These MINI chocolate peanut butter tarts are BIG on decadence with an ultra creamy filling and granola crust. Salty-sweet dessert heaven!
Look, I’m a diehard sunbutter gal to the end. It surpassed peanut butter in my Official Ranking of Favorite Nut & Seed Butters many many moons/months/recipes ago. But sometimes you have people in your life who haven’t (yet) been converted to the sunflower side and eat peanut butter like it’s their damn job. And when you want to make those humans an especially luscious mini tart treat this is THE recipe you need.
P.S. I adored them too even if peanut butter isn’t my main squeeze. P.P.S. Yes, yes you can make the exact same recipe with sunbutter instead.
How To Make Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts
This recipe by no means screams HEALTH. Its basically peanut butter cup energy meets cream pie form and nothing about that is breakfast approved. But! It is gluten-free and vegan, easy to make without having to whisk or stir a thing by hand, and exceptionally devourable.
The Gluten-Free Chocolate Crumb Crust
My favorite “cookie” crumb crust hack that I come back to again and again: GRANOLA. It works wonderfully as a graham cracker crust too, but for the Oreo-ish vibe we’re going for here I simply swapped to chocolate granola. Add a little cocoa powder to make it extra rich and coconut oil to bind everything together.
Pressing the crust into the pans is the trickiest part of the whole mini tart making process. I recommend using a sheet of wax paper to prevent sticking and help press it in evenly up the sides. You can also reshape carefully right after you take them out of the oven with the bottom of a measuring cup. Or save yourself the trouble and just use a muffin pan or regular pie dish instead.
The Ultra Creamy Peanut Butter Filling
Peanut butter pie is typically a luscious mix of creamy peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and cool whip. So we are doing a slightly healthier dairy-free spin with vegan cream cheese, coconut sugar, and coconut cream. Still with the creamy peanut butter in there too of course.
You can use the blender or food processor for this part, just make sure you let it run for a while so your filling is SUPER duper creamy. And make sure your crusts are completely cool before filling (I usually pop them in the freezer for an hour to speed this part up!)
Chill overnight so the filling can set, top with a drizzle of dark chocolate and a crunchy sprinkle of peanut pieces, then grab a fork and dig into these mini magical salty-sweet treats!
More Peanut Butter Recipes You’ll Love
- Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Crispy Peanut Butter Waffles
- Healthier Peanut Butter Eggs
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Magic Cookie Bars
Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 mini tarts 1x
- Category: tart
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
These MINI chocolate peanut butter tarts are BIG on decadence with an ultra creamy filling and granola crust. Salty-sweet dessert heaven!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups (225g) chocolate granola
- 1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil
Filling
- 1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar*
- 8oz vegan cream cheese**
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Melted chocolate + chopped peanuts + flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Grind the granola in a food processor. Add coconut oil and cocoa powder. Process again until combined.
- Press into mini tart pans (or you can use a muffin tin to make minis or a regular sized pie pan), covering the bottom and sides. Greasing your hands or using wax paper can help.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350ºF.
- Cool 10 minutes, then refrigerate while you make the filling.
- Combine all filling ingredients in a blender until smooth.
- Spoon/pour into the crusts.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Top with melted chocolate, chopped peanuts, and flaky salt. And eat!
- Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
*Or any granulated sweetener
**You can sub with greek yogurt (non-dairy or dairy)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tart
- Calories: 765
- Sugar: 29g
- Sodium: 326mg
- Fat: 57g
- Saturated Fat: 24g
- Carbohydrates: 50g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 21g
Keywords: gluten free, granola, healthy, creamy, pie, pies, no bake, easy, dairy free, cream cheese, peanut butter cup
I don’t know…I think you could argue that this is somewhat breakfast-y 😉 You’ve got granola (which, btw, we LOVE that chocolate granola). I know these would definitely be approved by my PB loving peeps!! I’m adding cream cheese to the shopping list so I can make these! They look so decadent, and you can’t go wrong with the PB + chocolate combo….AND the sprinkle of flaky salt. Perfection ❤️
P.S. – Natalie! Your photo is stunning – SO beautiful, my friend!!
You’re right, granola contains oats so that’s all we need to call it brekkie😉 I hope the fam loves them, although you and I would devour a sunbutter version of these! And THANK YOU, I appreciate that very much. I hope you are having the happiest sunday💗
could these be made smaller? the size of mini-cupcakes? would they be able to be eaten without a fork?
I think the filling would be fine that way, my only concern is that since the crust is baked they might be tricky to pop out of the mini muffin pan after baking/setting. I might try a no-bake crust like this instead: https://feastingonfruit.com/cookies-and-cream-cheesecakes/#tasty-recipes-15582-jump-target But the filling should be fine!
Thanks, I was thinking cupcake liners, but didn’t know if the crust would crumble when you took the paper off.
Hmm this one might be a bit too crumbly for that, I can’t say for sure since I’ve never tried it that way. You may still be better off with a no-bake type crust in that case as well