• If you choose to make your own sugar-free coconut butter make this first so its ready when you go to make the chocolate cups. Recipe below in notes.

  Line a 12-hole muffin pan with parchment liners or use a silicon muffin pan. You can use regular sized muffin cups or mini ones to make more smaller candies. Or you make it in a pan and cut into squares.

  Firstly, your coconut butter needs to be softened and stirred until smooth. If it's solid (this depends on how warm it is in your house) melt in the microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring after each interval. If coconut butter gets too warm the texture becomes grainy, so be careful not to overheat.

  Or if your coconut butter is not soft enough to spoon and pour, place the jar in a hot water bath. Fill up a bowl with hot water and let the coconut butter jar sit in it for a few minutes. You will see the butter starting to become very soft along the edges of the jar.

  Once your coconut butter is melted, gently stir in the protein powder and honey. Do not heat again after adding these ingredients - when you make the cups you want the coconut butter/honey to have firmed up just a bit so it stays in place.

  To melt the chocolate chips – you have 3 options below to do this. Choose the one that suits you best.

Chocolate Coating

• 1. Melt your chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring continuously. Remove from heat immediately once smooth.

  2. Or place chocolate chips and coconut oil in small dish and microwave with 20 second bursts stirring between each one until melted and smooth.

  3, Or use double boiler method - (pot of boiling water with a bowl resting on top) melt the chocolate chips and the coconut oil together.

  Assembly

  To assemble the coconut butter cups, swirl a small amount (1-2 teaspoons) of the melted chocolate over the bottom and around the sides of each cup. I used the back of a teaspoon to push the chocolate up the sides of the muffin liner to create a little cup.

  Chill the chocolate for a couple of minutes until firm, then put a small scoop of the coconut butter mixture in each cup. The consistency of the coconut butter will now be "scoopable" rather than melted.

  Spoon more melted chocolate over the tops of each cup to fill almost to the top. If you need to gently re-melt the remaining chocolate, this is fine. Once all the coconut butter is covered, chill the cups until the chocolate is firm, about 10-15 minutes. Then serve!

  The coconut butter cups should be stored in the refrigerator, but they will be very hard when chilled, so you can let them sit at room temp for a while before serving without any risk of melting.