Healthy Dark Chocolate Protein Peanut Butter Cups
Healthy Dark Chocolate Protein Peanut Butter Cups
I’m sharing a delicious protein snack I made this week. Peanut butter and dark chocolate are two of my loves, and when they are together, it’s heaven. I can get myself in trouble with peanut butter cups in the house, and that is why I wanted to make a healthier version with some protein benefits. I can feel good about eating these, especially after an intense workout.
Are You a Dark Chocolate Lover? Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing!
Do you love dark chocolate? If so, you’re in for a treat—both for your taste buds and your health!
Dark chocolate (70–86% cocoa) is packed with essential nutrients like:
- Fiber
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Copper
- Manganese
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
- Zinc
- Selenium
It’s also loaded with antioxidants that help fight free radicals and support overall wellness.
Quick, Easy, and Customizable Dark Chocolate Recipe
One of the best things about this recipe? It’s quick, easy, and completely customizable—my favorite kind of treat!
You can add a boost of nutrition by mixing in:
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseed
- Collagen powder
- Bee pollen
- Or any other superfood you love!
This is also a sneaky and fun way to get kids to eat healthier without them even realizing it. Years ago, I saw a chef on the Food Network (wish I could remember the show!) make chocolate bars filled with peanut butter, honey, carrots, sweet potatoes, and kale.
The best part? The kids had no idea they were eating veggies—they thought it was just dessert!
Make It Pretty (or Keep It Simple!)
Want to make your treats look extra pretty and polished? Try rolling the peanut butter into small, smooth balls before placing them in the cups.
But if you’re short on time (like I was!), you can just scoop the peanut butter with a teaspoon and drop it right into the cups—no rolling required.
Both methods taste delicious, so it’s totally up to you!
Extremely Dark Chocolate Protein Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients
- 2 Bars Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate 86% (Sub 1 1/2 cups your choice of chocolate)
- 3/4 Cup Peanut Butter peanuts & sea salt ingredients
- 2 Tbsps Organic Honey
- 2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
- 1/4 Cup Swerve
- Sea Salt (Optional)
Instructions
- Melt chocolate in a bowl. You can use the stove top or microwave.
- In a mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, and protein powder until it forms a dough-like texture. If it's too runny, add more protein powder.
- Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, stir the Swerve sweetener in.
- Place your baking cups on a baking sheet. Add 1 tsp of the melted chocolate into the bottom of all the baking cups.
- Add tsp sized chunks of protein peanut butter on top of the chocolate layer.
- Add the last layer of chocolate on top of the peanut butter, covering it completely.
- Sprinkle with a couple granules of sea salt (optional)
- Let the protein peanut butter cups harden. When they were completely done, I added them to a container and stored them in the freezer.
Notes
45 Calories, 3.5g Protein, 4g Carbs, 4g Fat, 1.5g Sugar Perfect for a post workout!
Endless Variations—Get Creative with Ingredients!
The best part about this recipe? You can customize it any way you like!
Feel free to swap ingredients to suit your taste or dietary needs:
- Use honey, protein powder, or any sugar substitute—even real sugar works perfectly.
- Experiment with flavors and textures—there are no rules here. Just have fun with it!
Upcoming Ideas I Can’t Wait to Try:
- Crunchy Jif peanut butter, chocolate protein powder, and milk chocolate.
- Cinnamon pumpkin butter cups this fall (trying to wait, but we’ll see!).
- Maybe even an apple pie oatmeal cup—how fun would that be?
I’m already thinking about making this into a recipe series, so stay tuned for more variations!
Yields 40 Mini Peanut Butter Cups—Or Get Creative with Sizes!
This recipe makes 40 mini peanut butter cups, but you can easily adjust the size based on what you have on hand.
- No mini baking cups? Use standard cupcake liners to make larger cups.
- Prefer a quick option? Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and make chocolate bark instead!
Kid-Friendly and Holiday-Ready
These treats are perfect for lunchboxes—a fun and healthy dessert kids will love.
Want to dress them up for holidays? Add decorative sprinkles or drizzle with white chocolate for a festive touch!
Questions for you!
- What fun & creative flavor would you try to make? (pumpkin pie)
- Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? (dark)
- Chocolate protein powder or vanilla protein powder? (vanilla)
Looks amazing! Peanut butter cups are one of my biggest guilty pleasures. I used to eat so many of the Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, but I want to try making my own!
Mine too!! I do love the Justin’s!
This is perfect as an alternative to Reese’s! Plus, I much prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate (too sweet for me)!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Absolutely!!
