Chocolate Covered Coconut Bars

Growing up as a kid it was pretty clear to everyone what my mum’s favourite chocolate bar was. It was definitely a bounty bar. She just loves the combination of coconut and chocolate and when they made an ice-cream version it was like all her Christmasses had come at once! With her birthday coming up I decided to make her a version of a bounty bar that she could eat and I came up with this Chocolate Covered Coconut Bar. As we don’t eat refined sugar, this is sweetened only with a bit of honey and the natural sweetness from the coconut. The chocolate is 100% Cacao so it doesn’t contain any sugar either! A truly decadent treat without any nasties in it!

As an added bonus, there’s almost no cooking involved, the only heating is to melt the chocolate so these no-bake bars are a great summer treat for when you don’t want to turn on the oven!

Before making the chocolate covered coconut bars you first need to line a baking tin (mine was 10 x 8 inches) with baking parchment (greaseproof paper).

Next, melt the blocks of coconut cream (still in their plastic packets) in a bowl of hot water until they become liquid. Coconut Cream is different from coconut milk as it contains the flesh of the coconut too, all blended up. It is much thicker, coconuttier (it’s a word!) and creamier than coconut milk. Then you need to melt the coconut oil over a low heat if it’s not already liquid (mine tends to be solid in the winter but on hot days in the summer it can turn to liquid, just in the jar!)

Then, in a mixing bowl, add the liquid coconut cream, melted coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract and salt. Stir through the desiccated coconut until everything is mixed well.

Then, you need to pour or scoop the mixture into the pre-lined tin and flatten with the back of the spoon so it is an even thickness. (Mine was about 1.5cm high). Place this tin of coconut mixture in the fridge to chill for 15 mins while you prepare the chocolate.

To melt the Chocolate, you need to do it in a bain-marie (a double boiler) over a low heat. A bain-marie is a heatproof bowl which you sit on top of a saucepan with a small amount of barely simmering water in it. Just make sure the heatproof bowl is above the waterline of the saucepan below. (You want to heat the chocolate gently – otherwise, it could ‘seize’ which means it loses its shine and it can get granular). Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and let it stand for about 2 minutes so the chocolate can thicken.

Remove the tin of coconut mixture from the fridge/freezer and take it out of the tin using the greaseproof paper. Cut the block into smaller bars. I sliced my coconut block lengthways and then each half into 9 pieces widthways so I ended up with 18 bars. Dip each bar into the melted chocolate so that they are completely covered. (I used my fingers!). Place the Chocolate Covered Coconut Bars on a baking parchment-lined baking tray and return to the fridge/freezer to set.

Dipping the Chocolate Covered Coconut Bars

Once set you can place the bars in a Tupperware box with sheets of baking parchment between the layers so they don’t stick together. Keep them in the freezer. You can eat them straight from the freezer or, if you’re patient enough, allow them to warm up for 5 minutes before biting in! They’re better when they’re not completely frozen.

Beware, these bars are rich and extremely decadent. I struggle to eat a whole one – but mum doesn’t seem to have that problem – haha! They keep for months in the freezer but believe me, they’ll be gobbled up way before that!

If chocolate is your thing, try my Healthy Chocolate Brownies, Chocolate Espresso Pots or Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.