Salted Maple Coconut Almond Butter Cups

So if you are new or haven't been keeping up to date with my Crunchy Crusader fb page  then you might not know that I have been doing an ongoing monthly news segment for Fox 21 which is a local news station to Colorado Springs where I cover all different health topics and healthy recipes. I went on for my 5th time Monday September 12th where I talked about some of the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup which is found in almost all processed foods and sugary drinks. I shared some alternative healthier sweeter options; Raw Honey, 100% Maple Syrup, Medjool Dates, Coconut Palm Sugar, and Blackstrap Molasses. I will be writing up another post on that topic in the future.  But, you can watch my Fox 21 interview here. 

I made these almond butter cups to bring on the show so people can see it is possible to make healthier treat options that still taste good.And let me tell you,  these are freaking amazing!! If you don't make these at least once I truly feel sorry for you because you are missing out! I'm kind of obsessed with sweet and salty. I think thats why I love sweet potato chips over regular potato chips. Anyway, these just melt in your mouth and are just the right amount of sweetness. Each cup actually has very little sugar less than 1 tsp of maple syrup, and is made with good fats coconut butter and coconut oil so these make great treats that will leave you feeling satisfied and won't spike your sugar levels. 

 Yield: 8 Individual Cups

Ingredients :

• 1/2 Cup Coconut Butter/Coconut Manna
• 1/2 Cup Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1 1/2 TBSP 100% Pure Dark Maple Syrup
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt

Ingredients  Filling:

• 2 TBSP Non-Sweetened Almond Butter
• 1 tsp 100% Pure Dark Maple Syrup 

 Directions: 

1. In a saucepan heat coconut oil andcoconut butter until melted 
2. Add in vanilla extract, maple syrup and sea salt
3. Line a muffin tin with 8 bleach free muffin/cupcake liners and pour a little over 1TBSP of coconut butter mixture into each liner. make sure not to use it all because you will need some later add on top of your almond butter!
4. Set tray in freezer and let sit for approximately 10 min so liquid can cool and begin to solid. Stir each cup every couple of minutes as the maple syrup will separate to the bottom. 
5. Meanwhile in a small bowl mix almond butter with 1 tsp of maple syrup. 
6. Take tray out. Ingredients will be thicker but not solid yet. Take a about 1 tsp of almond butter and drop it in the center of each cup. press lightly so almond butter is almost covered and spreads slightly. Then pour remaining coconut butter mixture on each cup this will be probably be a little less than 1 TBSP in each.
7. Set in freezer again for about 30 minutes or until completely solid. When solid they are ready to eat. When ready to eat either take straight from freezer or you can let sit for 5 minute to soften.  Store in freezer as these will become mushy if left out at room temperature because of the coconut oil!!