Almond Butter Cups

     Lately, I've had one of my rare cravings for a peanut butter cup, but I wanted to put a spin on them if I was going to make them myself. Then I remembered my beloved almond butter, and a delicious invention was born: The almond butter cup! To make them, you just whip up one batch of almond butter and then layer it between some melted chocolate...no baking required! For very detailed instructions on making the almond butter, see my earlier post: http://spoonfulofzucker.blogspot.com/2013/06/homemade-almond-butter.html I'll provide a quick recap of that recipe here. Also, note that the almond butter in these is not totally encased in chocolate like a Reese's cup because I just don't have the dexterity required to shape the chocolate perfectly. Instead, these are made of 3 visible, easy to assemble layers. It gives them a homemade look that I really like. Depending on how thick you make the chocolate layers, this recipe will make between 6 and 12 large cupcake cups, but I highly recommend trying to make the chocolate layers as thin as possible so they're not too hard to bite. You will use less than half of the full batch of almond butter, but go ahead and make it all so that you can snack on what's left over!

INGREDIENTS:

For almond butter:
2 1/2 cups raw whole almonds
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Plus:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
regular sized cupcake liners

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and roast the almonds for 10 minutes. Then run them in a food processor for 10 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl. After the 5 minutes, add the oil, and after 8 minutes, add the salt and sugar. For more detailed directions and photos, check out the link above! Remember to store this in the fridge.

2. In a small glass bowl on top of a small pot of boiling water, melt the chocolate chips, stirring occasionally. This will take a while, but be patient and try to wait until the consistency of the chocolate is relatively thin and pourable. It's a little tricky to work with because it sticks to spoons, but do your best. It's worth the effort to not have to add butter or other fatty dairy products to thin it out.

3. Place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan, and use a spoon (or 2) to spread a thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of of each. then place in the freezer for 5-7 minutes to let it solidify.
4. Now use a clean spoon to spread a thicker layer of almond butter over the bottom layers of chocolate.

5. Finally, spread another relatively thin layer of chocolate on top of each cup. Then place the pan in the freezer again for about 10 minutes. After that, store them in the fridge so they don't melt.

Enjoy, and remember to check back for something new every day!