I’m pretty sure this is 100% better than those Quest Cravings. 🙂
They’re sooooo good for sure!
This has nothing to do with this post at all….but I remember when you and your dad made your bed and that you would do a “How To” on it. I was wondering if you were still planning on doing that? I loved your bed and was thinking about trying to make my own bed.
Go to “Anna White” website and type in “rustic bed” and you’ll find some that are similar!! Not sure when I’ll get the plan from him lol
I’ve been trying to find healthy dessert alternatives because I love chocolate and basically anything sweet and unhealthy! haha These look delicious and I will definitely be making these!
Enjoy!!:)
I’d add a touch of chili powder. I once made dark chocolate cupcakes with chili from a cupcake cook book and I think it would be good in it.
Dark, always. I’m always bummed out when yummy sounding chocolate bars are milk. I do like white chocolate quite a bit.
Definitely vanilla.
YUM!!!!
MAKING THESE. I freakin’ love dark chocolate! And peanut butter of course 🙂
Let me know how they turn out for you!!
Thank you for this recipe! making asap.
Hope you enjoy!
Yum!
I think so too!!:)
YUM THESE LOOK AWESOME! I love dark chocolate, and peanut butter, so I need these 🙂
http://www.justbeingbrooklyn.com
Yes you do!:)
These looks delicious, and I’m sure you’ve mentioned it before but where do you buy Swerve? I hear you on the pumpkin pie! I am as basic white girl as it comes with pumpkin… I am patiently waiting till September 1st so I can start making ALL THE PUMPKIN things. Have you tried the pumpkin flavored Rx or Lara bars… sooooo good! I’m definitely a dark chocolate lover and chocolate protein powder, one of my favorite things is Premier Protein shakes they have 30g of Protein and I’ll usually go to Starbucks and order two shots of espresso over ice in a venti cup and pour the caramel or chocolate flavored shake into the cup, its a great treat plus you get so much protein! What’s your favorite vanilla protein powder? or favorite powder to just add to water?
Thanks! I get it at Earthfare! But you can find it at other health stores/some grocery stores AND AMAZON!:)
I also change it up! I like the designer whey for baking! But LOVE Orgain plant based protein. I think it tastes amazing.
I cannot wait to make these!! I absolutely love your approach to making healthy eating fun and delicious! Thanks for sharing your gift for this with this community! Love following along with your blog, and I get so much inspiration from your posts. <3
Thank you, Traci!! 🙂
Love this idea! Fresh ground peanut butter made with honey roasted peanuts has been my weakness lately… Have you tried Quest’s peanut butter protein powder? It’s become the only one I’ll drink!
I haven’t! I’ve never enjoyed drinking peanut butter flavored things, but I’ll have to try it! ALways up for new things!
These look delicious.
THey’re pretty tasty!
Omg you should definitely do a series!!! I’d love to see what other flavors you come up with/try!!
I think so too!!!
I think chocolate banana or chocolate strawberry would taste amazing! For the holiday season, chocolate peppermint could be good too!
yum!
Dark chocolate, PB, and protein?! These are literally tiny little edible miracles. Making NOW haha
Yes they are!!
I loooove dark chocolate. I need to make these!
Gretchen
http://www.chaosandchamomile.com
Theyre so good!
I’ve been following you for years and you’re such an inspiration – so relatable! My brother & (almost) sister-in-law live in Charlotte too!
I’ve made these and your peanut butter oatmeal chocolate protein cookies tonight! Naturally, I forgot I needed a top-layer of chocolate so mine are more of a bark style served in a cupcake wrapper 🙂
I’d love a peppermint flavored cup, with dark chocolate, and vanilla protein powder !
Aww thank you!!!
Charlotte is amazing 🙂
I think that sounds like a perfect flavor for the holidays!
Do you add the Swerve sweetener to the dark chocolate? I’m so confused, LOL! I like dark chocolate because it’s somewhat bitter, so I don’t understand adding sweetener. Why not use a sweeter chocolate?
Because the dark chocolate is bitter and it helps with the bitterness.
Right, but that’s the point of dark chocolate. It’s bitter. Otherwise you’d just use a sweeter chocolate with a lower cocoa content. It sounds like you just don’t like dark chocolate! (Which is totally fine! Not everyone loves it.) 🙂
lol I do like it. Actually dark chocolate is healthier for you, that’s the reason for it. Adding swerve makes it taste better with a higher content. There are antioxidants in dark chocolate, not milk.
I made these tonight and they were DELICIOUS. I ended up using chocolate protein powder and normal dark chocolate!!
So happy to hear that!!