These Dark Chocolate Fudge Cups with Pistachios and Goji Berries are an easy and healthy recipe made with only 8 clean ingredients. It's the perfect plant-based Holiday recipe made in one-pot, is naturally colored with real food, and can be prepared in under 10 minutes!
Here's Why This Recipe Works
My top 3 favorite reasons:
- It's A Healthy, No-Cook Holiday Dessert
- Can Be Prepared In Under 10 Minutes
- Made With Clean Ingredients
You can feel good about making my healthy, plant-based recipe because it's vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, no-cook, paleo-friendly, and contains no refined sugar!
Frequently Asked Questions
What Can I Expect From This Recipe?
These Dark Chocolate Cups with Pistachios and Goji Berries are made with only 8 clean ingredients, then topped with ground goji berries and pistachio nuts.
It only takes less than 10 minutes to prepare them and another 30 minutes or so for them to harden in your freezer.
Goji berries and pistachios are my go-to toppings during the Christmas season because of their bright, colorful reddish and green colors.
I also used them in my Goji Berry and Hazelnut Cacao Truffles and my Cacao and Walnut Holiday Truffles last year.
It adds a festive and fun topping without having to use artificially colored food sprinkles.
Is This Recipe Healthy?
In my opinion, yes!
For example, here's an ingredient list for store-bought processed food sprinkles and chocolate bars:
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Dove Dark Chocolate Bar Ingredients: Chocolate Semi-Sweet (Sugar, Chocolate Processed With Alkali, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin, Natural, and Artificial Flavors)
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Wilton Red and White Sparkling Sprinkles Ingredients: Sugar, Confectioner's Glaze, Red 40 Lake, Carnauba Wax, Red 40
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Wilton Dark Green Sugar Sprinkles Ingredients: Sugar, Confectionery Glaze, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Carnauba Wax
Traditional store-bought chocolates and sprinkles are highly processed and contain refined GMO sugar, GMO soy, GMO dairy, artificial flavors, and food colorings.
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions
Here are some of my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Chocolate Chips: I used "mini chocolate chips" but you could also use standard-size chips as long as you have a full (2) cups. In addition, I used "semi-sweet" chips which have some sweetness to them. If you use dark chocolate chips or chips with less sweetness, you may want to increase the amount of maple syrup.
Almond Butter: This can be substituted with any other type of nut butter. For example, peanut butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter, or even sunflower butter.
Coconut Cream: This is coconut cream in a can, but is slightly different from coconut milk in a can. However, if you substitute with coconut milk in a can, make sure it's full-fat and that you only use the "fat" part of the milk and not the "liquid" part.
Maple Syrup: I haven't tested the recipe with any other type of sweeteners, but some thick liquid sweeteners you may want to try are organic date nectar, organic coconut nectar, or organic brown rice syrup.
Vanilla Extract: This could be substituted with organic vanilla bean powder if you'd like.
Himalayan Pink Salt: This is my salt of preference, but it can always be substituted with sea salt.
Toppings: The naturally colored red + green toppings I used were to give the chocolate cups a Christmas-themed appearance. However, you can omit them or substitute them with whatever healthy toppings you have on hand.
Serving Size: This recipe will make approximately 16 small 1 ½-inch bite-size pieces. Nutritional information is for (1) piece which is (1) serving.
Want More Healthy Plant-Based No-Bake Dessert Recipes?
Check out these:
- Healthy Peanut Butter Cups
- Raw Snickers Bars
- Strawberry Cream Truffles
- or my CLEAN DESSERTS Cookbook with 72 plant-based no-bake dessert recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! : )
Dark Chocolate Fudge Cups with Pistachios and Goji Berries
Equipment
- Silicone Candy Mold
Ingredients
For the chocolate cups:
- 2 cups Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup organic coconut cream
- ¼ cup organic almond butter
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
For the toppings:
- 1 handful organic goji berries
- 1 handful organic pistachios
Instructions
- Set aside a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and either mini muffin cups or a silicone candy mold.
Prepare the toppings:
- Using a coffee grinder, add the pistachios and grind until they become a fine, crumbly texture, taking care to not overprocess.
- Wipe out the inside of the coffee grinder and repeat this step for the goji berries.
- Set the topping aside while you prepare the chocolate cups.
Prepare the chocolate cups:
- Add all ingredients to a medium-size saucepan and melt on the lowest heat until it's creamy and smooth, stirring the entire time and taking care to not let it burn.
- Transfer and divide the mixture evenly between the mini muffin cups or silicone candy mold.
- Sprinkle the toppings onto the top of the chocolate cups.
- Place the mini muffin cups or silicone candy mold onto the prepared cookie sheet in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or until firm.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 5-7 days.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Natalia says
Love them! Thanks for the recipe!
Karielyn says
Hi there Natalia! Thank you so much...glad to hear you enjoyed them! 🙂