Ryan & Zach Of “The Juice Truck” Make Some Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

by Ryan Slater & Zach Berman | It’s way too easy to get caught up with all the Halloween candy currently in circulation. It’s somehow normal to down 10 chocolate bars before realizing that you just ate 10 chocolate bars. Since that’s not good for us, we like to make our own Halloween treats. Our all-time favourite is the chocolate almond butter cup. The big brand “peanut” original attracts a lot of heat because it’s seen as the “worst” Halloween candy as far as health is concerned, with each cup containing 105 calories, 6.5 grams of fat, and 2 grams saturated fat. Ours is an all-natural alternative, so there’s no guilt attached if you double dip for seconds.

Chocolate Mixture Ingredients

1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup cacao powder
1/2 tsp raw vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Nut Butter Mixture Ingredients

1/4 cup almond butter (or your favourite nut butter)
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 cup almond meal (ground up almonds)

Directions

1. Using a whisk, mix the two groups of ingredients in separate bowls until both are nice and smooth.
2. Get about a dozen cupcake papers or line a muffin tin with paper liners.
3. Fill each paper with about 1 tsp of the chocolate mixture. You can either brush, pour or pipe the chocolate into the paper liners. Make sure the bottoms and sides are evenly coated with chocolate.
4. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until hardened.
5. Once hardened, fill each cup with 1tsp of your nut butter mix.
6. Top off each cup with the remaining chocolate mix (if the chocolate hardens, just re-heat it) and put the cups back in the fridge for 10 minutes or until hardened.
7. Top the finished cups off with some Himalayan rock salt, cacao nibs, edible flowers, or cayenne pepper.
8. Store in the fridge or in a cool place until distribution.

And there you go! You’ve just made yourself some deliciously vegan, gluten-free chocolate almond butter cups. We recognise that most people think the idea of a “healthy Halloween treat” is downright spooky, but trust us, this is no trick!

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Ryan Slater and Zach Berman are the co-owners of The Juice Truck. What began as a couple of dudes with a strong sense of wanderlust and a dream of making juice has blossomed into a company that is slowly but surely becoming a hub of health and wellness in Vancouver. Maybe they’ll travel the world again soon and see what else they can dream up. Until then, they’ll be cracking wise and making stuff here.

Reverence, Respect, and Realization: What The Acorn Taught Me

At 21 years old, I'm still just a kid and relatively new to working in restaurants, but I grew up umbilically tied to the hospitality industry. My father was a food writer, and my mother is a photographer. Their careers meant that most of my early years were spent in kitchens and dining rooms instead of on playgrounds and soccer fields; consequently, I learned my table manners before I could count past one hundred.