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An easy recipe for no-cook fudge with layers of sweet peanut butter and dark chocolate. Despite its decadent taste, this candy is secretly healthy & just 27 calories!
Throughout my childhood, my grandma always drove across town to our house at 6 am on Christmas morning with the same three round tins with festive snowflakes and Santa Clauses printed around their outsides. We impatiently waited to peek under their lids until partway through unwrapping presents, mainly because Mom knew exactly what hid inside and didn’t want us on an excitement and sugar high before the sun even rose.
Grandma packed those tins full of homemade goodies she mixed up the day or two before Christmas. She baked crunchy butterscotch cookies for Dad; painstakingly rolled and dipped buckeyes for Mom; and whipped up the softest, thickest sugar cookies I’ve ever eaten, appropriately topped with coarse red and green sugar crystals, for my brother and me.
She knew our sweet teeth well! Although we each preferred the exact treats in our tin, we still exchanged a few with our other family members and sampled their desserts too. Because those tins held nearly six dozen cookies and three dozen buckeyes, we also shared with other family and friends who stopped by during the next few weeks of the holiday season. No need to gain five pounds in one sitting!
But when I grew older, I started to sneak a few more of Mom’s buckeyes. Those sweet peanut butter balls dipped in rich melted chocolate… Well, they tasted almost exactly like round Reese’s peanut butter cups, my favorite candy at the time! And it somewhat helped that Mom found out about her peanut allergy around then too… More for me!
Because I don’t want to wait until Christmas for more buckeyes, I created this 10 Minute Buckeye Fudge to get my fix! Even better, it’s ready so much sooner than the traditional candy (no hours of rolling and dipping and waiting for the chocolate to set!) and it’s much healthier too. A dream come true!
Wait a second, Amy! I can hear you thinking now. How exactly did you make buckeye fudge healthier??
That definitely sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Buckeyes, fudge, healthy?
To start, this easy fudge recipe contains no butter or powdered sugar like in many traditional recipes. (Have you ever made buckeyes before? I nearly fell out of my chair when I looked at the ingredients list for a few recipes just now… I forgot just how much sugar goes into them!) Instead, this fudge is naturally sweetened with agave and Truvia. Truvia is made from stevia, which is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener. It’s one of the least expensive stevia-based sweeteners — and one of the easiest to find in grocery stores too!
Note: If you prefer, honey or pure maple syrup may be substituted for the agave. I prefer agave because it has a purer sweet taste without any strong flavors of its own, like in honey or maple syrup.
To reduce the fat and calories in the peanut butter layer without sacrificing the flavor, I turned to peanut flour. Peanut flour is similar to almond flour, and it’s made by grinding peanuts and removing most of their oil. When mixed with liquid, it has a similar texture and taste as traditional peanut butter.
Note: I used this brand because the only ingredient is peanuts. Some other brands include a little sugar or other ingredients, so check the labels before you buy.
Both the chocolate and peanut butter layers are made the same way: mix the ingredients together in a bowl, press them into the bottom of the loaf pan with a spatula, and chill. No candy thermometers necessary! I suppose this means our dessert isn’t true fudge… More of a “cheater’s” fudge. But if it means my candy is ready that much sooner, I’m definitely okay with that!
Remember to line your pan with parchment paper first! This helps remove the fudge from the pan and also somewhat prevents chocolate and peanut butter from sticking to the sides. A little will still stick, so I generally use a knife or spatula to loosen the fudge squares from the paper.
Then serve (or hoard — I won’t judge 😉 ) and enjoy! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy chocolate peanut butter fudge!
Healthy 10 Minute Buckeye Fudge
© Amy's Healthy Baking
Yields: 32 pieces
This is an easy, no-cook recipe for fudge with layers of sweet peanut butter and dark chocolate. It’s perfect for the holidays, hostess gifts, or anytime you’re craving chocolate and peanut butter! The fudge will stay fresh for at least a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
5 from 8 votes
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Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE LAYER
- 1 cup (80g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 5 tbsp (75mL) unsweetened cashew milk
- 2 tbsp (30mL) agave
- 2 tbsp (25g) Truvia
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER LAYER
- 1 cup (120g) peanut flour (I used this brand – and see Notes!)
- 6 tbsp (90mL) unsweetened cashew milk
- 2 tbsp (30mL) agave
- 2 tbsp (25g) Truvia
Instructions
Line an 8x4” loaf pan with parchment paper. (See the photos in the blog post above.)
To prepare the chocolate layer, mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl until thoroughly. Gently press into the prepared pan with a spatula.
To prepare the peanut butter layer, mix together all of the ingredients in a separate small bowl until thoroughly combined. Gently press on top of the chocolate layer with a clean spatula.
Chill the fudge for at least 3 hours before slicing into squares.
Notes
IMPORTANT MEASURING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: It’s extremely important to measure the cocoa powder and peanut flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much of either one will dry out your mixture and give your fudge a crumbly texture. Too much cocoa powder will also make the chocolate layer taste bitter, instead of rich and chocolaty.
COCOA POWDER NOTE: I like using Hershey’s regular unsweetened cocoa powder because it’s affordable, easy to find (at least in the US!), and has a good chocolate flavor. I do not recommend substituting Dutched or special dark cocoa powder. Both Dutched and special dark cocoa powder have a different acidity level and a more muted taste, which affects the taste of your fudge.
MILK ALTERNATIVES: Any milk may be substituted for the unsweetened cashew milk.
AGAVE ALTERNATIVES: Honey or pure maple syrup may be substituted for the agave, although the latter will add a subtle maple undertone to the peanut butter layer.
TRUVIA NOTE + ALTERNATIVES: Coconut sugar, brown sugar, or granulated suguar may be substituted for the Truvia. In this recipe, Truvia is a 1-to-1 substitution for regular granulated sugar, so if you'd like to try substituting something like liquid stevia that has a more concentrated sweetness, you may need to adjust the amount of milk to compensate.
PEANUT FLOUR NOTES: Peanut flour is made by finely grinding peanuts and removing most of their oil. I used this brand when developing this recipe. As of November 2022, it's no longer available for purchasing online, but this brand is very similar. For the best results, use peanut flour that contains only peanuts and no other ingredients (ie sugar, flavorings, etc).
I haven't tried substituting almond flour, so I'm not personally sure whether that will work or how it would turn out. If you'd like to experiment on your own, two things to keep in mind… In comparison to peanut flour, almond flour's flavor is much more muted, so you wouldn't be able to taste the almond flavor. (The chocolate layer would completely overpower it!) When making almond flour, its oil isn't removed (like when making peanut flour), so it also has a different consistency that will affect the texture of your fudge.
SLICING NOTE: A little of the fudge will still stick to the parchment paper, so I generally use a knife or spatula to loosen the fudge squares from the paper.
{gluten free, dairy free, egg free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, high protein}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡Easy 4-Ingredient Buckeyes
♡Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
♡The Ultimate Healthy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
♡Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
♡Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
♡Practically Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Chocolate Frosting
♡The Ultimate Healthy Peanut Butter Blossoms
♡…and the rest of Amy’s healthy candy recipes and healthy peanut flour recipes!
