Tropical Traditions - Recipe - Better-Than-Candy Nut Crunchies

Better-Than-Candy Nut Crunchies

Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photo by Jeremiah Shilhavy

2 cups organic pecans & almonds
1 cup (or more) Coconut Cream Concentrate
1 tablespoon (or as needed) coconut oil
1 - 2 tablespoons organic whole sugar (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt
1/2 cup (or more) shredded coconut or coconut flakes

Process sugar in a food processor until very fine.

Spread nuts in a cookie sheet and toast very lightly in a low heated oven. Place Coconut Cream Concentrate jar in hot water to soften. In a medium sized bowl, beat desired amount of Coconut Cream, your choice of sweetener (see below), coconut oil, and salt with a mixer until creamy. Make sure the sugar and salt are mixed in well.

Fold the toasted nuts into the mixture and mix well with a large spoon until all nuts are well coated. Spread mixture evenly on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Sprinkle the coconut shreds or flakes toasted lightly if desired over the Nut Crunchies and place cookie sheet in the refrigerator.

When cold, break apart the Nut Crunchies into bite-sized pieces and store in covered containers in the refrigerator.

Note: all measurements are approximate and can be varied to suit your taste. It is pretty hard to mess these up.

Variations:
Use any nuts you prefer, and/or use stevia instead of sugar to taste.

Stir dried coconut toasted into the mixture before spreading out.

Add flavoring such as a tablespoon or two of lemon juice and some lemon zest for Lemon Nut Crunchies.

Melt some organic dark chocolate, and spread over the mixture before or instead of sprinkling on the coconut and refrigerating.

Stir bits of dried pineapple into the mixture for Pina Colada Nut Crunchies

Use your imagination!

Beware: They are addictive! But sooo healthy too. Enjoy!

Submitted by Carol, Palm Bay, FL

BetterThanCandy-Nut-Crunchies Untitled

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The recipe looks good and I would like to make it. Just wanted to check as to whether Coconut cream concentrate is the same as "Cream of coconut". Also, should the dried coconut be sweetened or unsweetened? Thanks! :)

# Posted By Cyndi | 12/17/09 11:59 AM

Nope, Cream of Coconut is just a more concentrated form (higher fat content) of coconut milk. Coconut Cream Concentrate is actual ground up coconut meat (like peanut butter, only this is coconut). As for the dried coconut, I recommend unsweetened (see the hyperlink). If you make the recipe do let me know how it turned out for you. :)

# Posted By Sarah | 12/17/09 12:08 PM

I'm going to make this for New Year's Day party..........everything I have tried thus far has been beyond good!! I was a little dismayed with the coconut cream, but after finding how to re-mix it (that's so easy), I have been having a ball adding it to everything!!! It's delicious!!!!

# Posted By Connie | 12/30/09 1:09 PM

This recipe is awesome. My 16 year old daughter thought she was eating white chocolate. She began eating these "crunchies" with fresh raspberries. Absolutely delightful. I added 1 more tablespoon of sugar and vanilla. So healthy and good for you. Try this recipe ......excellent!!

# Posted By MaryJane | 1/8/10 9:20 PM

How many calories are in a batch? I would like to try this out it sounds delicious!

# Posted By Tasha | 1/23/10 9:58 PM

I think you may be missing the point of coconut oil based products. The calories don't really count. Coconut oil doens't seem to stick around (and since I have the "apple" shaped body, I know of that which I speak :)) I took coconut oil (Trop trad brand, of course) over the holidays, didn't change my diet and lost 15 lbs. By the way, I did make this recipe over New Year's Eve, and wow is it ever great!!! and easy!!! (I like that combo...great and easy)

# Posted By Connie | 1/24/10 12:52 PM

Has any one tried it made with the stevia, instead of sugar?

# Posted By Carolyn | 2/21/10 10:17 PM

Recipe fail for me. I followed exactly expect used honey for the sweetener. I could not get the mixture to get creamy. It was just a big gritty mess. Boo.... I really wanted it to work out.

# Posted By mary crow | 2/22/10 5:31 PM

Did you melt the Coconut Cream Concentrate down as shown in the video? A little bit of honey should work....but the sugar is really the best if you really want that "bark" like consistency.

# Posted By Sarah | 2/22/10 7:01 PM

I have made these numerous times. I love them. They are vey popular at social get togethers.Variations on ingredients (along with the nuts) are orange zest, dried blueberries, almond extract. I also add cashews for 3 different nuts. Lastly, for the sugar sensitive, I use agave and stevia for the sweetener. Take the melted coconut cream concentrate away from heat source before putting agave/stevia in. Otherwise, it turns gritty as mentioned above w/honey.

