Today, I made you some Halloween-inspired treats! I call them … Berry Bloody Bone Cups. These sweet, chocolatey cups are Paleo, gluten-free, refined-sugar free, and vegan!
Happy Halloween, everyone!! It’s weird that it’s on a Monday this year. On the other hand, people always tend to dread Monday—as if it’s evil or something. Regardless, today it is evil! All in good spirit, of course. It’s that time of the year when you’re just craving something sweet and sinful. Sadly, Halloween’s the culprit that starts it all. So, I brewed up a concoction that’ll trick you this year.
I’ve always loved Halloween! Growing up, my brother, Michael, and I would anticipate every fall break so we could get out all of our boxes of decorations to deck out our house! Like, we didn’t just put up a few signs and some ghoulish monsters—our house was a haunted house. It was awesome! We continued the tradition after moving out a few years ago, adorning our apartments and, now condo, with enough decorations to fill a five bedroom house! I’m proud to say we won the Halloween decorating competitions our old complex hosted the two years we lived there. We’re competitive and we weren’t gonna let anyone steal our monstrous thunder! Yes! Victory!
Needless to say, when mid-September hit, I was devising of a few ideas I could do for Halloween recipes. This is the first year I won’t have a single piece of candy! Woah, crazy! Usually I would splurge with a few pieces of mini candies on Halloween, but no. I’m giving it up for good—that goes for you, too, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays! I’m fully sinless now.
With that being said, I feel a need to share my creations with you so you don’t have to intoxicate yourselves with high-processed, sugar-oozing, fat-clogging, organ-smoldering desserts … too far? It is what it is.
Anyways, since Michael and I have countless decorations (we’ve been collecting forever), I got some inspiration from the creepy crawlies lying around our condo. Bones and teeth surrounding the graveyard wall ended my contemplation. I went through my Amazon wish list and finally bought this Reese’s cup mold.
It was wasting away in there for over a year! So, upon its arrival, I got working on these Berry Bloody Bone Cups! Michael chose raspberries over strawberries for the filling—they’re his favorite so I don’t know why I bothered asking.
It took a little experimenting with the measurements since the cavities are larger than I expected (a little bigger than traditional Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), but, it was worth the trial and error. Like a Brit would say, “They’re bloody good!”
These taste like gourmet chocolates with raspberry filling; the vanilla-coconut “bone” filling gives them another element that I can’t describe, but it earned its place in the recipe card! These cups are sweet and rich—one will surely curb your sweet tooth cravings!
They’re bursting with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals from the raw cacao powder, coconut oil and butter, raspberries, and maple syrup! So, don’t feel guilty about these—if anything, feel proud! The serotonin and dopamine in the raw cacao powder will help with that, transforming your mood into pleasure. The increase of phenylethylamine (a neurotransmitter in the brain) will contribute to your rapturous mood also, stimulating the same sensation you get when in love—so fall in love with raw cacao and these Berry Bloody Bone Cups … if you dare! 😉
Let’s talk about the process.
For the bottom layer, after making the melty chocolate, place 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of chocolate into your silicon Reese’s mold; make sure you brush up the sides with the back of your measuring spoon. Place the mold into the freezer, while you make the raspberry filling.
When the raspberry filling is done, place it in the fridge to fully cool—you don’t want it to melt the chocolate! When cooled, spread 1 tablespoon of filling in each cup and put it back into the freezer.
Thereafter, after warming the coconut butter and adding the vanilla and maple syrup, stir it up and add about 1/2 tablespoon to each cup. Return it to the freezer … again.
Lastly, melt additional chocolate and top the cups! And then! Relish your masterpiece.
Take a bite!
And then another!
- ½ cup raw cacao powder
- ½ cup unrefined coconut oil
- 1-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup, to taste (can sub raw honey, but won't be vegan)
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
- 1½ cup fresh raspberries (I'm sure frozen would work perfect, too!)
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (can sub raw honey, but won't be vegan)
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅜ cup (¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons) melted coconut butter (NOT oil)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, to taste (can sub raw honey, but won't be vegan)
- ¼ cup raw cacao powder
- ¼ cup unrefined coconut oil
- ½ - 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (can sub raw honey, but won't be vegan)
- Pinch of sea salt
- Get out your Reese's silicon mold and place it on a cookie sheet for support when transporting. You can set it in the freezer so it gets cold! If you don't have a silicon mold, you may use cupcake liners or something similar. However, you might need to adjust the measurements.
- In a double broiler, add coconut oil. When it gets melty, add the raw cacao powder and stir together.
- Once the coconut oil and cacao powder are melted together, mix in the maple syrup, vanilla, and sea salt. If you don't have a double broiler, you can add some water in a small saucepan and place a heat-safe bowl over the top of it, making sure the bowl and water do not touch. Bring the water to a boil and proceed as directed above. 🙂
- Place 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon melted chocolate into each silicon cup. Brush up the sides with the back of your measuring spoon!
- Transfer in the freezer while you prepare the bloody raspberry filling; make sure the mold is level.
- Over medium high heat, add berries in a medium stainless steel or ceramic saucepan. Continuously stir so the berries do not burn. It will take about 5-10 minutes for the berries to fully break down. You can use the back of your spoon to break up the berries if you need to.
- Stir in the maple syrup and lemon juice and set the filling into the fridge to fully cool. If you don't, it will melt the chocolate!
- Once cooled, remove your mold from the freezer and spread 1 tablespoon of bloody raspberry filling in each cavity.
- Move back to the freezer while you prepare the vanilla-coconut bone filling.
- Melt coconut butter in the microwave or double broiler
- Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract
- Remove mold from the freezer and place about ½ tablespoon of the vanilla-coconut bone filling in each cavity
- Return to the freezer as you make the last chocolate layer
- In a double broiler, add coconut oil
- Once it begins to melt, add in raw cacao powder and stir together until smooth
- Stir in maple syrup and sea salt
- Top each cavity with 1½ teaspoons chocolate and return to the freezer to harden for about 30-40 minutes.
- Carefully pop each Berry Bloody Bone Cup from the cavities and enjoy! 🙂
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