Mood boosting compounds, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits? Sign me up! Starring turmeric and other warm spices, these Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups are a delicious, healthy treat to satisfy your sweet tooth. Paleo, vegan-friendly and naturally sweetened!
Brace yourselves, because today you’re getting not just one, but TWO downright deliciousssssssss recipes.
I’ve talked a lot here about anti-inflammatory eating, and at the time of writing this, you’ll find over 90 tagged anti-inflammatory recipes in the My Fresh Perspective recipe search. Anti-Inflammatory Eating 101 goes deep into the details about why you’d want to follow this type of lifestyle, as well as a meal plan to help you (literally) get a taste of what it’s like. In general however, there’s one super easy way to make your every-day way of eating more anti-inflammatory in nature, and that’s simply by incorporating more plants! This is especially true for the ones that contain compounds and properties known to be helpful at combatting the negative impacts that chronic inflammation.
So what are they? You probably see them in the grocery store regularly – these superstars aren’t hard to find. I’m talking about all sorts of vibrantly-coloured fresh produce, healthy sources of fat – especially omega-3 fatty acids and MCTs – and herbs such as ginger and turmeric. (Fun fact: Turmeric is actually part of the ginger family.) If you’re the turmeric latte-loving type, you probably already know that turmeric is the most anti-inflammatory food that we currently know of on earth, thanks to its active compound, curcumin. That’s a pretty cool reputation to have, don’t you think?
Turmeric’s healing powers certainly aren’t new. While it might have only become a trendy ingredient in North America a few years ago, it’s been used for centuries in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. Golden milk is a traditional way to consume turmeric, where the ground form is combined with other ingredients that help to make the curcumin more absorbable. Sadly, when eaten straight-up on its own, a lot of that valuable curcumin doesn’t get put to use in our bodies. We can fix that by adding:
- Black pepper – or more specifically, the compound piperine which is found in black pepper, and…
- A source of fat.
This is exactly why golden milk is an ideal way to reap curcumin’s healing benefits. It typically contains a blend of warm spices (turmeric, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and sometimes cayenne), a hint of black pepper, and coconut milk. Depending on your preference, you can also choose to sweeten it with something like honey or maple syrup. It’s pretty fabulous from a functional nutrition perspective, and it’s got to be one of the coziest beverages you can get!
Before you think you’re going to have to add a golden milk spice mix to your grocery list (and you can, but you don’t have to!) know that making your own is easy. Homemade or store-bought, you’ll want some for the treats I’ve got for you today. The first is a Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter, and the second recipe puts it to use in Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups!
Let’s get right to it, shall we? First up, nut buttahhhh…
Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: about 1 cup 1x
Description
This Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter is part of the filling for my Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups, but it’s great on its own too! Drizzle it on oatmeal, sweet potatoes, toast, or wherever else you like to use nut butter. Paleo + vegan.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw organic cashews
- 1 tbsp organic coconut oil
- 1 tsp EACH ground turmeric, cinnamon and ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- pinch of black pepper
- 1–2 packets stevia (optional)
Instructions
- Whirl the cashews and coconut oil in the food processor until they turn into smooth nut butter. You’ll want to pause occasionally to scrape down the sides with a spatula.
- Once smooth, add all remaining ingredients. Process again until fully incorporated.
- If you prefer a thinner consistency, blend in a little bit more coconut oil. Don’t blend in water as this will cause the nut butter to go bad sooner.
- Keep leftovers sealed in a glass jar, either in the fridge or a cool cupboard for up to 3 weeks.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Category: snack
- Method: food processor
Alright, now it’s time to combine that nutty, golden goodness with gorgeous, silky dark chocolate to make the Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups. I’m pretty convinced it’s never possible to go wrong with chocolate and nut butter, but I’m willing to taste test unlimited amounts of these… you know, just to be sure.
For these cups, I opted to make my own 4-ingredient chocolate with raw cacao, cacao butter, coconut oil and maple syrup. If that sounds like more effort than you’re willing to invest (and it really is easy, I promise!) I’ve added notes in the recipe below to offer some shortcuts.
I’m pretty sure that once you give these a shot, the ideas for different flavour variations will flood your blissed-out nut butter cup-loving brain like they did for me. In the meantime, enjoy every chocolatey bite, and know that each little cup is filled with mood-boosting compounds, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds to help you look and feel amazing!
Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups
- Total Time: 25 mins + freezing
- Yield: about 24 mini cups 1x
Description
Mood boosting compounds, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits? Sign me up! Starring turmeric and other warm spices, these Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter Cups are a delicious, healthy treat to satisfy your sweet tooth. Paleo, vegan-friendly and naturally sweetened!
Ingredients
For the chocolate*:
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp chopped cacao butter**
- 1 cup raw cacao powder
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- pinch of sea salt
For the rest:
- 1/3 cup Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter***
- 1 tbsp coconut flour (or your flour of choice, to make the centers a little less runny)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- golden milk spice blend and/or raw cacao, for sprinkling on top (optional)
Instructions
- Line 24 mini muffin cavities with small liners.
- Make a double boiler by boiling about an inch of water in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and place a glass or heatproof bowl over top. None of the bowl should be touching the water.
- Melt the coconut oil and cacao butter completely, whisking to incorporate. Follow wit the cacao powder, maple syrup and sea salt. Continue whisking until you have a silky smooth, melty, glossy, delicious-smelling chocolate. (Resist the urge to taste straight out of the double boiler – it’s hot! But tasting a little once cooled is a great idea, and you can adjust the sweetness accordingly if you like.)
- Using a tablespoon, carefully scoop just enough melted chocolate into each lined mini muffin cavity to cover the bottom.
- Set the muffin pan in the freezer for about 5 minutes so the chocolate can set.
- Meanwhile, stir together all of the remaining ingredients for the filling. The cashew butter mixture should be thicker than regular nut butter – similar to dough – which will help it stay in the middle of the chocolate cups.
- Once the chocolate in the bottom of each liner has set, scoop a small ball of the cashew butter filling/dough into the center of each. Press them down slightly so that there’s still room to fill the sides and top with chocolate.
- Use your tablespoon to fill each liner to the top, completely coating the golden milk cashew butter centers.
- Return the pan to the freezer one more time for at least 30 minutes.
- If desired, sprinkle the cups with golden milk spice and/or raw cacao before serving.
- The cups can be stored in the fridge or freezer in a sealed container.
Notes
- If you prefer to accelerate the process and not make your own chocolate, you can melt your choice of dark chocolate using this same double boiler method. You’ll need about 13oz. Chop it into small pieces to make it melt more evenly.
- I’ve tried making nut butter cups with all coconut oil instead of the coconut oil + cacao butter combo, but they melt really, really easily and get messy fast! For best results, I recommend not substituting the cacao butter. Alternatively, use dark chocolate as described above.
- No time to make the cashew butter from scratch? Instead, you can mix the same spices listed in the Golden Milk Coconut Cashew Butter recipe into 1/3 cup plain cashew butter. You’ll want to add about 1tsp of spices in total, or 1tsp of a pre-mixed Golden Milk blend. I like this one by Gaia Herbs. Sweeten your nut butter to taste, or omit sweetener if you prefer.
- Prep Time: 15 mins + freezing
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: dessert
- Method: stovetop
Tell me… is there a dessert or holiday treat you wish you knew how to make in a more nutrient-dense, healthy way?
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