Dark chocolate candy cups filled with layers of gooey grain-free cookie dough and sweet-salty caramel. Vegan, paleo, easy (and addictive!)
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We are making a major major upgrade on the chocolate covered candy cup with not one but TWO yummy fillings: chewy chocolate-chunky unbaked cookie dough AND salty-sweet sticky date caramel. Not to mention covered in the best dark chocolate money can buy AND finished a sparkly flakey salt sprinkle. So idk about you but I think that’s a tad more enticing than a regular ol’ peanut butter cup, no?
How To Make Caramel Cookie Dough Cups
This salty-sweet chocolate treat comes together in three parts…
Grain-Free Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough
I have a lot of cookie dough recipes (because hello magical food) but I always come back to this almond flour variation because its simple, it has the perfect about-to-be-baked-cookie texture, it’s naturally vegan and paleo friendly, and one batch makes just the right amount to have some extra for snacking while you assemble your cups.
For the nut or seed butter, I prefer almond butter or sunflower seed butter. And for the chocolate folded in, I recommend chopping up a bar of dark chocolate pretty finely so you get lots of little bits of chocolate in every bite. I used Hu’s Simple Dark Chocolate bar because 1) it’s my favorite chocolate 2) it’s the best chocolate and 3) I always have Simple bars on hand because they are my go-to Hu variety for baking. But their Salty or even one of their filled bars would be yummy here too!
Easy Healthy Vegan Salted Caramel
Salted caramel, but no stove or stirring or sugar required. All you need for this easy dairy-free date caramel is medjool dates, canned coconut milk, vanilla, and salt. Plus a little blending patience to make sure it comes out silky smooth. You will need to stop and scrape down the sides of the blender a few times, and add more coconut milk as needed to get the thickest but (mostly) chunk-free consistency.
Medjool date hack: microwave the dates for 15-20 seconds before blending to soften them for easier blending!
Dark Chocolate Coating
I don’t just adore Hu chocolate for its flavor and impeccable ingredients, I also adore its truly perfect melted consistency that makes any kind of candy coating simple and snappy and so smooth. It’s perfectly pourable and sets flawlessly, whether you melt more Simple bars for coating or use Gems you will be amazed.
I personally made mini cups, but if you go for full size (there will be enough cookie dough and caramel for either!) you may need to melt additional chocolate to cover all the gooey goodness inside.
More DIY Candy Recipes You’ll Love
- SunButter and Jam Mousse Cups
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles
- Cashew Caramel Ice Cream Bars
- Vegan Paleo Kit Kats
Caramel Cookie Dough Cups
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: chocolate
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: american
Description
Dark chocolate candy cups filled with layers of gooey grain-free cookie dough and sweet-salty caramel. Vegan, paleo, easy (and addictive!)
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 3 tbsp (48g) nut/seed butter
- 2 tbsp (60g) maple syrup
- 1–2 tbsp almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) almond flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 Hu Simple Bar, chopped (2oz)
Caramel
- 200g (10-12) pitted medjool dates
- ¾ – 1 cup (180-240g) full-fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
2 Hu Simple Bars, melted (4oz)
Instructions
- Stir together nut butter, maple syrup, almond milk, and vanilla.
- Add almond flour, salt, and chopped dark chocolate. Mix to combine into a thick dough. Set aside.
- Blend the caramel ingredients until very smooth, add more milk slowly as needed.
- Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Melt the remaining chocolate bars. Spoon a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of each and spread it up the sides. Freeze the pan for 10 minutes.
- Place a spoonful of cookie dough topped with a layer of caramel into each cup leaving room around the edges.
- Top with remaining melted chocolate. Chill until the chocolate is set.
- Enjoy! Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Keywords: paleo, chocolate, healthy, dessert, medjool date, date, candy, grain free
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Thanks for the awesome recipe.
SO happy you like it!
Hi Natalie- just made these. They’re in the freezer setting now and I can’t wait to try them. Quick question; I doubled the recipe and have A LOT of the caramel sauce left over. Do you think it’s possible to freeze and use it later? Have a bit of the cookie dough left also, but thinking that probably won’t last long! Thanks so much. Love your recipes – Tulsi
★★★★★
So happy you tried them Tulsi! Yes you could probably double the chocolate and cookie dough (because never too much cookie dough lol) and leave the caramel recipe at 1x next time. If you half the caramel it won’t blend hence the size of the batch. But yes it should freeze just fine! Might be a little bit icy when you defrost since the coconut milk does contain some water, but you could always throw it in the blender or food processor real quick to get it smooth again. Hop the helps!
wanting to try these for my super sensitive kids. Do you think there is an adequate sub for the almond flour, perhaps cassava flour? they are best with root flours or banana flour, we avoid nuts and grains.
Based on your kids sensitivities I do think cassava would be the best option! The amount will be a bit different though since it’s drier than almond flour, you’d probably be better off following the ratios in this recipe since cassava is more similar to oat than almond: https://feastingonfruit.com/cookie-dough-chocolate-bark/#tasty-recipes-19332-jump-target Hope that helps Lindsay!