If you’re not a fan of coconut look away now. These are the most delicious, most coconut-y, vegan, chocolatey sweet treats ever. These also demonstrate just how much we get from the humble coconut. They contain creamed coconut (the kind comes in a block), coconut milk, dessicated coconut and coconut essence. The dark chocolate balances the flavours so the coconut comes as a delicious burst and not like a coconut has been dropped on your head from the top of a tall palm tree.
These are vegan, no bake and have no added sugar (apart from what’s in the chocolate already). I made half with chia seeds and half without, just to see if it made a difference to the flavour. It didn’t really and added a little of the benefits of chia seeds. It did, however, make the coconut filling a bit grey – the difference between snow white and Mae West’s famous driven snow. The recipe below is to make a full batch with our without chia seeds – just follow the instructions at No. 1 if you want to include them.
You’ll need to use the thick ‘cream’ from the top of a can of coconut milk (use the rest in a curry or something – love food, hate waste and all that). If you’re living somewhere warm – lucky you! – pop the can in the fridge for an hour to thicken it up before using.
These are really easy to make too and look fab boxed up as a gift. They really are that good, like a very sophisticated and less cloying Bounty bar. They keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge too so I’ve added Vegan Chocolate Coconut Treats to my list of wholesomely delicious things to have with a cuppa. Every cuppa 🙂
- 4 tablespoons thick coconut milk (from the top of the can)
- 1 teaspoon coconut essence
- 200g dessicated coconut
- 200g coconut cream
- 70g dark chocolate
- 2 heaped teaspoons chia seeds (optional)
- Cocktail sticks for dipping the coconut squares into the melted chocolate
- If you're using chia seeds, place them in a small bowl and stir in with the coconut milk. Leave for 10 minutes until the chia seeds are soft.
- Melt the coconut cream in a pan over a low heat (or in the microwave). Watch it closely - it will only take 2-3 minutes to melt and it can burn easily so check and stir it frequently.
- Mix the melted coconut cream, coconut milk (with or without chia seeds), dessicated coconut and coconut essence together in a large bowl.
- Place a sheet of greaseproof paper in a 20cm square baking tin (or a larger one and just use half of the tin). Spoon the coconut mixture into the tin and press all the way to the edges.
- Place in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the coconut into 2-3cm squares and pierce each square with a cocktail stick.
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave but take it slowly - check and stir every 15-20 seconds).
- Holding the cocktail stick, coat each square thoroughly with chocolate.
- Place on sheet of greaseproof paper and leave to set.
- Gently ease out the cocktail sticks and store in the fridge in Tupperware. Eat within two weeks.
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