Frozen Peanut Butter Cups

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Chill out this summer with a batch of these super-delicious Frozen Peanut Butter Cups. Made with only 5 low-carb ingredients, these keto treats will satisfy your sweet tooth and ice cream cravings without breaking the carb bank.

Let your kids help with preparing these yummies, too. It’s a real win-win; you’ll get extra pairs of hands to speed up the process, and the kiddos will jump at the chance to make these scrumptious treats!

Hint: there is a video under the recipe box how to prepare these Frozen Peanut Butter Cups.

Tips for making these Frozen Peanut Butter Cups

If it’s a hot day and you are using individual mini muffin cups, it helps to work in batches of six mini muffin cups. So, when adding the melted chocolate and the peanut butter mixture, and later the top layer of chocolate, be sure to work with six muffin cups at once, keeping the rest in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.

Here’s another hint: I strongly recommend using MINI muffin cups. Regular muffin cups simply make portion sizes that are too large. After devouring one mini-treat, you can always go for a second one if you wish, but one large treat might be too much — and if the weather is really hot, it might even melt before you get a chance to eat the whole thing.

You can certainly prepare these frozen treats in the traditional way by brushing the insides of the mini muffin cups with melted chocolate and letting it harden before adding the peanut butter mixture. But the brushing requires some effort — and one layer usually isn’t enough: you have to brush on at least two layers — so I developed an easier method for making them. (And there are even easier ways to prepare these Peanut Butter Cups: just check out the variations at the end of this post!)

Here’s how to prepare these terrific treats (this is my recommended method):

Place the peanut butter, Sukrin Syrup, and vanilla stevia into a small bowl.

 
Mix with a spoon until almost smooth. Don’t mix too long, or the mixture will get too stiff.

 
Add the whipped cream…

 
…and mix gently with a spoon. (The mixture doesn’t have to be mixed too thoroughly; stripes and swirls of peanut butter and cream here and there just make for a prettier, tastier result 🙂

 
Melt the chocolate. I love using a microwave oven for this.

 
Take 24 silicone mini muffin cups or one silicone mini muffin pan. (If you can’t find silicone mini muffin cups or pan, paper or foil candy cups will do.) Like I wrote above, I like to work in batches of six mini muffin cups.

 
Pour a scant teaspoon of melted chocolate into the bottom of each mini muffin cup.

 
Spoon some peanut butter mixture into the center of each muffin cup so that the muffin cups are 3/4 full. (Leave enough space for the chocolate coating.)

 
When you spoon the peanut butter mixture onto the melted chocolate in the muffin cup, the melted chocolate rises to the edges of the muffin cups, surrounding the peanut-buttery heart. This is the trick that saves you from brushing the mini-muffin cups with melted chocolate 🙂

 
Place the muffin cups in the freezer until the peanut butter mixture and the chocolate have hardened, about 30 minutes.

 
If the rest of the melted chocolate has set, melt it again carefully. (I didn’t have that problem since I placed the melted chocolate next to my laptop’s fan; that kept it warm and melted!)

 
Take the filled muffin cups from the freezer and pour some melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer. Spread the chocolate evenly so that it covers the peanut butter mixture completely.

 
Sprinkle crushed salted peanuts on top of each muffin cup, if desired.

 
Place the muffin cups in the freezer again until ready to serve, at least 2 hours. (Or, if you prefer a softer consistency, like that of soft ice cream, you can serve the Frozen Peanut Butter Cups after 30 minutes.)

 
When ready to serve, take the Frozen Peanut Butter Cups out of the freezer, and carefully pop out each peanut butter cup from the silicone cup (or whatever casing you are using).

 
S-U-P-E-R yum!

 

 

My Frozen Peanut Butter Cups experiments

Peanut butter, cream, chocolate. Need I say more about this timeless combo? (Probably not: I bet you’re drooling already!) Well, all it took was those three items—plus vanilla—to inspire this cool, summery dessert. Here’s how my experiments started:

First, I made some really delicious peanut butter ice cream, but the chocolate factor was missing. It was also difficult to store the homemade ice cream. Plus, the rest of the family just wasn’t that interested in peanut butter ice cream on its own. (That includes me; my peanut-butter cravings always come with a hefty side of chocolate cravings—witness my Palatable Peanut Butter Bars—but it was the height of summer, and I was dying for something chillier.) So I headed back to the drawing board.

