These Vegan Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are super easy and fun to make, and hit all the chocolatey peanut butter notes of the original!

Reese’s were one of my favorite candies growing up. I remember every Halloween, after I went trick or treating, I would dump all my candy out and gather up those little orange squares and make sure I didn’t trade them for anything, they were the gold standard!

Unfortunately Reese’s are another one of those things that unnecessarily have dairy in them, but luckily, they are fairly easy to make at home and are even better if you ask me!

And even though they have recently released some Plant-Based Reese’s, they are hard to find and honestly, I don’t think they’re that good, especially compared to homemade!

why you’ll love vegan reese’s

These are fairly easy to make and hit all the notes that I remember. In fact, my wife says she likes these better than the originals!

Obviously they are great for Halloween, but they are also fantastic any time of year! Speaking of Halloween, I’ve got a few spookier variations to make as well!

One thing I don’t like about most the store bought vegan peanut butter cups I’ve tried is they have tempered chocolate. This makes them hard and snappy, so when you bite down it squishes the peanut butter filling.

Since we are making these with untempered chocolate, it’ll be nice and soft, and each bite will melt in your mouth as the chocolate and peanut butter become one!

That being said, feel free to store these in the fridge or freezer for a snappier experience!

ingredients for vegan reese’s

There are just a few simple ingredients for Reese’s.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Peanut Butter
Powdered Sugar
Graham Crackers

However, there are a few notes I’d like to go over!

should I temper my chocolate?

I experimented with tempering chocolate and I found that I preferred untempered chocolate for these. Tempered chocolate is too hard and snappy. Texturally, it clashes with the soft peanut butter filling.

Untempered chocolate will be softer at room temperature and more reminiscent of a Reese’s. But feel free to store these in the fridge if you like.

Just make sure to get vegan chocolate, preferably semi-sweet.

what’s the best Peanut Butter for reese’s?

I got a tip from somebody that reduced fat peanut butter gives a better texture and I agree! The Reese’s peanut butter was kinda crumbly and the reduced fat achieves this much better.

I’ve used other reduced fat peanut butters and have found that Skippy is the best at replicating that Reese’s texture.

What do graham crackers do in reese’s?

Adding some graham crackers is optional, but I really like the added texture they impart. It really reminds me of the peanut butter in the original cups, it’s soft, but has a slight little crunch to it.

Unfortunately vegan graham crackers are rare since they usually have honey in them. The graham crackers by Nabisco and Kellogg’s are accidentally vegan however, so if you can find them, go for it.

Somebody made this recipe and used Biscoff Cookies instead and I think that would work out well too!

how to make vegan reese’s

First, crush up the graham crackers if you are using them. You’ll want to do this in a food processor to get them as fine as possible.

Next, mix the graham crackers, powdered sugar and peanut butter with a hand mixer.

The peanut butter mixture will be dry and crumbly at first, but it should be very easy to work with. Soft but not sticky. Honestly, it should be a lot like Play-Doh! You should be able to roll it into a big ball.

Roll about 1 Tbsp (15 – 18g) worth of the mixture into a ball.

Next, you can simply flatten them into little patties with your hand. But I recommend adding them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Then add a little wax or parchment paper on top.

Then, use something to flatten them (I used a small glass bowl).

Peel off the wax paper, and now you have a perfect little peanut butter patty! Just make sure that it’s smaller than the mold / muffin liner that you’re gonna use. Once they are all formed, add them to the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up.

I found that using partially frozen peanut butter patties were a lot easier to work with. Sometimes the melted chocolate was too warm and it would soften the peanut butter and everything got very gooey and hard to work with.

Next melt your chocolate. You can do this two ways. The first is with a double boiler. Which is essentially just getting a large metal or glass bowl and putting it on top of a saucepan filled partially with water over medium heat.

Then you add the chocolate to the bowl. The steam from the water will heat the bowl and slowly melt the chocolate. This is a fine way to do it, but I prefer the microwave!

Simply heat the chocolate in 15 – 30 second increments. Stir the chocolate between each 15 – 30 second heating session until it’s mostly melted. When there’s still a few unmelted morsels, just stir and the residual heat will melt them.

Next we just need to assemble them! First add about 1 Tbsp worth of melted chocolate into a Silicone Mold or muffin liner.

Then add a peanut butter disc, and push it down so that the chocolate engulfs it.

Then add another tablespoon of the chocolate on top. Tap it to flatten the chocolate out.

Then, add that to the fridge for about 15 minutes to set and harden and enjoy!

special equipment needed

Food Processor – If you are using graham crackers you’ll need to get them ground up as fine as possible!
Hand Mixer – You could potentially mix the peanut butter and powdered sugar together by hand but it might take a while. A hand mixer comes in handy!
Silicone Molds – Feel free to use regular muffin liners, but I love how easy and perfect the cups come out with silicone molds.
Microwave or Double Boiler – To melt the chocolate. I prefer the microwave since it’s easier and faster.

Variations

I’ve made a few different variations besides the classic peanut butter cup. My most recent was adding a little bit of gochujang for a spicy peanut butter cup!

All I did for this was add a dollop of some gochujang on top of the peanut butter. Then I used a little wax paper and flattened it out by lightly pressing it. I found that spreading it with a spoon or knife was too messy. Then I just topped it with more chocolate!

“Ghost” Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

The Ghost variation just swaps the chocolate for White Chocolate. I’ve used the white chocolate chips by Enjoy Life. You can also make some at home, I’ve used the recipe by Nora Cooks for that!

Frankenstein Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!

The Frankenstein variety was maybe my favorite! For that I just added a little Matcha powder to the white chocolate to make the green chocolate, super good!

FYI I don’t recommend using water based food dye as it will cause the chocolate to seize up!

For the Frankenstein, you’ll need to let the green chocolate set in the fridge before adding the chocolate layer as it’s basically liquid and the chocolate will just seep into it. But it only takes about 15 minutes for it to set!

handy dandy (older) VIDEO HERE!

Storage

Store in the fridge, or at room temp and eat within 3-5 days (they never last that long in my house!) You can also freeze them so they’ll last even longer.

Storing them at room temp will give you a softer chocolate experience, just like a real Reese’s. If you store them in the fridge or freezer they will be firmer and snappier.

Also, if you store at room temp, I suggest keeping them on parchment paper (or something non-stick) so they don’t stick to the plate / tupperware that you’re using.

freezer friendly reese’s peanut butter cups!

If you don’t want to make all of the Reese’s at the same time, you can simply flash freeze the peanut butter patties for 30 minutes. Then add them to a freezer safe container and then you can just melt a little chocolate and make 1 – 2 Reese’s cups whenever you get a hankering!

tips for vegan reese’s

Use graham crackers (or Biscoff cookies) for better texture.
Reduced fat Skippy Peanut Butter also lends to a better texture.
Don’t temper your chocolate.
Use some wax paper and something flat to form the peanut butter patties.
Freeze the peanut butter patties so they are easier to work with.

commonly asked questions about vegan reese’s

Can I use other nut butters, or sunbutter? Yes! It might not be as crumbly but still good!
Is chocolate vegan? As long as it’s not milk chocolate it is usually vegan. You can find dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips that are vegan.
Do I need to use graham crackers? No! They are optional, but I do like the added texture they provide. You can also try using Biscoff Cookies!
Which graham crackers are vegan? The only ones I’ve found are the Nabisco and Kellogg’s crackers. They don’t have honey in them. But again, they are optional so don’t worry about it if you can’t find any.

Other sweet treats!

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