15-20ish minutes or until the edges are a deep golden brown. Let the granola cups cool completely in the tin before removing them. While these are amazing warm, if you remove them too early they’ll fall apart. Run a knife around the edges of each cup to help get them out easily.
These keep for about 2 weeks tightly wrapped and kept in the fridge / chilled. I like to wrap each one individually with plastic wrap, put them all in a big container from there and then store in the fridge. xo
These feel like a treat, are full of chocolate, fiber, good fats and protein, have a good crunch and keep you full for a few hours. It’s basically everything I could ever ask for in a quick, grab it and go breakfast and if I had to choose one thing to eat for a week straight it would be these. (Cocoa crispies really lend to the magic of these cups too - so try to find some.) xo
Bakers tips: These babies last about a week, tightly wrapped and kept in the fridge. Wrap each one individually if you can in plastic wrap, and then store in a large freezer bag or glass container.
Only fill up the muffin tins a generous "3/4's" of the way up - and I can’t emphasize this enough - you’ve GOT to press down quite firmly when you put them into their cups or they won't stick together.
Time saving tips: These can easily be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to a week or two. Or you can store them all in the freezer and pull them out as needed, letting them thaw in the fridge, one at a time.
Substitutions: You can substitute barley malt syrup and brown rice syrup for the honey. I don’t think agave will work… or maple syrup. I think you need something a little thicker and more sticky, but feel free to experiment. (Don’t use corn syrup though, while it does have the sticky texture and thickness, I think that’s way way too sweet.) You can also substitute almond butter for the peanut butter. Even a chocolate nut butter works beautifully here.
I have yet to try tahini paste in place of the nut butter - but I would like to try that sometime. Make sure your peanut butter or nut butter isn’t too runny. It should be thick nut butter- not a very runny one or these won't stick together.
Resources:
Flaky sea salt: Maldon Salt (you can get it at specialty food stores, whole foods and amazon)
Mini chocolate chips: I got mine from here.
I love the Whole Foods brand of cocoa crispies.
