Coconut Chocolate Bars – Less Sweet Than Bounty Bars
If you like Bounty bars but find them just a bit too sweet, you’ll love these homemade coconut chocolate bars. They have all the flavour and texture of a Bounty, but so much more.
Father’s Day will soon be here. It falls on Sunday 15th of June this year. Baking something for dad is a gesture many people are keen to make. Dr Oetker have come up with a few chocolate recipes they feel would be suitable for the occasion. The recipes focus less on the sugar and more on the chocolate – of the dark variety. They include a chocolate Guinness cake and an ale chocolate layer cake. Hmm, I think I can see a theme developing here. I opted to try out the recipe for Coconut Chocolate Bars because I know they’ll appeal to CT.
Coconut Chocolate Bars
I didn’t, of course, stick entirely to the recipe as given. For a start, I didn’t have any powdered egg white, Dr Oetker or otherwise. But I did have two egg whites sitting in the fridge leftover from when I made raspberry muffins. I used wholemeal spelt flour for the base along with vanilla sugar.
In addition, I opted for the 72% dark chocolate and thought this might be a little too hard to work on its own. So I added a little butter and maple syrup to the chocolate at the end. I also wanted a nice shiny top and as I still haven’t really got to grips with tempering chocolate properly, this seemed a good way of achieving it. You can find the original recipe here.
If, like us, you’re fond of the UK confectionery Bounty bars but find them too sweet, you will love these. They have all the flavour and texture of a Bounty and more. And they’re not tooth achingly sweet.
These ones didn’t turn out to be as pretty as I’d hoped. Mostly because I was unable to cut them cleanly. But they held together well and still looked quite striking with the alternating layers of dark, white and dark. They’re light in texture but quite rich, so we found ourselves unable to gorge on them as we thought we might. That can only be a good thing.
This is how I made:
Coconut Chocolate Bars – The Recipe
- Creamed 100g unsalted butter with 50g vanilla sugar (golden caster sugar) until the mixture was smooth and creamy.
- Sieved in 115g wholemeal spelt and 15g of cocoa powder and mixed until just combined.
- Pressed into an 8″ sq silicone mould trying to make it as evenly spread as possible.
- Baked at 180℃ for 15 minutes then reduced the oven to 140℃.
- Whisked two egg whites with a pinch of cream of tarter until peaks formed.
- Slowly whisked in 100g golden caster sugar until stiff peaks formed.
- Gently stirred in 1 tsp of vanilla paste and 150g desiccated coconut.
- Spread this over the biscuit base and baked for 25 minutes at 140℃.
- Melted 150g Dr Oetker 72% dark chocolate in a bowl over hot water together with 20g unsalted butter and 1 tbsp of maple syrup.
- Stirred gently until smooth.
- Poured over the coconut spreading it into the corners and ensuring all was covered.
- Left to set, removed from the mould and cut into 18 bars.
Sharing
I’m sending some of these off to Nayna over at Simply Food for her Let’s Cook for Father’s Day event.
Likewise I’m sending some bars off to Made with Love Mondays over at Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/Luv.
There should be just a few of these chocolate coconut bars to send off to #recipeoftheweek with Emily over at A Mummy Too.
Chocolate was a very rare treat when I was a child. Bounty bars were allowed on rare occasions as they were deemed to be less unhealthy because of the coconut. So I am sending these adult versions off to Treat Petite where the theme is childhood memories. CakeyBoi and The Baking Explorer host this monthly event.
Thanks to Dr Oetker for the baking chocolate selection and recipes. I was not required to write a positive review and as always all opinions are my own.
Angie Schneider
1st June 2014 at 1:19 pmCoconut and chocolate…a fantastic pairing. They must have tasted heavenly.
Choclette
1st June 2014 at 5:11 pmThey were very good indeed Angie 🙂
The Caked Crusader
1st June 2014 at 3:53 pmCOconut and chocolate is one of my favourite combinations – these look a great texture too
Choclette
1st June 2014 at 5:12 pmI suspect you would love these CC.
Charlene F
1st June 2014 at 5:05 pmI love coconut and I also love chocolate, this is a match made in heaven for me. Another stunning picture from you x
Choclette
1st June 2014 at 5:13 pmOh thank you Charlene. I’m trying really hard to improve my photography, so always pleased when it’s noted 🙂
Coombe Mill
1st June 2014 at 8:55 pmI can’t imagine anyone not being thrilled to receive these. a great recipe #Recipe of the week
Choclette
2nd June 2014 at 8:32 amThank you and I think you are right, it wouldn’t just be father’s that would be happy to eat these.
