It’s the classic saying: “When life gives you almond butter…”

…Or something like that.

When you’ve got a freshly-made batch of almond butter on your hands, you don’t take that stuff for granted. Instead, you turn it into something even more incredible. And that, my friends, is exactly what I did.

My Almond Butter Toffee Cups are the hotter, better-looking sibling of classic peanut butter cups. Think classier, refined, and upgraded. It’s fresh, homemade almond butter speckled with sweet, buttery toffee bits then enveloped in smooth milk chocolate and finished with a teaser sprinkle of more toffee. Oh lord, are these good. They are the sweetest form of sin, the kind that will stop you in your tracks, no matter what you’re doing, so that you can take a moment to savor it.

Did I mention how easy these are to make? All you have to do is layer the almond butter and chocolate in cupcake tins, but you can convince anybody who tries one that you’re a skilled chocolatier. And if you want to make your life even easier, you could go for store-bought almond butter.

Regardless, these candies are a little bit of handheld heaven. My co-workers were in an uproar over the sheer deliciousness of my Almond Butter Toffee Cups when I brought them into work. And I may or may not have single-handedly devoured half a dozen of the delicious devils myself. There’s just something about them that makes you lose all control.

Who am I? What day is it? Am I in heaven?

The answer to the last question is: yes.

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

1. As I said above, you can use store-bought almond butter if you’re not feeling like breaking out the food processor.
2. Use dark chocolate if you prefer.
3. Get my original Peanut Butter Cup recipe here, with a white chocolate variation included. Or perhaps you’d like to try my Biscoff Pretzel Cups?
4. Since the chocolate isn’t tempered, you should keep these guys cool.
5. You can make mini ones in a mini muffin tin.

Almond Butter Toffee Cups
By The Smart Cookie Cook

Yield: About 18 cups

Ingredients:

For almond butter

• 3 cups whole almonds
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 tbsp. honey

For filling & cups

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup toffee bits, plus more for topping
• 4 4.4-oz. milk chocolate bars, broken into chunks
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Fill two cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. Make the almond butter. In a food processor, process the almonds until finely ground. Add the salt and stream in the vegetable oil while pulsing until completely smooth. Pulse in the corn syrup and honey just until evenly distributed.
3. Use a wooden spoon to mix the powdered sugar and toffee bits into the almond butter. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the chocolate.
4. In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate bars and milk chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, making sure to stop and stir in between, until completely smooth and melted. You must stop and stir the chocolate or it will burn. It only takes about 3 or 4 intervals to melt the chocolate if you mix well.
5. Use a tablespoon or ladle to pour about a tablespoon of chocolate into the bottom of each cupcake tin. Then grab the almond butter mixture from the fridge. Form the almond butter into 1/2-inch balls, then flatten into disks that are smaller than the size of the cups. Place the disks on top of the layer of chocolate. Cover with another generous layer of chocolate and finish with a sprinkle of toffee. Refrigerate until completely set, about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in a cool place, preferably the fridge. Allow to sit out a few minutes before eating.