Welcome to Day 5 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch (perfect for this year when many of us will still be attending/ hosting smaller gatherings) – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019 and 2020 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
Today’s treat is inspired my my love of snacks – and especially snacks that have a good bang for their buck, meaning, do they keep me going for a little while (as opposed to just giving me a sugar rush!). I am a HUGE fan of Peanut Butter Cups and feel like a couple of those keep me going when I’m busy working at home but when I’m at school and hungry at 2pm and need something to get me through the rest of the afternoon, it’s not possible to indulge in anything with peanuts.
Enter… Sunbutter or WOW butter (<< these are affiliate links but I only link to products I actually use). These excellent substitutions for peanut butter were popular when I ran the aftercare programme at my school as a topping for bread/ toast (with jam/ jelly!) or with cut up apples. Kids love these nut-free butters and in many cases, you can’t even tell the difference. So great.
So, as I was looking at my “week ahead” a few weeks ago, I realised I needed a few “keep me going” snacks and wondered about making my own PB cups. But because I wanted to bring them to school, making them with a nut-free butter. And since I had all the ingredients (I had Sunbutter on hand so that’s what I used) ready to go, these took no time at all to whip up!
1. Melt chocolate and coat paper liners with the chocolate. Pop in the fridge for 15 minutes.
2. Pipe in about 1 teaspoon each of some jam and your (not) nut butter of choice. Pop in the freezer for 15 minutes.
3. Pipe the remaining chocolate over the top of the (not) nut butter and jam, making sure to cover it completely. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Store these in the fridge but bring to room temperature for about 10 minutes before you eat them.
Sunflower butter and jam chocolate cups
Love PB cups but want to make them nut-free? How about this version that uses sunbutter (or any other nut-free butter) and jam for a chocolatey version of a PB&J sandwich!?
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (100g) milk chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (100g) dark chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons of your favourite nut-free butter such as Sunbutter
- 3 tablespoons of your favourite jam
Instructions
- Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners.
- Melt chocolate in a metal or ceramic bowl set over a pot of simmering water (either in a microwave at 50-60% power in bursts of 30 seconds until it's just about melted and them stir to melt the remainder).
- Coat the bottom of the paper liners with the chocolate (easiest to use a piping bag here) and use a spoon to push it slightly up the edges to form a shallow chocolate cup.
- Place the tray in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Pipe in about 1 teaspoon each of some jam and your (not) nut butter of choice.
- Place the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Pipe the remaining chocolate over the top of the (not) nut butter and jam, making sure to cover it completely.
- Place the tray in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Store these in the fridge but bring to room temperature for about 10 minutes before you eat them
Notes
If you use a runnier nut butter (like sunflower), these might "squirt" a little when you bite into them. Be warned (and prepared!).
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What about you – what do you like to snack on when you’re busy?
Baking up a storm? Check out Nuts.com for all your baking and cooking needs!
(this is an affiliate link, but I genuinely use Nuts.com products and love them. Highly recommended if you are in the US/ Canada where they currently ship)
Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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