These easy Keto Peanut Butter Cups taste like peanut butter fudge with a decadent layer of chocolate. A sugar-free taste sensation! Another sneak peek recipe from my upcoming cookbook. Instructional video included.
Want to hear something funny? My upcoming keto cookbook, The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen, has been hanging around in the top 3 New Releases in BAKING on Amazon. This says as much about you, my dear readers, as it does about me. Amazon tracks what readers are looking at and buying, and that’s partly how the algorithm decides on the appropriate categories. Of course, my book falls under low carb diet and ketogenic diet, and it’s doing very well there too. But the fact that it’s ranking so well among baking cookbooks tells me that many of you love baking as much as I do.
And yeah, these delicious and easy Keto Peanut Butter Cups are in the book!
Baking is my happy place and I know many of you share that sentiment. For people who love to bake, it is not simply a means to an end. As much as I love the treats that come out of the oven when the timer goes off (and I do, I really do!), it’s the process itself that makes it so enjoyable. Many people believe that living a low-carb, ketogenic lifestyle means you have to sacrifice the many joys of baking. This could not be further from the truth. What could be more satisfying than knowing you have baked something outrageously delicious, and never once strayed from your nutritional goals?!
That is what I set out to prove in The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen. I have dedicated an entire section to baking, with tips, tricks, and of course mouthwatering recipes. All to help you flawlessly navigate your way through the crazy (and crazy fun!) world of low-carb, high-fat baking. 
Below is a sneak peek of The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen baking section. And because I can never let you walk away empty handed, I am sharing one of my favourite easy recipes from the book too. Trust me, you want to run to your kitchen and make these Easy Keto Peanut Butter Cups. For all my fellow peanut butter lovers, check out this how-to video!
How to make Keto Peanut Butter Cups
Ketogenic Baking Tips
- Use properly softened butter and cream cheese. Properly softened butter and cream cheese dent easily when you press into them, but they still maintain their overall shape without squishing all over the place. In a pinch? 10 seconds in the microwave is often enough.
- Don’t pack your ingredients unless specified. When measuring out almond flour or other low carb flours, use the scoop-and-level method. Use a measuring cup to scoop out the flour, and then level it off with a knife. Pressing the ingredients down into the measuring cup can significantly change the amount and throw of the proportions.
- Liberally grease your baking pans.Because ketogenic recipes lack gluten, they can sometimes stick a little bit more. I often “double grease” my pans, first with a coat of butter and then by them spraying coconut oil spray.
- No, you can’t swap almond flour for coconut flour.Well, you can, but you’d have to change the rest of the recipe too: less coconut flour, more eggs, more oil, more liquid. Substituting either of these makes for a completely different recipe and there is no good formula for subbing one for the other, in my opinion.
- Let things cool properly.I know, I know, it can be really hard to resist cutting into that cake or grabbing a cookie when it’s warm from the oven. But besides the risk of burning your tongue, the goodies in question may fall to pieces if you dig in too soon!
You can find all of my essential keto baking tips and “dos and don’ts” in my best-selling cookbook, The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen.
These easy Keto Peanut Butter Cups taste like peanut butter fudge with a decadent layer of chocolate. A sugar-free taste sensation! Another sneak peek recipe from my upcoming cookbook.
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 ounces cacao butter chopped
- 1/3 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate
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Line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment paper cupcake liners. Alternatively, you can use silicone muffin cups.
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Melt the peanut butter, butter, and cacao butter together in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in the sweetener and vanilla extract until well combined and no lumps remain.
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Divide the mixture among the prepared muffin cups and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
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Set a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Put the chocolate in the bowl and stir until melted and smooth. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon over each peanut butter cup and spread to the edges. Return the cups to the refrigerator until set, another 10 to 15 minutes.
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Store in the refrigerator. Keeps for up to a week.
Amy Irons says
Hi Carolyn,
Can anything be used in place of the cacao butter?
Carolyn says
No, it’s the only thing that gives these enough firmness so that they don’t become goo at room temperature.