Recipes for Frozen Peanut Butter Cups do exist, but they’re either sugary, just plain weird, or too complicated. I guess we Finns do like brevity, and we spare our words—and on top of that, I’m very impatient!—so I’m always coming up with short cuts that simplify recipes without affecting their quality.)

After musings like these, it occurred to me that bite-sized treats would be the perfect answer to my peanut butter, cream, and chocolate craving: in fact, Frozen Peanut Butter Cups—coated with crunchy dark chocolate and stuffed with creamy, peanut buttery filling—were what I needed. But I didn’t want to include too much peanut butter for two reasons: First of all, even though I do get peanut butter cravings every now and then, peanut butter is not that good a friend of mine. I wanted the cream to play a starring role here, since I was dying for something creamy. And secondly, peanut butter contains some carbs, so in this case the phrase “the more, the merrier” just doesn’t hold true. Ultimately, I wanted to use just a hint of peanut butter for flavor, while adding minimal carbs.

So I started experimenting in earnest. For a sweetener, I wanted to try Sukrin Syrup. There are two versions of the syrup: the transparent Sukrin Fiber Syrup Clear, and the dark version, Sukrin Fiber Syrup Gold. I was planning to try the clear Sukrin Fiber Syrup first, but since I thought forgot it at home (I was doing my experiments in our summer cottage, in the middle of nowhere), I couldn’t use it. I was so sure that I had some clear Sukrin syrup in the summer cottage, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. However, I had some Gold Sukrin syrup (a real yum!) at hand, so I used that.

In my first experiment, I used 4 oz (115 g) sugar-free chocolate (quite dark, with 54% cacao), 1/2 cup (120 ml) crunchy peanut butter, 1/4 cup (60 ml) Sukrin Fiber Syrup Gold and 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream, which I whipped first. I also added a couple of drops of vanilla extract as I love pairing a hint of vanilla with peanut butter. I had planned to prepare a bigger batch, but I decided to use half the amounts that I had planned. If the recipe fails, I thought, the loss would be less. But on the other hand, it’s pretty difficult to create something inedible from ingredients as fabulous as chocolate and peanut butter!

First, I brushed 12 silicone muffin cups with melted chocolate. I was expecting to brush the cups twice, as one layer surely wouldn’t be enough. I was pretty surprised when the first layer turned out really thin. I was wondering if I’d have to brush the muffin cups numerous times… and boy would that take time!

I placed the muffin cups in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then I took out four of them and added another layer of melted chocolate. After that, I brushed the rest of the muffin cups with another layer of melted chocolate. Actually, I was slightly afraid that two layers might not be enough, either, so for four muffin cups I added a third layer of chocolate, just to see if that was any better.

While the second layer was hardening in the freezer, I prepared the filling. I combined the peanut butter and the Sukrin Fiber Syrup Gold in a small bowl. I was planning to mix it with an electric mixer, but I was too lazy to take it out of the drawer and assemble it. So I just mixed the peanut butter, Sukrin syrup, and a few drops of vanilla extract with a spoon.

But I was horrified when I realized that the mixture was getting stiff—and then stiffer—as I was mixing it! I mean really, really stiff. How on earth could I get it to become soft and creamy? What would happen when I added the whipped cream? Will the mixture get any softer at all?

At this point I realized that this stiff mixture looked like a perfect peanut butter cookie dough. Absolutely perfect! I made a note to try to make peanut butter cookies out of it. (I wanted to see if you can make low-carb peanut butter cookies with just 2 ingredients—peanut butter and Sukrin syrup. And the Sukrin Fiber Syrup Gold might even lend some caramel flavor. What could be more perfect!?)

Back to this recipe for now, though: I’ll keep you posted on my 2-ingredient peanut butter cookie experiments later! Anyway, at this point I added the whipped cream to my extremely stiff peanut butter mixture. I mixed well with the spoon and voilà, the mixture got soft and creamy! Phew. I was saved.

I tasted the peanut butter mixture and it wasn’t sweet enough in my opinion, so I added some liquid stevia. I would have added vanilla stevia, but I didn’t have any at the summer cottage: In the final recipe, I was going to use vanilla stevia anyway, in order to add more sweetness and that elegant hint of vanilla flavor.

I added some creamy peanut butter mixture to each muffin cup and placed them back in the freezer. Meanwhile, I checked that my chocolate was still melted. I had put it next to my laptop fan so it could stay warm. That worked, so it was easy to cover the peanut butter cups with it. I added quite a thick layer of chocolate on top of each Frozen Peanut Butter Cup.

