Chocolate Coconut Bars

These easy chocolate coconut bars are made of 5 main ingredients and prep takes 10 minutes. A budget-friendly, wholesome hand-held treat with all the flavors of bounty and almond joy chocolate bars. These chocolate coconut bars are a no-bake chocolate dessert that comes together surprisingly fast considering there are four layers. The final coconut bar is full of fiber and protein with two gooey middle layers that are melt-in-your-mouth delicious. A healthy dessert with the flavors of our favorite candy bars, like Almond Joy and Bounty, as well as old fashioned Magic Bars or Hello dolly bars.

Like many of my brownies and bars, including my layered chocolate baked oatmeal cups, these coconut bars use single wholesome ingredients to create two sweet inner layers, coconut and caramel. The bottom crust is a crumbly chocolate cookie, the two middle layers are delicious coconut butter, and sweet date paste, and the top is a melted chocolate bar. Like my homemade fudge bars, and my vanilla protein bar, this multi-layered no bake coconut bar is all melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This
• Ingredients
• Substitutions & Variations
• Step by Step Instructions
• Recipe Tips
• Storage
• FAQS
• More Coconut Desserts
• 📖 Recipe

Why You'll Love This

Wonderful for holidays and gatherings. This chocolate coconut bar recipe is the single most requested recipe in my house. And even relatives from afar clamor for me to make them when they visit for the holidays. It's because there are four different desserts in one.

Nutritious for a dessert. Each layer is full of healthy fats and fiber thanks to coconut, high in fiber and iron thanks to dates, and full of protein and micronutrients from buckwheat groats or walnuts. These no bake coconut bars are energizing, filling and even easy on blood sugar levels.

Perfect for all diets. The bars are perfect for holidays and gatherings as they are nutritious, dairy free, vegan and gluten free, so they fit everyone's dietary requirements.

Ingredients

• Flour: Almond and coconut help make this base full of fiber and protein.
• Buckwheat groats or crushed walnuts: Provide structure and many essential nutrients not found in other foods.
• Shredded coconut: Unsweetened and blended by itself into a buttery cream, called coconut butter, this single ingredient makes a delicious coconut frosting middle layer.
• Medjool dates: Make a homemade date paste by blending dates with water for this healthy caramel layer. Or make the paste with maple syrup only.
• Supportive flavors: Vanilla, maple syrup, coconut oil.
• Chocolate top: Chips or bar, melted, for the snappy top.

Substitutions & Variations

Almond and coconut flour. You can use all almond flour and leave off the coconut flour.

Buckwheat groats. These add nutrition and fiber to the cookie crust base, but grouts aren't easy to find, so you can substitute crushed walnuts instead.

Dates. The date paste makes up the caramel inner layer, but if you can't find dates, you can skip the layer or make a healthy caramel using maple syrup by stirring together ¼ cup maple syrup, 2 tablespoon melted coconut oil, 2 tablespoon peanut butter.

Coconut butter. You can skip making coconut butter for the inner layer, and spread out ¾ cup of unsweetened shredded coconut instead.

See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.

Step 1. To prep for this chocolate coconut bars recipe, drop the dates in just-boiled water for 10 minutes, then pit. Rinse the buckwheat groats by putting them in a strainer, and stirring with a spoon or clean hands until the slimy coating is washed away, about 2-3 minutes.

Step 2. Make the layers.

• Mix the crust. Blend up the crust ingredients in a food processor, press into the pan and set aside.
• Make white coconut layer. Blend up 2 cups of shredded coconut butter to make 1 cup of coconut butter. Pour the blender-warm coconut butter on the crust, level it, and set the pan in the freezer while you make the date caramel.  
• Make date caramel layer. Blend up the soaked dates with 1 cup of water and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Pour that on the chilled coconut butter layer. Put the pan in the freezer while you melt the chocolate top.
• Make chocolate fudge top. Melt the chocolate chips, stir in the coconut milk and pour that on the date layer.

Step 3. Put the pan in the freezer for about 1 hour, then take it out and cut into 16 slices. Use a knife you've dipped into hot water to start tip down with puncturing into the chocolate top, then piercing the harder white coconut butter layer. Refrigerate until ready to enjoy!

Recipe Tips

1. To cut clean slices, dip a sharp knife in hot water, wipe dry, and make a cut. Then repeat. Also consider letting the bars thaw for 10-20 minutes before cutting as the chocolate top can crack, and the white coconut layer is sometimes hard to cut once frozen.

FAQS

More Coconut Desserts

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📖 Recipe