Chocolate Coconut Bars

I love chocolate and I love coconut, so why not make them into a healthier (and better tasting) version of Mounds Bars?  There are many variations you can do to this – this is just one.  I’ve made some other suggestions at bottom of the post…  

Gather Up:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 5 dates (pitted)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 bag of dark chocolate chips

Note that you can use more coconut or less chocolate. I could have probably had a bit less chocolate here, but did I say that I love chocolate?  I’m okay with experimenting many times over with this recipe!

Mix the first three ingredients into a food processor (I use a Cuisinart).  If you don’t have a food processor, I highly recommend getting one.  This is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen. Dates are an excellent sweetener, just don’t forget that they have a pit! You may need extra to add a bit more stickiness.

Spread the mixture into a 9 x 9 pan then put it into the fridge for a few minutes while you do the next step.

Next, melt the chocolate and then spread onto the slightly hardened coconut mixture.

Then put into the fridge and allow to cool.  It will harden up fairly quickly. You can take it out of the fridge after about 10-15 minutes (it should still be a bit soft), and make some knife slices to cut it into squares, then return to the fridge to finish “setting up.”  Once it is really hardened up, it is hard to cut it into perfect squares.

Some variations of this can be finely chopping up some nuts such as almonds or walnuts and putting on top of the coconut mixture before adding the chocolate, they could also be mixed in with the chocolate and poured on top. Another way is to mix everything together with the chocolate.  Try using unsweetenend chocolate or different degrees of chocolate from 60%  to 90% cocoa.  Be creative! These are great treats for a child’s lunch,  potlucks, or again adding to that Christmas Cookie Tin at Christmastime.  🙂 – Enjoy!!