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 look so good! Chocolate and peanut butter fudge? Yes please!
Thanks Marsha!
Could I use PB2 in place of the peanut flour? Just wondering. I really enjoy all your recipes, Amy. Thanks so much.
That should work Margaret! PB2 does have a small amount of sugar in it, so just remember that the fudge wouldn’t be “clean eating friendly” with that substitution. I hope you enjoy the fudge!
These sound fantastic!! Do you think it would be ok to use malitol syrup rather than agave??
I’ve never worked with malitol syrup, so I can’t confidently answer that. If you’ve been able to substitute malitol syrup in place of agave in other recipes, then it should probably work with this one as well. I hope you enjoy the fudge Erin!
Wow Amy, these fudge pieces look amazing! I have yet to try a buckeye but I love dark chocolate with pure peanut butter. Pinned!x
Thanks for pinning Eve! Buckeyes are so amazing — and yet so dangerous. Probably a good thing you haven’t tried them before because they’re oh so addictive! 😉
I’ve never used peanut flour, do you think it would work with almond flour? Thanks.
I haven’t worked with almond flour before in a recipe like this, so I’m not entirely sure. Most health-oriented grocery stores should have some type of peanut flour though, so maybe you can look there Maria!
These sound to good to be true!!! Can’t wait to try them! 🙂
I hope you enjoy the fudge!
Hi Amy
I’ve just made these, and I’m not much of a ‘baker’ the fudge seems sticky and gooey and I’m worried it won’t set! Any ideas would help
I love your site!
Thanks for your kind words about my blog Alex! 🙂 The fudge should be somewhat sticky but definitely not gooey. Did you use the exact ingredients that I linked to, or did you substitute for any ingredients?
Have you tried making this where instead of the peanut layer you use coconut flour? I have peanut allergies and don’t like buying Almond flour because it’s twice the cost of coconut flour. Just wondered what your thoughts would be having the chocolate layer – then a coconut flour based layer since coconut flour, like many other “nut” flours doesn’t need to be baked.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Shaun! I haven’t tried using coconut flour in this particular recipe of mine, so I’m not sure how that would turn out and can’t guarantee the results. Coconut flour behaves so differently compared to just about every other flour, so I typically don’t recommend using it in my recipes unless I explicitly call for it. However, if you’re dead set on using it here instead of almond flour, I’d recommend only ⅓ cup to start because is much more absorbent than peanut flour (or any flour!). If the mixture seems really wet, then add more until it’s soft but not liquidy or runny.
If you do end up making this fudge, I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Is something missing from the chocolate fudge??? I can’t see how it would be a texture that would be anything but liquid.
Cocoa powder is dry, so it has the substance to make the fudge
Thanks so much for chiming in and helping, Gayle!
The recipe is correct exactly as written! Cocoa powder is a dry ingredient, as Gayle mentioned. It almost acts like flour, in a way.
When you mix flour with some liquid, you get a dough-like consistency. The same thing applies here, except the ratio of dry ingredients to liquid is higher compared to bread dough (aka it’ll be drier!), which is how this cocoa powder-based recipe has a fudge-like consistency. 🙂
If you decide to try making this fudge, I’d love to hear what you think of it, Charlotte!
Hi Amy. I have a question about the Truvia that you have linked. It says on the pkg that 3/4 tsp sweetens like 2 tsp of sugar so it’s not a 1:1 sweetener. Should I use the linked Truvia or a 1:1 sweetener?
Anyone? Should I use a 1:1 sweetener or Truvia?
Thank you so much for your patience, Diane! I’ve been out of the office to take care of some family things for a couple of weeks, so I’m just now catching up on comments. I’m really sorry I’m just now replying to your question!
In this recipe, I’ve found that the Truvia I linked to acts as a 1:1 substitute for granulated sugar, despite what the jar says. If you have that exact Truvia product, then that would be the best thing to use since that’s what I used when developing this recipe! 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think of this fudge if you end up making it!