Vegan Crispy Quinoa Peanut Butter Cups [Oil-Free]
3 ingredient vegan crispy quinoa peanut butter cups! These cups are made with popped quinoa and are the most delectable dessert. No added sugar, oil-free and so easy to make!
Equipment
- You will need: a standard muffin pan and muffin liners
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp uncooked quinoa
- about 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 bag Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips, about 1 & 1/2 cups
Instructions
- First, line your muffin pan with 7 muffin liners and set aside.Next, pop the quinoa. Note: you will definitely need to rinse the quinoa first, UNLESS it states on the package that its prewashed. Rinsing the quinoa removes the bitter tasting saponins.
- Add quinoa to a mesh strainer and rinse very well with cold water. Set aside. Now, heat up a large non-stick pan (needs to be non-stick as we aren't adding any oil) over medium heat for about 3 minutes. While the pan is heating up, place your peanut butter in the freezer (so it doesn't spread too much in the cups).
- Once the pan is hot, add the rinsed quinoa. Stir the quinoa around with a spatula until it appears dry and then spread the quinoa in an even layer (it needs to be in an even layer for the quinoa to pop uniformly).
- Let the quinoa sit in an even layer until you hear and see popping, then continuously shake the pan back and forth (so the quinoa doesn't burn) until the quinoa looks golden brown and smells nutty and toasted.I alternate between shaking the pan on the stove top and also lifting the pan off the heat and shaking back and forth. Make sure to watch the quinoa VERY CLOSELY as it tends to burn fast. The quinoa should be done popping in about 5 minutes, but time will vary on the type of pan you are using and how hot it is. Add the popped quinoa to a bowl to cool (do not leave it in the pan or it will burn!). Set aside.
- Next, melt the chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about a minute and a half, stopping every 30 seconds to stir very well.
- Now combine the popped quinoa and melted chocolate. Add 3 & 1/2 tbsp of popped quinoa to the melted chocolate (the rest of the quinoa is reserved for the topping). Stir well.
- Add 1 tbsp of the quinoa chocolate mixture to each muffin liner so that it covers the entire bottom of the liner. Put the muffin pan in the freezer for 5 minutes so the chocolate can set.
- Once removed from the freezer, add 3/4 tbsp of peanut butter on top of each chocolate base, then, add 2 tbsp of the chocolate quinoa mixture on top of the peanut butter until its completely covered. Sprinkle the remaining popped quinoa evenly on top of each cup.
- Place the muffin pan in the freezer for about 10 minutes so the cups can set, then enjoy! Store the peanut butter cups covered in the refrigerator.