This is a recipe everyone has to try! These taste just like store-bought bounty bars yet somehow even more delicious and much better for you. They are also vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free! This recipe uses inexpensive ingredients and yields quite a lot of bars (I think I got about 14), which is perfect if like me as a student you're on a bit of a tight budget.
Ingredients -
- 2 cups desiccated coconut
- 3 heaped tbs coconut oil
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk (make sure to look at the ingredients and avoid too many thickeners and preservatives)
- 1/4 rice malt syrup (this can be substituted for maple syrup or agave)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 100g dark chocolate to drizzle over the top like I did or if you want to completely coat so they more closely resemble the store-bought variety you will need about 250g dark chocolate
Method -
- In a small saucepan over low heat combine coconut milk, coconut oil and rice malt syrup until completely melted, dissolved and well-combined.
- Turn the heat off and add the desiccated coconut and sea salt and combine well.
- Press mixture into a baking tray and place in the fridge until it cools and hardens slightly
- Take out of the fridge and cut into bars and place in the freezer to further harden (this will make it easier to cover in chocolate if thats what you want to do... otherwise when you have cut them just drizzle them in chocolate and place back in the fridge to set).
As opposed to the sugary milk chocolate covering store-bought Bounty bars the dark chocolate on these bars is high in antioxidants and personally I think the dark flavour better compliments the coconut flavour. This homemade version is also significantly lower in sugar and calories and doesn't contain any of the emulsifiers or humectants.
Enjoy!