With Valentine’s Day chocolate sales coming to an end, I thought I’d share a DIY recipe version of one of my favorite chocolate bars: Mounds. AKA almond-less Almond Joys. AKA coconut, chocolate goodness. Oh, and did I mention it only requires 5 ingredients?
This DIY Mounds bar is not only easy to make, but has none of the concerning elements of its store-bought counterpart. For instance, the most used ingredient in the commercial version is corn syrup, which some argue is almost identical to table sugar. It’s a candy bar though, right? What can we expect? While some consumption of added sugar is inevitable when it comes to desserts, companies often use an excess of corn syrup as a sweetener because of how cheap it is, past the point of flavor. Additionally, a study conducted in 2009 that tested 20 different corn syrups found 9 out of 20 syrups, or 45%, contained the toxin mercury. When it comes to making our “copycat” DIY Mounds Bars, we will not be adding any potentially toxic sugars.
Even without the corn syrup, these bars are super satisfying and rich. Creamy shredded coconut draped in dark chocolate? Yes please. This is a delicious on-the-go or sit-down dessert. Plus, depending on where you shop (I got my ingredients mainly from Fred Meyer), these bars can be even cheaper than the conventional Mounds Bar!
If Almond Joy’s are your preference, you’re reading the wrong article. Just kidding! Almonds can easily be integrated into the recipe. Beyond that, there is a lot of room for personalization. I used dark chocolate, but milk chocolate or white chocolate may be used. If you want to elevate the look of these chocolates, you can drizzle a different type of chocolate on top as an accent. When it comes to the filling, raspberries, caramel, or a hazelnut spread would be a great addition.
You really can’t go wrong with this chocolate coconut combination! I will say that mine ended up looking more like circular chocolates instead of bars, and definitely have a DIY look to them, but they still tasted delectable. Again, you can get creative here and shape them into rectangles, squares, circles, hearts, triangles, hexagons…. You get the point.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon Roots and All organic coconut oil + a very small amount for blending chocolate and greasing pan
- 1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
- 10 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate
How to Make it:
- Line 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper/ tin foil. Ice cube or other forms of molds may also be used. Use a very small amount of coconut oil to cover the surface.
- Combine together coconut, condensed milk, coconut oil, and salt until evenly blended.
- Transfer mixture into the pan or molds and freeze for 1 hour. If you are adding additional fillings (such as almonds, raspberries, hazelnut spread, or caramel), make a small indentation in the filling using some form of pointed object and place desired filling in it. Cover with coconut mixture.
- After an hour has passed, cut coconut mixture into desired shapes.
- Place the chocolate and a small amount of coconut oil into a microwave safe bowl. Note that the coconut oil in this mixture is not for flavor (there’s enough of that in the filling), but to facilitate blending the chocolate, so only a very miniscule amount needs to be used. By miniscule, I mean 1/4 of a teaspoon or less. Microwave combination in 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.
- Use a fork to dip the coconut bars into the chocolate, coating completely.
- Place bars on a parchment or tinfoil lined baking sheet and leave in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.
Special thanks to Handle the Heat for the inspiration for this recipe.
Tag us in your creation with the hashtag #tryrootsandall!
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