I’m trying hard to wean myself off sugar (again) but I have such a sweet tooth it’s torture. Therefore I’ve been experimenting with sugar free, low carb sweet fixes, one of them are these lovely raw chocolate coconut bars – just like Bounty Bars but I can’t say that because that’s copyrighted so I’m just using it as a comparison so you know what I’m talking about.
If you want to make ice cream versions set half of the filling aside and make 8 bars instead.
Ingredients for around 16 bars
For the filling:
100g blanched whole almonds, soaked overnight
100g desiccated coconut
10g coconut flour
5 tbsp coconut oil, at room temperature
50g agave or 35g maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
a little water
For the raw chocolate coating:
80g coconut oil, melted
60g raw cacao, I used Willie’s Indonesian cacao block and grated it
40g agave or 25g maple syrup
- Drain the soaked almonds, (soaking them activates them and makes them easier to digest, it also softens them up and makes them moister which you need for this recipe), and rinse well.
- Place in a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients and process until still grainy – don’t make it too smooth as you want the texture of the coconut in the bars. Add 1-2 tbsp of water if it’s too thick and isn’t mixing well.
- Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film and place in the fridge overnight of if desperate to make them quickly put the bowl in the freezer for around 20 minutes until firm but not frozen.
- Once they’ve firmed up mix together the ingredients for the raw chocolate coating – stir all the ingredients together well. The coating is very thin compared to tempered chocolate but it will still work well, you’ll just need to repeat a few coats.
- Lay a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray ready. Split the coconut filling into 16 equal sized pieces and squeeze into shape (don’t try and roll them as they will break up), use a fork and dip the filling into the raw chocolate to coat, gently tap off the excess and transfer to the baking parchment. Continue with the rest of the shapes.
- Put into the fridge for 15-20 minutes until the first coating has solidified then remove and repeat twice more until all the chocolate coating has been used. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
