Healthy Mounds or Almond Joy Bars

Posted At : April 20, 2012 1:52 PM

photo by recipe author

Servings: 10 large bars
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

4 cups grated, dried unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup softened or melted coconut oil
2-4 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
roasted whole or slivered almonds (optional)

Coating:

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces
1 tablespoon coconut oil

In a food processor, put the filling ingredients and blend 1-2 minutes until well incorporated and smooth. Taste for sweetness, add more if you like. It is necessary the coconut oil be soft or melted so the mixture blends.

Line an 8 x 8 or similar sized pan with waxed paper or parchment. Pour the mixture in and spread around evenly. If you would like to use almonds, now is the time. Press them in! Place the pan in the fridge or freezer to speed the solidifying process.

Meanwhile, melt your chocolate with the coconut oil. Once solid, lift the whole chunk out by lifting the paper. Cut into desired shapes. Dip each piece in the chocolate, letting the excess drip back before laying it on a silpat, parchment, or waxed paper to solidify. Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the freezer. Unlike most coconut oil delicacies, these are solid at room temp and travel well out of refrigeration.

Recipe submitted by Tessa, Hillsboro, OR

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Thank you for a recipe that uses Stevia to sweeten the chocolate!

# Posted By Kelcey | 4/20/12 2:31 PM

Do you think these would travel well overseas?

# Posted By Jessi | 4/21/12 9:14 AM

What did I do wrong? These were really dry and not sweet at all. Coconut crumbled everywhere. I think it needs less coconut and more oil and maple syrup?

# Posted By Isabelle | 4/22/12 12:09 AM

Hi Isabella....I have made this recipe countless times, and this ratio works in my house. Crazy how individual ingredients can throw it off! If binding was a problem, I would add more coconut oil, and if you like it sweeter, by all means, add more sweetener!! You could also just add less coconut. Totally individual! I am sorry they didn't hold together for you...how frustrating!

# Posted By Tessa | 4/23/12 11:08 AM

Jessie, these would travel just fine, as long as they do not get too hot! I pack them to go frequently without issue!

# Posted By Tessa | 4/23/12 11:09 AM

I'm really confused by the comment from Kelcey! What stevia is she talking about?
These sound really wonderful and I plan to make them soon. I do have some stevia-sweetened chocolate bars to use instead of sugar-sweetened and will use sugar free maple syrup & vanilla stevia drops for the filling.

# Posted By JJ | 4/23/12 11:35 AM

These sound and look marvelous and glad there's stevia in it too. Thanks for the recipe!

# Posted By Judy | 4/23/12 3:54 PM

I wonder if it's because I only stirred the ingredients together instead of putting them thru the food processor? Does the food processor change the consistency so it holds together better?

# Posted By Isabelle | 4/24/12 6:11 PM

@Isabella...so funny, I was thinking of asking you that specifically...YES!! It makes a huge difference! The processing releases more of the coconuts oil and thus emulsifies the whole mixture!! Try again, or just re-process the other ones to make them smooth again!

# Posted By Tessa | 4/24/12 8:30 PM

Could I replace Stevia with organic sugar?

# Posted By Jeanine | 4/26/12 10:48 AM

organic sugar won't dissolve since this raw. You could either use another liquid sweetener of choice, or make a simple syrup with your organic sugar! If you need to know how to do this, let me know

# Posted By Tessa | 4/27/12 10:20 AM

If I use milk chocolate do I still need to add the coconut oil? I mean, I'd like to, but I'm worried it may ruin the melting property. Anybody have experience with this?

# Posted By SJ | 4/27/12 1:30 PM

Well I just made it and had to put it in the freezer. I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips and a little less coconut oil. But boy oh boy does this taste great! One thing I changed in the filling was about a teaspoon more honey and a pinch of salt. I highly recommend this! Next time I'll do it as a bar thing and not a dipped chocolate to save time. Thanks for a great recipe!

# Posted By SJ | 4/27/12 3:51 PM

yes sweetener is a total individual thing, I like a lot less sweetener now since cutting out cane sugar. It doesn't matter about the milk chocolate, and putting in the freezer speeds the solidifying process! So glad you like them !

# Posted By Tessa | 4/27/12 5:09 PM

Don't know if I made it clear that I had to put it in the freezer because it never set up - guess that's because it won't set up if I mix coconut oil with the milk chocolate. Will have to do it with the dark chocolate next time.

# Posted By SJ | 4/28/12 11:24 AM

I haven't had milk chocolate in so long, but from what I know, that should not be the issue. If anything, use less or no coconut oil with the chocolate. The purpose of it is help the smoothing out of the chocolate when dipping so it drips off smooth and not clumpy or thick, but when doing it in bar form as I often do), this would be unnecessary. good luck!

# Posted By Tessa | 4/29/12 8:26 AM

These look phenomenal! I'm a bit confused about the stevia comment also since I don't see it in your recipe. Can I assume that it is o.k. to subsitute liquid stevia for the honey or syrup? If so, does it change the consistency any? Which sweetener is your favorite?
I buy a dk. choc./coconut bar at my health food store which is amazing, but I have a feeling this is even better and even healthier! I can't wait to try it!!! Thank you! :)

# Posted By lori | 4/29/12 1:50 PM

Thank you, Tessa! It's been soooo long since I could have any candy--seems like it all has soy in it. I will make these with Baker's Chocolate. What a treat!!

Waving to you from across the river in Vancouver. :)

# Posted By Marliss | 4/29/12 6:16 PM

Stevia could be used. My favorite is coconut nectar as a sweetener or raw agave (although I will not be using any agave after my current bottle is gone, I have learned about too many not great things about it to use it in good conscience!). In my original blog post, I talked about how I sweetened regular baking chocolate w/ half stevia/half liquid sweetener.

# Posted By Tessa | 5/1/12 12:56 PM

I was wondering if you are using sweetened chocolate pieces, or not? If not, does it need to be sweetened? How would you go about making the chocolate sweet if it is too bitter?
Thank you!

# Posted By Haidi | 7/7/12 9:03 PM

Hi Heidi! Sweetening unsweetened chocolate is to-taste thing. You can use any liquid sweetener, I prefer coconut nectar or honey and some liquid stevia. You do not want to use granulated sugar, as it will not dissolve properly unless you want to heat it.
You can also make your own chocolate by melting any mixture of 1/2 cup coconut oil or raw cocoa butter with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and about 2-3 tablespoons honey.
I also use very dark chocolate melted...and add unsweetened chocolate sqaures to reduce the sugar further....so there are lots of options available to you!

# Posted By Tessa | 7/8/12 11:59 AM

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