Karen says
My grandbaby (and his parents and me and the hubs) will LOVE these. So easy! And, as with many of your recipes, I already have the ingredients in my pantry. Bonus.
Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your new cookbook… can’t wait until it is solidly in my hands. =))
Carolyn says
Thanks, Karen!
Holly says
Question ….did you use salted or unsalted for the butter and peanut butter?
Carolyn says
SALTED! 🙂 Definitely you want salted for the peanut butter. I like salt so I used salted for the butter too.
Jo Fortuna says
Carolyn, have seen that you prefer Justin’s peanut butter in another comment. Made these smashing treats last night. Used Smuckers; it came out of the jar soupy. All other ingredients according to recipe. The cups took forever to firm up and they soften up quickly out of the fridge. Another person mentioned Skippy – could that make a difference? Why not firm up the filling with a little coconut flour? I’m really enjoying your Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen – hard to choose where to start.
Last question: I rode on Holly’s coattails because it wasn’t clear how to post an original comment. What am I missing?
Carolyn says
You can use skippy. I personally would not use coconut flour in this but that’s up to you.
Erin M. says
I love your peanut butter cups and make them pretty much weekly. My husband (who eats low carb but not keto) asks for them all the time. I’m excited to try these out so that we have a similar treat that doesn’t have to stay in the fridge during them Summer.
Carolyn says
They are good at room temperature but if it’s really hot out they will be melty…like any chocolate candy!
LizD says
These look yummy! Can you freeze them? Thanks.
Carolyn says
Sure, they will freeze just fine.
Cat says
Carolyn, you mentioned that you use salted peanut butter. What brand did you use, so that I can duplicate yours for the purpose of knowing the exact carb count? Thank you – they look absolutely outstanding.
Carolyn says
I think I was finishing the last of a Trader Joe’s jar. I kind of hop around in my PB. I actually like Skippy Natural best, even though it has a little sugar in it (still comes to less g carbs per serving than most PB). I like Justin’s but there’s no salted kind.
Robin Finke says
Where do you get cacao butter? I’ve never seen it
Lulu says
It’s ‘cocoa butter’ and it comes from the cacao plant where we also get chocolate. In addition, the cacao nibs that are becoming so popular finally in the US are just cocoa nibs. Again, the plant is called ‘cacao’ not the nibs. Easily confused I guess unless you are a botanist 😉
Robin Finke says
It says cacao butter in the ingredients, was that a mistake?
Carolyn says
No, it’s not a mistake. The two terms can be use interchangeably.
Robin Finke says
Where will you find it at in the grocery store?
Melissa says
I’ve never seen it in a regular grocery store. I’ve seen it in health food stores and Whole Foods-type places. I order mine online, though. I buy a bag and break it in little pieces with a meat tenderizer mallet. It’s much cheaper than buying it in pastilles/wafers. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B015JN6E66/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501206618&sr=8-2-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=cacao+butter+organic+raw&psc=1
Lulu says
Hi! Thank you and I’ll try this for a potluck in August.
But I’ve noticed in your recipes that sometimes you use erythritol and sometimes you use “swerve’. With so many sweeteners out there, would you please consider just adding a ‘sugar equivalent’ to your recipes? Then whatever sweetener we are using, we can work it out ourselves if need be?
Swerve is not available in my shops, but I buy an erythritol/stevia sweetener at my bulk store that I can use 1:1 for sugar. So I’d need to know when you say ‘erythritol’ do you mean a 1:1 type or do you mean something different? I had to look up Swerve and I think it says it is used 1:1 as well, but please confirm.
Thank you! It would take a lot of confusion out if you’d do this. I also tend to move around the world for work, so even my own recipe books have the sugar equivalent in parentheses for when I need to switch sweeteners.
Carolyn says
Almost all of my current recipes state Swerve. You can use straight erythritol but it’s not as sweet as Swerve (plain erythritol is only 70% as sweet as sugar) so you may need to add more or add 1/4 tsp liquid stevia extract. In my upcoming book, I have a sweetener equivalency choice. Remember, sweetness is a matter of preference too so you should be tasting and adding more sweetener as you see fit.
