I love candy. I really do. So when I spotted a recipe for chocolate-covered coconut bars(AKA Mounds Bars) in the last Rachael Ray magazine, it was only a matter of time.
I made these the day before Halloween, which made them perfect for gobbling up the next day. Honestly, these aren’t too sweet, which is exactly what I like about them. I don’t love a candy that’s pure sugar because it’s so unsatisfying and I’m bouncing up a wall for the next hour; instead, these get their flavor from rich dark chocolate and nutty coconut.
Homemade Mounds Bars
Ingredients(makes about 14 bars):
- 2 cups(160g) unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/3 cup liquid sweetener(agave, maple syrup, corn syrup, etc.)
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil(could substitute butter in a pinch)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 7.5oz bittersweet chocolate, melted(a little under 1 cup if using baking chips)
First mix together the unsweetened coconut, liquid sweetener, and salt. Toss until it’s entirely and evenly coated. Next add in the powdered sugar and mix again. Finally, melt the coconut oil if it’s not already in a soft state and add that in and mix.
Using the area between your 4 fingers and palm, mold the coconut mixture into a cylinder about 2 inches long and 1 inch thick. Put these onto a line baking tray and freeze for 10 minutes or so until they’ve hardened up a bit.
While the centers are freezing, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave to a soft and smooth consistency. One at a time, roll the coconut fillings in the chocolate until they’re completely covered and put them on a wire rack to dry. Repeat for all of the coconut centers and move quick enough so that the rest don’t soften while they’re sitting out.
These really were just like the real thing once they’ve dried, only better; they tasted freshly made and not at all stale. The real question is whether anything wouldn’t taste good covered in chocolate…
I think these sound amazing. I’d personally use the maple syrup…then they’d be kinda healthy, even. Well, way healthier than a packaged Mounds bar, at least.
Yum!
holy shiz. i need these. like now. except i want an almond in them so they are almond joys. just sayin…
love the new blog layout!!!
Mmmmm…yes. I love homemade, healthier (I mean, slightly, right?) versions of sugared up candy.
yep. pretty sure I’d (at least once) eat a bug covered in chocolate.
These look amazing!! Mounds are my favorite!
I can think of a few things that wouldn’t taste good covered in chocolate — like chocolate covered black beans doesn’t sound too good to me! And I agree with Spabettie — bugs? not so much.
I like the idea of these bars but I’m not a huge coconut fan — but my dad would LOVE these. Mounds and Almond Joy bars are his favorite.
Yum, they look delicious! I’m glad you posted these; I’ve been thinking about them ever since Halloween (when in actuality, wasn’t that long ago, but it feels like it!).
These look delish! Anything with coconut oil chocolate, chocolate, coconut…well, it pretty much HAS to be great!
It’s so funny b/c the day of Halloween, or maybe the day before, I posted about what i deemded to be really treasured “good” candy finds as a kid when trick or treating and mounds bars made the cut…as did almond joys!
I’ve made lots of homemade candy, but never a spin on these…i need to try them!
I guess we’ve both been craving the chocolate-coconut combo–I had Almond Joy-inspired oat bran this morning:)
I love the idea of homemade things like this! They look so good!
Chocolate covered eggplant would be gross… just sayin’
Those bars however, look delicious!
ohmigod. So sexy. I like candy bars, but the overwhelming sweetness just makes me sick. So I love that this isn’t too sweet…I guess when it comes to candies…homemade just can’t be beat!
Evan! You’re gonna make me gain 10lbs with this recipe! I LOVE Mounds!! And it could easily be made into an Almond Joy as well… mmm…
GENIUS! What a great idea for those holiday parties in the office or schools!
Yum! Like Chandra, I think these would be great for Almond Joy. I’ll have to give them a try!
I have been meaning to try something like this. It looks great.
These sound so much better than the ones you can buy at the store…I bet they taste 100x better
!
[...] go through more chocolate a week than anyone I know. But I’m guessing you could have figured that out by [...]
These sound absolutely amazing and I love how they can be customized to whatever sweetener floats your boat!
Oh, my hubby would just die if he saw these! Gotta try this!
And people hate on Rachael Ray why?
[...] {Twix | Butterfinger | Snickers | Mounds} [...]
Kate- because her recipe uses corn syrup and her website has self-promoting popups.
: )
Thanks for the share! I just royally screwed up a batch from another site (no matter – melted it all down and poured into cups so I wouldn’t waste the quality ingredients!). So glad I found your recipe! Trying it out tomorrow.
Cheers!
[...] Ever since my oh-so recent discovery of ParchmentPaperMagic (hereafter known as PPM), I’ve been baking up a storm! Oreo cheesecake cookies (seen above), haystacks, chocolate-dipped pretzels, homemade Mounds… [...]
About how long do you think they take to dry once they’ve been covered in chocolate?
At room temperature probably about an hour but much quicker if you refrigerate them
Great! Thanks a bunch for the recipe!
lol: I’ve had coconut oil for awhile but never used it until recently. Though I live in Calif. I had to chisel it out with a table knife. TY for the reminder: when adding a fat to chocolate for a hard coating I’ll definitely use coconut oil.
This sounds fantastic! However, I do have a (maybe stupid) question. In the recipe, it says to add coconut oil, but it doesn’t say where to add it! Should I add it to the filling, or the chocolate?!?
Thanks, and I’m REALLY looking forward to fixing these!
Sorry about that. It was supposed to say coconut oil where it just said coconut. It goes into the filling.
thanks! I’m making these tonight then! I appreciate the quick response!
I was so excited to make these and specifically bought flakes instead of shredded cause that’s what it said but I think the flakes are too big cause mine are not rolling or sticking into anything (I used maple syrup). Do you use flakes?? I was so looking forward to surprising my hubby with these for valentines day but i’m worried they’re just going to end up in the trash =(
How big are the flakes that you’re using? They shouldn’t be too big. If you have a food processor or a blender, I would suggest trying to run the filling through that to break it into smaller bits that will stick together.
Yummy stuff
Everybody loved them – Thanks for sharing!
[...] I was able to find a nice little recipe, for the centres, here at the wannabechef’s website. [...]
I made these over the weekend! They are AMAZING!! I used half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips and half a bag of milk chocolate!
Delish!
How many does this make?
A little more than a dozen
I really want to make these, but all I could find at my local grocery store was sweetened coconut flakes. Any ideas on who carried the unsweetened variety?
I would check the ‘natural section’ if your store has one. The brands I’ve seen in stores most often are Let’s Do Organic and Bob’s Red Mill.
Blessed with an overabundance of sweetened, shredded coconut, suggestion please for liquid to hold them together. Any of the syrups would be too sweet for me as would be condensed milk. Do you suggest trying to dilute a syrup by 25% instead of using a non-viscous liquid? thanks for the advice. Even DH who dislikes sweets would inhale these. Merci!
I would try leaving out the liquid sweetener altogether and adding something like coconut milk or cream by the tablespoon until it’s wet enough to hold itself together.
Thank you very much. I’d thought about coconut milk or plain evap. milk but know cream of coconut would be too much. I really appreciate the information. Also though a doc who loves to bake (perhaps the perfect integration of art and science), rarely do I make candy or items I have to dip. (ok, i can wear sized gloves to keep hands clean, lol, but fine motor Grown sons love those (ewww) Ritz crackers sandwiched with pb and dipped in chocolate. Usually a winter holiday treat, requests in the summer are coming in. The coconut oil addition is brilliant, and will try it next time I have a “kitchen weekend.”