Peanut Butter & Jelly Cups

One of the best bits of marriage advice we received was from our premarital counselor, which I suppose is appropriate, seeing as how that's her job and all. She told us how studies show all couples, both happy and unhappy, generally fight about the same thing, over and over again. So in a way, the decision to get married is basically a decision about what you will argue about the rest of your life.

Romantic? Not really, but I love it. And after two very happy years of marriage, I can vouch for it's accuracy. Luckily, our fights are rarely of any significance. Our most common topic of argument? Food. Specifically, Scott eating food he's not allowed.

Now, let me clarify. I do not control what food Scott eats. He can eat as many hamburgers and cookies as he likes...but after dating a dietitian for 8 years, he doesn't want them often. When I say  food he's not allowed, I'm referring to food I was planning to use, like the last two eggs I needed to make lentil meatballs, or the avocado that was supposed to bulk up our salad. This is especially true when it comes to artisan condiments, which seem to have a half life of 48 hours in this house. Fancy jam is the worst. I'm 90% sure he eats it with a spoon, just to annoy me.


When my stepmom bought me a jar of blueberry lavender jam by Sallie's Greatest, I knew better than to store it in the fridge. The jam was basically kept on lockdown, hidden in the back of a cabinet behind dozens of mason jars of flour, just waiting until I could come up with a creative use fitting of it's deliciousness!

Inspiration came after chat with one of my friends about our childhood rituals for eating candy. For example, when eating peanut M&M's, we both would bite off the candy shell, suck away the chocolate, and finally, eat the peanut inside. My favorite were Reese's cups. I'd always bite away the chocolate around the outside, then the layer over the top and finally, the peanut butter center.

I do have a sweet tooth, but I'm now (admittedly) too big of a food snob to enjoy these childhood favorites. Still, our conversation got me reminiscing over how easy it would be to recreate healthy versions. The peanut butter cup seemed like a good place to start. But what about peanut butter AND jelly cups? Now we're talking!

I made these to bring over to a friends house who invited us to dinner. They are so simple to make. The most difficult thing was photographing them in our 80 degree house because we refuse to turn on the AC until June!  Update: we cracked last night. I used about a tablespoon of coconut oil to make them melt in your mouth, but if you're worried about them melting, cut back to a teaspoon. I also used a couple drops of lavender doTERRA oil in the chocolate, which gave it an incredibly complex flavor, but that's optional. If you're looking for a low sugar jam to use in the recipe, I suggest all-fruit jams, which are made from just fruit and fruit juice. My favorite is Crofter's all fruit jam.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups

Makes 20 small

1 1/2 cup semi sweet, fair trade chocolate chips
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 drops doTERRA lavender essential oil
1/3 cup jam or jelly
1/3 cup organic creamy peanut butter, at room temperature
Flaky salt, like Maldon

Mini cupcake liners

Line a mini muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Heat chocolate chips over a double boiler (or in the microwave) until melted and smooth. Stir in coconut oil and lavender oil (if using). Set aside.

Using a teaspoon measure, scoop a rounded teaspoon of melted chocolate in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Once finished with the chocolate, scoop a teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of each cup. Top with a teaspoon scoop of jam. Cover with a teaspoon scoop of melted chocolate. Sprinkle the top with a little flaky salt.

Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.