As many of you may know, I’m currently pregnant with baby #2 and am preparing for a very hot summer (due date: August 24)! I’ve recently started my third trimester and am making somewhat of an effort to keep my craving for sweets under control. I’ve realized that if there are desserts in my house, I WILL eat them. And if there are no sweets in the house, I send my poor husband out to find something for me. Solution? Keep small, healthy-ish sweets on hand to keep the sweet tooth at bay! Hence, these Hazelnut Caramel Cups!
I created these hazelnut caramel cups one day when I was attempting to make a sweet hazelnut butter out of some raw hazelnuts I purchased from Trader Joe’s. Everything was going smoothly until I added a few dates to the mix and the result was more of a dough than a butter. In my mind, the only logical thing to do with this mildly sweet, nutty dough was to put it in chocolate. You can never go wrong with chocolate, right?
The key to making great nut butter is toasting the nuts first. This removes any bitterness and brings out the desired nutty flavor. You have to watch what you’re doing though, because nuts burn easily! Pull them out of the oven once they have golden spots/sides, then rub them with a towel to remove any loose skins.
The next step in making nut butter is breaking down the nuts in a food processor for what seems like a very long time. After you pass the “nut flour” stage, the crumbles begin to release their natural oils — this is what you want! Just keep going and scraping down the sides as needed until you get a fairly smooth hazelnut butter (see picture above).
At this point you may add salt, vanilla, and dates, keeping in mind that adding liquids to nut butters will make them seize. That’s okay in this case, since we’re making a dough instead of a smooth butter. You may have to play around with it depending on the size and dryness of your dates. Mine were large and quite fresh, so you may need to add an extra one to yours to achieve a dough-like texture.
The result should be a slightly sweet dough that you can roll into little balls with your fingers.
When making nut butter cups, it’s important to use good chocolate. Dark chocolate is best, and I use Lily’s stevia-sweetened chocolate chips when I’m trying to reduce my sugar intake. This time I used Guittard semisweet chips because they’re vegan and I had them on hand.
Start by melting the chocolate and spreading about a teaspoon of it into the bottom of each cup, using the back of a spoon to spread it up the sides of the cup a little. Place slightly flattened dough balls on top of each hardened chocolate cup, making sure there’s room around each ball for the melted chocolate to run down the sides and meet the chocolate already at the bottom (otherwise you will have gaps).
Top each ball of hazelnut caramel with chocolate, add a hazelnut for decoration, and sprinkle the tops with flaked sea salt. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature, or place the whole tray in the fridge to hurry things along (this could create bloom, the white streaks/spots in the chocolate that you can see in my photos).
- 2 cups raw hazelnuts, plus extra for decorating the cups
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. vanilla powder or extract
- ~6 large medjool dates
- 1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips*
- Flaked sea salt for sprinkling
- Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and toast at 375 degrees F about 5 min, until golden. Watch closely so they don't burn! Rub them with a towel to remove any loose skins.
- Allow nuts to cool enough to handle, then grind them in a food processor a few minutes until they release their oils and turn into a nut butter. This may take some patience!
- Add the salt, vanilla, and pitted dates and continue to pulse until a dough forms. You may need to add an extra date depending on the size and dryness of your dates.
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave using 30-15 second intervals until completely smooth. In a lined mini muffin pan, spoon about 1 teaspoon of chocolate into the bottom of each muffin paper, using the tip of the spoon to slightly spread the chocolate up the sides of the paper to prevent gapping.
- While the chocolate bottoms are setting, roll your dough into 16 marble-sized balls, flattening them slightly.
- Once the chocolate bottoms are set, place a dough ball in each cup and carefully spread more chocolate over each ball, making sure the chocolate runs down the side of each ball. Top each one with a hazelnut and a sprinkle of sea salt, and allow to set.
- Remove hardened cups from their papers and enjoy!
To save the extra dough, keep it in a jar in the fridge. It is crumbly when cool, so to roll into more balls, you will have to wait until it returns to room temperature or warm it up in your hands.
Be sure to use good chocolate for these! Lily's dark chocolate chips are a good low-sugar option.
Store these up to 1 week in the fridge, or 3-4 days on the counter.
Abby was a big fan of these hazelnut caramel cups!
I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did!
♥ ♥ ♥
Also try my Magic Bar Fudge!
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