Cindy says
Same question about Cavso Butter!
Linnae Bosma says
Guess I know one of the things I’ll be doing tomorrow!!
Melissa says
Any plans for this to come out on ebook? I do love paperback cookbooks, but I plan menus often while at my kids’ many activities and ebooks travel so well! I’m planning to buy it either way, though.
Carolyn says
Yes, it will be out on Kindle soon after the print version comes out. Almost right away, in fact.
Diane says
Made half a recipe because I was afraid I’d be too tempted with a whole recipe and THEY ARE DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for doing the hard work for us – really appreciate it!
Betsy Beasley says
I made these. I ordered the cacao butter from Amazon. They were pretty easy, but the chocolate part was too bitter. Next time I make them I’m going to add Swerve to the chocolate mixtures.
Carolyn says
What brand of sugar-free chocolate did you use?
Karen says
These are straight-up Delicious. Easy and Quick to Make. Everyone: GO! Make These Now. =))
Carolyn says
Thank you!
heather pennel says
AMAZING!! You seriously have THE best recipes, I made these today and am not sure how I have lived without them.. I am so excited for your cookbook.
Carolyn says
Thank you!
MM says
Omggggggg so good! I ordered cocoa butter the day I received this recipe in my email, cause it sounded so delicious! Just got my cocoa butter from
Amazon today (a little scary, I’ve never used it and it wasn’t the cheapest experimental ingredient!)
For some reason I decided to “ganache” my chocolate topping. Don’t think I’d do that again. Made it too thick and unpourable. I ended up just dolloping it on top, and it still flattened … mostly. I did add sweetener to the chocolate layer as well.
I sprinkled them all with sea salt at the end. They honestly taste just like Reese’s PB cups to me! I made 24 mini ones in foil cupcake liners and that worked great. I’m gonna have to send some to work with the hubs tomorrow, cause I can not be trusted!
Thanks so much for all your great work!
Nancy says
Have been on a keto diet now for a few months and just getting into keto desserts…not sure what took me so long! I have to say, these are pretty tasty and my non-keto hub thought they were great too. I did add some liquid stevia to the chocolate layer though because it was just too bitter without it.
Denise says
These PBC’s are delicious! They must have the highest yummy to effort ratio of any recipe you’ve ever come up with!
Congrats on the book launch.
Denise
Ari says
I made these tonight. Sooo good! I used a 100% cocoa bar instead of a sweetened one. I found the peanut butter part sweet enough! I also made them smaller and ended up with a ton!
Martine says
I only ended using half the sweetener, because peanut butter has its own natural sweetness. I had my hubby taste the liquid filling to check if it was sweet enough. He declared it was missing “something”. He added 1/4 teaspoon habanero pepper. I finished the recipe as is. It’s an interesting addition. It works I think.
Terri says
Yummy! But being lazy, and near a hundred degrees, I did not want to melt the chocolate so I just sprinkled some LC choc chips on top! Lazy and yummy. Love your recipes and visit your site multiple times each week, and you dominate my favorites file, Thanks. Couldn’t do this without you.
Carolyn says
Thank you, Terri. Good idea for just putting the chips on top!
peter says
what kind of peanut butter do you use?
Carolyn says
I like Justin’s, because it’s quite smooth and creamy.
Kerry Little says
Just a query…if we don’t put the dark chocolate on them…wpuld the carb count change? Not fussed on the dark choc. Thanks.
Carolyn says
Absolutely it would change. You can find out by entering it into My Fitness Pal or some similar program.
Dar says
I made these and the only change , I put chocolate on the bottom layer. They are awesome!
Jenn says
This is seriously one of my favorite recipes that I’ve found so far. I am so so happy with it! I used crunchy peanut butter and 85% dark chocolate and it was still absolutely fantastic. I just blogged about it, and included your recipe and link 🙂 Thank you so much for helping me find a Reese’s substitute that is so amazing and super low carb! Thank goodness I’ve found something sweet to eat that doesn’t involve almond flour, haha!
