Healthy peanut butter granola cups are hearty gluten free and diary free granola cups filled with a peanut butter banana filling and drizzled with dark chocolate.
*this post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.*
I don’t like to toot my horn too often when it comes to recipes I make, but I’ll be completely honest, these healthy peanut butter granola cups totally deserve a super loud horn. *TOOT TOOT*
They could quite possibly be one of my favorite healthy recipes to date, and trust me there are a lot of favorites on my list. {Like these healthy bundt cakes, or these chocolate protein bites, or the best healthy scotcheroos}.
They’re chewy, dense and have the perfect amount of sweetness. The peanut butter banana filling is so creamy, and the perfect center to balance out all of the oats. Oh, and that chocolate drizzle was a must. Because well, peanut butter and chocolate people.
Healthy peanut butter granola cups: the batter
I had been thinking about this recipe for quite some time {probably since August 2018}. It was sparked when I first saw these Nature Valley granola cups on supermarket shelves.
The almond butter filling was good. The crunchy granola cup was good. But I just felt like I could make something better {horn tooting going on here again}.
One of my all-time favorite granolas from the blog is this peanut butter granola. So what better way to make healthy peanut butter granola cups than with the same batter as my fave granola?
We use honey, raw cane sugar and a bit of pure maple syrup on the stove top to make the sticky base. There is a trick here: don’t let the mixture boil! Seriously. There’s something that happens to the batter if you let the mixture boil that it doesn’t become nice and creamy.
Just before it starts to boil, pull it off the heat and stir in a whole jar of natural peanut butter. Yes, a whole jar. I did say these were peanut butter granola cups, so we need lots of PB.
One more trick here: let the peanut butter mixture cool slightly. You’re about to stir in some coconut oil and egg white into this mixture. You don’t want a scrambled egg white in this batter, so cooling is necessary.
Although scrambled eggs with one of these healthy peanut butter granola cups in the morning would be a great option. Just not in your batter.
Healthy peanut butter granola cups: the filling
If I were basing this recipe solely off of the Nature Valley version, then I would have filled them with almond butter or peanut butter.
But I’ll be totally honest with you here: I didn’t have any peanut butter left in the house. Plus, heading out to the store seemed like a lot of work. So I had to improvise.
I ended up finding a can of full-fat coconut milk in our refrigerator, which was the absolute perfect consistency. You can’t use lite coconut milk in this recipe because the filling won’t set up properly.
Also, refrigerating full-fat coconut milk before use will make it thick and creamy. This is my favorite one because it gets extra thick and delicious after refrigeration.
Then just blend together the coconut cream {which is what the milk becomes after it solidifies in the refrigerator}, a banana for sweetness, and some PB2 {powdered peanut butter that can be found in the same aisle as the peanut butter}.
The filling is thick and creamy and tastes just like bananas and peanut butter. Which is honestly such an amazing combination.
Healthy peanut butter granola cups: the finished product
One of these healthy peanut butter granola cups will have you feeling full all morning.
With hearty oats, protein packed peanut butter and a little sweetness from the drizzled dark chocolate, you’ll be wanting to eat these on repeat.
I just love the chewy peanut butter oats, and that creamy peanut butter banana filling has me making heart eyes all day long.
Freezing a few of these would probably be a good idea, but I honestly don’t think they’re going to last that long for me. I’ve found a healthy breakfast/snack that I will definitely be making on repeat. I hope you will too!
Looking for more healthy breakfast ideas? Check these out:
Baked Chocolate Protein Donuts
Healthy peanut butter granola cups are hearty gluten free/dairy free granola cups filled with a peanut butter banana filling and drizzled with dark chocolate.
- 1 ¾ cups old fashioned oats
- 2 Tbsp. ground flaxmeal
- 1 ½ Tbsp PB2
- ½ cup peanuts chopped
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp. natural sugar
- 2 Tbsp. water
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- ½ 16 oz jar natural peanut butter
- 3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil
- 1 large egg white
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup chilled full fat coconut milk*
- 1 large ripe banana
- 6 Tbsp. PB2
- 1 tsp. vanilla
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Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 14 muffin tins.
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In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flax meal, PB2 and peanuts.
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In a small saucepan, heat the honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, water, vanilla and salt over medium heat, until mixture just starts to bubble.**
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Remove from the heat and add the peanut butter. Stir until combined; allow to cool slightly.
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Stir in the coconut oil and egg white to the cooled peanut butter mixture and pour over the oat mixture.
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Stir until the oats are covered in the peanut butter mixture. Press ¼ cup mixture into the prepared muffin tins, creating a small hole in the center. Bake for 15 minutes.
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Meanwhile, in the jar of a blender, add the filling ingredients and blend until smooth.
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Lightly press the center of the baked cups down {if necessary}, and fill with one heaping Tbsp. of PB banana filling.
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Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until filling is slightly set.
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Place the muffin pans on a wire rack to cool and filling to set further. Use a butter knife to remove the cups and place on the wire rack.
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In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave the dark chocolate chips until melted.
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Place a sandwich size Ziploc bag in a small cup and fold the top of the bag over the cup. Spoon the melted chocolate into the bag and pull out.
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Snip a small corner of the bag and drizzle the cooled cups with melted chocolate.
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Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator.
*Note: refrigerating the coconut milk will help it to become nice and thick. You cannot use lite coconut milk, because the consistency will not be the same.
**Note: make sure the mixture doesn’t boil. If it boils the honey makes the peanut butter seize up and is not as smooth as it should be.