Alida
1st June 2014 at 9:18 pmDear Choclette, I love these bars! Rich, inviting and with dark chocolate even better. Chocolate and coconut seem to be the perfect combo.
I have started blogging again in the last few days. I had tech issues on the blog which needed fixing so I had to stop blogging for a while. It was the first time in 2 and half years. I missed my blog lots!! So pleased to be back. X
Katie
2nd June 2014 at 5:22 amThese sound great, almost like a grown up version of a bounty bar. I think the dark choc on top would be great at toning down the sweet coconut middle layer.
Fiona Naughton
2nd June 2014 at 9:42 amOh these look lovely! I love coconut and chocolate, such a great combination 🙂
Fiona @ http://www.dollydowsie.com
Alison
2nd June 2014 at 9:58 amOh these look lovely, wish I had one with my cuppa just now!
Babus Ahmed
2nd June 2014 at 10:43 amI haven’t had chocolate with coconut for ages, I think I have to try making these. Thank you!
Lou, Eat Your Veg
2nd June 2014 at 11:28 amOh what Daddy wouldn’t adore having these made for him, super posh bounty bars!!! Such a tasty looking treat. Great wee tip on the tempering to add butter and syrup, it’s something I’ve not mastered either.
Janelle Shank
2nd June 2014 at 2:31 pmwhat a great treat for father’s day!
Jennifer Ferris
2nd June 2014 at 2:36 pmAll I can say is YUM!
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry
2nd June 2014 at 3:06 pmI defo had a foodgasm moment at the thought of chocolate and coconut together.
Caroline Taylor
2nd June 2014 at 6:54 pmGreat idea to focus less on sugar, love the sound of your coconut chocolate bars.
Heidi Roberts
2nd June 2014 at 7:16 pmMmmm they look delicious, chewy and chocolatey!
Kristin @ Dizzy Busy and Hungry!
2nd June 2014 at 11:10 pmI would love some of these right now. My dad would loved these! Great recipe for Father’s Day!
anyonita green
3rd June 2014 at 5:41 pmI love the look of these & love that there’s less sugar!
The Spicy Pear
3rd June 2014 at 8:43 pmThese coconut chocolate bars look delicious. I do love Dr Oetker’s products, and have the wafer butterflies in my kitchen cupboard.The chocolate Guinness cake also looks good.
Javelin Warrior
3rd June 2014 at 8:58 pmI do love the combination of coconut and chocolate, especially a dark chocolate to counter-balance the coconut. These look fantastic (with the thick chocolate layer) and I’m sure any dad would be thrilled to receive a box of these 🙂
ManjiriK
4th June 2014 at 8:37 amI am not a fan of Bounty chocolates and every time Daddy came back from his foreign travels and got us loads of chocolates I would keep bounty aside and start on the rest but my dad did always like them, wish he wasn’t so far away would have definitely made him some this Fathers day 🙂 Do like the new range by Dr. Otekar , always liked their products espp the golden and silver sprays , very handy indeed!
Stephanie Pass
4th June 2014 at 5:02 pmI love dark chocolate. These look just beautiful, and perfect for a Father’s Day gift.
Emily @amummytoo
7th June 2014 at 1:10 pmDon’t they look wonderful? I can almost imagine the texture as you bite into one. Drool. Thanks so much for linking up with #recipeoftheweek – I’ve pinned and tweeted this post and there’s a fresh linky going live at 6pm this evening 🙂
prachi agarwal
8th June 2014 at 4:44 pmyummy chocolate bar …..happy to follow you .will happy if you follow me back http://prachisvegkitchen.blogspot.in
Stuart Vettese
14th June 2014 at 2:02 pmChoclette – a true taste of paradise! Remember the old bounty adverts on TV? Thank you so much for entering these into this month’s Treat Petite!
Kat BakingExplorer
30th June 2014 at 9:25 pmI love Bounty bars so these sound perfect to me! Thanks for entering them into Treat Petite 🙂
Fiver Feeds
4th August 2014 at 9:41 amThanks for sharing this recipe, chocolate bars look amazing 🙂