Carolyn says
Thanks so much.
Joi says
These are beautiful! Mine turned out with a bit of grittiness in the filling and not a very strong peanut butter taste. I used Trader Joe’s brand (creamy salted) peanut butter- maybe that was the problem? Or maybe a little more heat would make the Swerve dissolve better.
Joi says
Update: I used Skippy Natural peanut butter in the next batch, the powdered Swerve, and heated it a bit more: almost no gritty texture and great peanut butter flavor! Will try Justin’s next time- just love these and hope I can turn out a perfect batch soon.
Julia says
I just got all the ingredients to make these! I am so excited, but my fridge is too full to make them just yet. My lazy version was to take a couple chunks of Lily’s chocolate with a cocoa butter disc and a dab or two of peanut butter. I was desperate! All I need on a desert island are peanut butter cups.
Carolyn says
I do that too, spread some PB on Lily’s chocolate!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts says
These are my favorite things – you need chocolate and peanut butter in life!
Jennifer Farley says
Peanut butter cups are my guilty pleasure! I’m so glad to have a lower carb version to make now.
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
Peanut butter cups are LIFE. I want!
Gerry Speirs says
Sounds delish!!
Jennifer Blake says
A healthy twist on a true classic!
Meseidy Rivera says
I love all forms of chocolate and peanut butter!
AmyLou says
I’ve made these twice now, and I have to say I LOVE them! I had never used cocoa butter before, but it is wonderful. I am a type 2 diabetic, and my diet is somewhere between LCHF and keto. Two of these PB cups with my coffee (taken with heavy cream and collagen powder) in the morning, and I’m full for hours!
Thanks for the fantastic recipes! You are definitely my go-to for keto and sugar free desserts!
Liz Black says
In this recipe, are the net carbs 2.6? (6.2 minus 3.6 (fiber) which equals 2.6 net).
I cannot wait to make these! Thanks for the link to Amazon for the sugar free chocolate. However, can you make the link go to a new tab? When I click the link, your page is gone until I click the back button but then after I order something, I forget to click the back button.
Thanks!
Cat says
Would your sugar free chocolate chip recipe work for the chocolate topping on these? I just received my little chocolate chip molds and can’t wait to make those btw 🙂
Amy says
The perfect treat!
Kristyn says
Peanut Butter Cups are my FAVORITE!! Thanks for such a simple and delicious recipe!!
Jessica says
These are amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!
Aimee Shugarman says
These were so easy to make, and so delicious too!
Charity says
These look amazing, I love the idea of inverting the commercial peanut butter cup because really, the peanut butter is what brings me to peanut butter cups anyway.
Celeste Avy says
Do you think the peanut butter part would make good peanutbutter chips?
Carolyn says
No, it would be far too melty upon baking. Sorry, I wish!
Kate says
These are delicious! Thanks for the recipe 👍
Chantal says
I made these tonight and enjoyed them. I use erythritol with stevia or monkfruit, and every keto recipe I’ve tried so far that calls for erythritol calls for too much for my taste. People talk about a cooling effect with erythritol, but I find it makes my throat feel a bit raw. For those in my boat, try using 3 tbsp. powdered monkfruit-erythritol in the peanut butter mixture and up to 2 tbsp. in the chocolate if you’re using a good quality 100% baking chocolate. That 2 tbsp. was almost too much. I was pleasantly surprised at the result. Also, I made 24 mini muffin-sized portions and was able to put about a teaspoon on each one without changing the recipe. Great!
Chantal says
Oh, I meant at the end that I was able to put about a teaspoon of chocolate on each one.
Lucretia Goodwin says
This is an amazing recipe! I divided up my chocolate and put a light layer in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish and put the remaining chocolate over the top of the peanut butter layer! Totally delicious and tastes just like Reeses!!!
Carolyn says
Yum!