Chocolate Coconut Bars: Less Sweet Than Bounty Bars

If you like Bounty bars but find them just a bit too sweet, you’ll love these homemade chocolate coconut 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.

I did, however, also bake these rather scrummy whisky and walnut cakes.

Chocolate Coconut 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.

If, like us, you’re fond of the UK confectionery Bounty bars but find them too sweet, you will love these chocolate coconut bars. 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.

Chocolate Coconut Bars: Top Tips

To get eighteen bars, cut the chocolate coconut slab into three equal lengths. Then simple slice each length into six pieces.

Use a sharp clean knife to cut the chocolate coconut slab into bars. Dip it in a mug of hot water and quickly wipe dry in between each cut. I didn’t do this, but it should give you a nice clean cut. 

What To Make With Leftover Egg Yolks

This recipe leaves two leftover egg yolks. However, I always see this as a good opportunity to make something else. That something else is usually some sort of custard. But there are other delicious options.

Here are all the recipes on Tin and Thyme that use only egg yolks.

Other Chocolate Coconut Recipes You Might Like

• Cinnamon coconut chocolate crunch
• Chocolate biscuit cake
• Chocolate coconut flapjacks
• Coconut bliss balls (vegan)
• Coconut flapjacks (vegan)
• Fudgy coconut brownies

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these chocolate coconut bars, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

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If you’d like more traybake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Chocolate Coconut Bars. PIN IT.

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5 from 1 vote

Coconut Chocolate 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.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea, Snack

Cuisine: British

Keyword: chocolate, coconut, traybake

Servings: 18 pieces

Calories: 214kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

Base Layer

• 100 g unsalted butter – softened
• 50 g golden caster sugar (I used homemade vanilla sugar)
• 115 g wholemeal spelt flour can use wholemeal flour
• 15 g cocoa powder

Middle Layer

• 2 egg whites
• 1 pinch cream of tartar
• 100 g golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 150 g desiccated coconut

Top Layer

• 150 g dark chocolate (I used Dr Oetker 72%)
• 20 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp maple syrup*

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Base Layer

• Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
• Cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  100 g unsalted butter – softened, 50 g golden caster sugar
• Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and mix until just combined.
  115 g wholemeal spelt flour, 15 g cocoa powder
• Press into a square 20 cm (8″) silicone mould or lined tin. Try to spread it as evenly as possible. The back of a spoon works well for this.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes then remove and reduce the oven temperature to 140℃ (120℃ fan, 275℉, Gas 1).

Middle Layer

• Whilst the base layer is cooking, whisk two egg whites with the cream of tarter until peaks form. Electric beaters or a stand mixer are good for this, though you can do it by hand.
  2 egg whites, 1 pinch cream of tartar
• Slowly whisk in the sugar until stiff peaks form.
  100 g golden caster sugar
• Gently stir in the vanilla paste and desiccated coconut.
  1 tsp vanilla paste, 150 g desiccated coconut
• Spread this over the biscuit base and bake for 25 minutes.

Top Layer

• Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Add the butter and maple syrup. Then stir gently until smooth.
  150 g dark chocolate, 20 g unsalted butter, 1 tbsp maple syrup*
• Pour over the coconut layer spreading it into the corners and ensuring all is covered.
• Leave in a cool place, but not the fridge, to set. Remove from the mould or tin and cut into 18 small bars.

Notes

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 152mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 2mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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Sharing

I’m sending some of these chocolate coconut bars 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 coconut chocolate bars left to send off to #recipeoftheweek with Emily over at A Mummy Too.

Chocolate was a very treat when I was a child. Bounty bars were allowed on occasion as they were deemed to be less unhealthy because of the coconut. So I’m 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. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.