Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups — TREAT

Munch or Dump rates Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups by Skinny Dipped TREAT — score 43/90.

Straight-up candy, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. It's chocolate, peanut butter, sugar, and a couple of palm oils, with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Rich and genuinely simple for confectionery, but the sugar and saturated fat are real, so treat it as a treat.

Why this verdict

• Sugar-and-fat-heavy confection built for indulgence, not nutrition
• Short, recognizable ingredient list with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
• Palm oil and palm kernel oil add saturated fat but are not hydrogenated
• Single added-sugar source keeps it out of engineered-sweetener territory

Ingredients (8)

• semisweet chocolate (moderate) — Real cocoa-based chocolate; sweet but contributes cocoa antioxidants.
• peanut butter [peanuts (safe) — Real peanuts; the one genuinely nutritious component, adding some protein and healthy fat.
• Sugar (moderate) — Added for sweetness, can contribute to calorie content.
• Palm Kernel Oil (moderate) — Extremely saturated tropical fat used for the fudge coating's snap.
• Palm Oil (moderate) — Saturated-fat-heavy oil used in the crust.
• Lactose (safe) — Milk sugar carrier in the seasoning; makes the chips not dairy-free.
• Soy Lecithin (safe) — Common emulsifier, generally benign in these amounts.
• Salt (moderate) — Used in moderation, might exceed necessary amount.