# Posted By Gelene | 3/1/10 6:02 PM

I made a version of this today and added cocoa powder, shredded coconut, pecans, almond butter and just a drizzle of Agave syrup. I melted the creme just like you said to but the minute I started adding ingredients, it sets up so fast, that I have a huge gritty bowl of stuff - no way you can pour it on a cookie sheet. I had to make it into balls, which is fine, but I would love to have it looks like yours. Any ideas?

# Posted By Alice | 3/14/10 10:39 PM

Hummm...that's strange. It shouldn't do that if the the Coconut Cream Concentrate was melted all the way down to a liquid. Were any of the ingredients cold? If so, then that's probably what caused it. Try warming some of the other ingredients next time, and at least keep everything at room temp. Like try warming the almond butter and melt the coconut oil down to a liquid, and do this all while the CCC is still warm from being melted down.

# Posted By Sarah | 3/15/10 12:08 PM

What I do when the ingredients start setting too fast I put my bowl in another bowl of warm water. This way the ingredients stay soft or melt depending on how warm the water is.

# Posted By carmen | 4/29/10 11:21 AM

Pretty good. I might up the sugar to 3 tbsp next time. I can see how this stuff would be addictive. Thanks for the recipe!

# Posted By Dakotah | 5/13/10 9:10 PM

hi....may i know if i need to refrigerate the coconut creme concentrate after opening??

# Posted By Kay | 5/31/10 2:00 AM

Kay: No, the Coconut Cream Concentrate does not need to be refrigerated. If you do, it'll be rock hard! :D

# Posted By Sarah | 5/31/10 12:14 PM

thanks Sarah! i just got my new coconut creme concentate, i definitely want to try this recipe! =)

# Posted By Kay | 6/2/10 3:09 AM

OMG I just made this recipe but instead of sugar I added equal amounts of Xylitol :) totally guilt free now! + I also added 1/2 tsp of keylime juice. My co-workers loved this, my Sister loved it, I frikin love it! Soooo good! Too bad I don't have 10 gallons of coconut cream concentrate :)

# Posted By Laura M | 6/25/10 6:44 PM

I just made this this morning. it's great! I think it's important to note that it won't be crispy like peanut brittle. It is soft it's the nuts that make it crunchy. I made sure everything was warm when I made it and followed the directions and it came out perfect. I imagine when you start substituting things like honey for the sugar it will change the texture considerably.

# Posted By Erin | 11/20/10 10:27 AM

i just received my coconut cream and want to make this so bad...I'm going to use coconut sugar instead of cane sugar...can't believe they don't sell it here. I just discovered it and I use it in everything...not as sweet as sugar but has a great taste.

# Posted By Mell | 12/2/10 10:19 AM

Mell, we don't sell it because most coconut sugar comes from the sap of the flower and prevents the coconut from growing, and is therefore not sustainable. Coconuts should not be sacrificed for the sugar that nourishes them. We are looking for a sustainable product that can be used instead, but our standards are very high.

# Posted By Brian | 12/2/10 10:27 AM

wow...i had no idea. i was just glad to find a sweetener to replace cane sugar that was low on the glymetric scale. maybe i'll try xylitol

# Posted By Mell | 12/2/10 10:38 AM

Mary & Alice, et.al. I just found tonight that both honey & maple syrup (and I am betting agave would too) make the coconut cream "seize" just like melted chocolate will do if any water gets in it. It makes it a gritty mess. The coconut cream was really creamy until I added in the maple syrup, & then tried a second batch with honey. Both made a seized gritty mess. Oh well.

# Posted By Thia | 12/17/10 10:38 PM

I have made this 3 times now and I really like it and so does my family. Thank you for a yummy recipe.

# Posted By Mary | 12/21/10 7:45 PM

I have made this recipe many, many times and absolutely love it as does anyone that I give some too. I make a couple of modifications to the recipe by roasting my nuts before hand and adding 1 t of vanilla (because I like the taste of vanilla). A word of warning, the vanilla typically causes the grainy "seizing" described in some of the other comments but I have found that once poured into the pan, it will set as normal (i.e. the graininess goes away and the batch is just as tasty and wonderful as ever)....yum, yum!!

# Posted By Diana | 1/24/11 1:20 PM

I made this today and LOVE it. I used 3 T of xylitol and a mixture of toasted almonds and pecans. It turned out great. The only problem I had was getting the CCC to stir up. After putting steaming water in it several times, I put it in the microwave on cooklevel 3 for 40 seconds and it was soft enough to mix. Hope that wasn't damaging to it.

# Posted By Carolyn | 8/6/11 10:55 PM

I have a question about traveling with coconut oil. I am going on vacation to a beach and I will be flying. I would like to take some oil with me because I have heard it is good for sunburns or to prevent burns. Besides the jar it comes in, what can I put the oil in and not have it spill??

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