After 15 minutes, I took the first Frozen Peanut Butter Cup from the freezer and excitedly tasted it. Crunch! The chocolate coating was just perfect, even with two layers. The inside was really delicious, too, but it could have been slightly creamier (i.e. less peanut-buttery) and sweeter. So, I made plans for improving the recipe for the next experiment.

 

 

For my next experiment, I was planning to use 4 oz (115 g) dark chocolate, 1/3 cup (80 ml) peanut butter, 1/3 cup (80 ml) Sukrin Fiber Syrup Gold, 20 drops vanilla stevia, and 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream, which I first whipped.

I used the same method I used in the first experiment. This time there was enough sweetness, and the Frozen Peanut Butter Cups were just as creamy as I had wished. What a perfect summer treat! And just the right size, too.

Later, I found the Sukrin Fiber Syrup Clear (the transparent one) after all, in a cupboard in the summer cottage. My mom had put it there after our last visit. I also tried the recipe with it, and personally, I really liked more of the neutral, transparent Sukrin Fiber Syrup Clear, so I’ve used it in this final recipe as well.

And just when I was planning to take progress photos for this recipe, it occurred to me that there is an even simpler way to make these treats, without the laborious brushing with melted chocolate. I was planning to put a layer of chocolate in the bottom of the mini muffin cup, then freeze it and spoon the peanut butter layer on top of the frozen chocolate layer. I was planning to top the whole thing with a layer of chocolate to get that nice layered look. However, when preparing that version, I wanted to try out an even easier method: I spooned some melted chocolate into each muffin cup, and then dropped the peanut butter mixture on top of the melted chocolate. Instead of freezing the bottom layer of chocolate, I wanted to find out what would happen if I dropped the peanut butter mixture right onto the melted chocolate.

A miracle is what happened! After spooning the peanut butter mixture into the center of the muffin cup, onto the melted chocolate, the chocolate surrounded the peanut butter beautifully, creating a perfect chocolate coating. I placed my creations into freezer until solid. Then I topped the treats with melted chocolate and placed them into the freezer again. The result was ideal: perfect presentation, perfect texture—a combination of soft creaminess and crunchy chocolate—perfect taste, and all with only a little bit of effort!

See here the video how to prepare these treats:

 

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
In total:	48.3 g	194.1 g	60.5 g	2292 kcal
Per serving if 24 servings in total:	2.0 g	8.1 g	2.5 g	95 kcal

 

 

Tips for variations

If you want to make things even simpler here, just fill the mini muffin cups 3/4 full with the peanut butter mixture, place in the freezer, let harden for 30 minutes, and pour some melted sugar-free chocolate over the frozen peanut butter mixture. Then freeze for 1 hour. Easy peasy! (A bit messy to eat, though, but that’s part of the fun!)

Here is a photo of these Lazy Lucy versions:

 

You can also do it the other way around: Spoon a scant teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture into each muffin cup. Freeze for 15 minutes, or until solid. Top with peanut butter mixture and freeze 1 hour. Simple, easy, and delicious!

And here is a photo of this simple version:

 

If you like, you can add chocolate chips to the peanut butter mixture to make Frozen Peanut Butter Chocolate-Chip Cups. Or, for a fruitier (or “berrier”) treat, add some sugar-free strawberry or raspberry jam to the mini muffin cup on the chocolate layers before adding the peanut butter mixture. You can also add the jam to the peanut butter mixture and create nice swirls.

And that’s not all. You can also make peanut butter popsicles: just scoop the peanut butter mixture into popsicle molds. Let freeze completely, then coat with melted sugar-free chocolate. A real kid-pleaser!

Instead of dark chocolate or sugar-free milk chocolate, you can use sugar-free white chocolate for another flavor variation. I think the sugar-free jams work especially well here, too. White chocolate, raspberry jam, and creamy peanut butter sounds completely irresistible (well, to me, at least)!

For more chilly summer treats, check out my recipes for 3-Ingredient 5-Minute Ice Cream for 2, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake No-Churn Ice Cream, Low-Carb Raspberry Chocolate Chip Parfait, Sinfully Scrumptious Chocolate Ice Cream or these super-popular Strawberry Cheesecake Fat Bombs by Martina Slajerova.

What’s your favorite chilly summer treat?