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
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
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!
These tasted awesome. I love the dark chocolate taste mixed with the peanut butter taste. All your recipes are so great. Thank you!❤❤
You’re so sweet, Anna! I’m thrilled that you loved this fudge, and it truly means so much that you’ve enjoyed the other recipes of mine that you’ve tried too. Thank you for taking the time to let me know!! ♡
Hello Amy.
Once again, I just loved this sweet dessert. Thank you and have yourself and your love ones a merry Xmas.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this fudge, Elisabeth! Thank you for taking the time to let me know and rate the recipe. It truly means a lot! 🙂
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones as well!
I tried to make the 10 -minute-buckeye-fudge/, And I had a problem with the chocolate layer. I put all ingredients in and I couldn’t combine the mix , it was still like a powder. I used honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and stevia. and with the bottom layer, I used almond flour because I couldn’t find peanut. It had kind of a gritty texture. What did I do wrong.
Lisa
It means a lot that you tried my recipe, Lisa! That sounds disappointing and not like how this fudge is supposed to turn out, so I’m happy to work with you to figure out what happened. In order to do so, I have some questions for you! 🙂
Was the gritty texture in the chocolate layer or the almond flour layer?
Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? (Other than using honey, almond milk, and almond flour!)
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons to measure all of the ingredients — especially the cocoa powder, almond flour, and honey?
If you used measuring cups, can you describe how you used them to measure the cocoa powder and/or almond flour? Did you dip the measuring cups directly into the containers of these two ingredients, by any chance?
What’s the exact stevia (brand + product name!) that you used?
How much stevia did you use?
What brand of almond flour did you use?
Did you adjust the amount of milk in either layer, as mentioned in the “Truvia Note + Alternatives” part of the Notes section? If you did, by how much?
How was the flavor of your fudge? Was that okay, and it was just the texture that was off?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit (and how to fix it!) once I know your answers to all of them! 🙂
Thank you for getting back to me. Answers to your questions.
The gritty texture was in the almond flour layer.
The Stevia was Great Value, granulated no calorie Stevia. Made with Stevia extract.. Used 2 tbsp.
Almond flour, Great Value super fine blanched almond flour
I adjusted the milk in the chocolate layer. I added 6 more tbsp. and it was still like a thick paste.
Flavor of fudge was good. just the texture was off.
I measured ingredients with cups and spoons, but I did it with a fork like you showed me.
It’s my pleasure, Lisa! Thanks for sharing all of this information. It’s really helpful!
I haven’t worked with Walmart’s Great Value superfine blanched almond flour before, so I’m not familiar with it. Does it have a really fine, powdery texture — just like cocoa powder? Or is it more granular? If it’s not the same texture as the cocoa powder, then it’s probably the culprit of the graininess in the almond flour layer. The peanut flour that I use is just as powdery and cocoa powder, so it creates a really smooth fudge texture.
Because Walmart’s Great Value granulated stevia is made from maltodextrin, rather than erythritol (like Truvia’s!), it doesn’t behave quite the same in recipes. Maltodextrin both absorbs and dissolves differently in liquids compared to erythritol, so that substitution would impact the cocoa powder layer and make it a bit drier.
One quick follow-up question for you! 🙂
When you filled the measuring cup with cocoa powder using a fork, did you shake or nudge the measuring cup back and forth at all while filling it, by any chance? (To “level off” the top and make the mountain of cocoa powder flatter, for example!)
Can peanut butter powder be used instead of peanut butter flour? What is the difference between the two? Thanks! This recipe looks delicious!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Fern! I’ve actually covered some of this in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions!). I know it can be really easy to miss though! 😉
In a (pea)nut shell, powdered peanut butter is generally peanut flour with other things added to it, like sugar or flavorings. For the best results, I recommend following the guidelines I provided in the Notes section when selecting a peanut flour, but if you’re unable to find it, I believe some readers have had decent luck with powdered peanut butter too. 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think of this fudge if you end up making it!