Homemade Bounty Bars (With Real Food Ingredients)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 ml) of full-fat coconut milk
• 2 C.  shredded coconut (it was about 130 g coconut)
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil or butter (heaped)
• 1/4 C. – 1/2 C. maple syrup
• Optional: 1/2 tsp. non-gm lecithin granules (this just helps to emulsify the coconut milk & oil together- it is an optional ingredient).
• 200 g dark chocolate

How to:

1. In a saucepan add the coconut milk, coconut oil, maple syrup & lecithin (if using). Heat on medium- low and stir until it all it dissolves together. Leave to cool to room temperature.
2. Stir in the shredded coconut. Pour this mixture into a tin lined with wax paper.
3.  Leave to set in the fridge. When set (it should be fairly firm), slice into squares and then place in the freezer to completely harden (this makes it easier to handle and to keep them stable when covering in chocolate).
4. Temper your chocolate (see below for details on how to do that). This helps your chocolate get a nice crack and shine and to help set the chocolate on your coconut squares (and it makes sure you don’t burn it).
5. Cover your coconut squares with chocolate: place your coconut squares in the middle of the bowl of chocolate. Cover the square with chocolate using a big spoon to make sure it is completely covered. Lift the chocolate covered coconut square of the bowl. Shake a bit of excess chocolate off on the inside of the bowl.
6. Place your chocolates on a piece of baking paper until set. Enjoy!

Tempering Chocolate- You Will Need:

• a metal bowl (wider than the saucepan)
• a smaller bowl, filled with water and ice
• a saucepan, filled with 3 cm of water
• a metal or plastic spoon (not wooden)
• a cooking thermometer
• your chocolate of choice, chopped

How to temper the chocolate:

(Here’s a great video on how to temper chocolate):

1. Place your water onto a boil then turn down to a simmer and turn off the heat.
2. Place your metal bowl over the now hot water (and heat turned off) and add the chocolate. Stir the chocolate with your metal spoon until it melts. Put your thermometer in and make sure it doesn’t go above 48 degrees Celsius (118 F).
3. When it reaches 48 take it off the hot saucepan and put it in your ice water bowl. Keep stirring. Wait till it cools down to 26 degrees.
4. When it has cooled down, turn your saucepan on again and place your metal bowl over the saucepan, now with the heat on. Put the thermometer into the chocolate and wait till the temperature of the chocolate reaches 48. When it’s at that temperature, turn off the heat. Your chocolate is now ready to use!
5. Simply place your coconut square into the chocolate with a fork and completely cover it. Tap your fork with the covered coconut square against the side of the bowl so excess chocolate comes off. Then place your chocolates on a lined tray until the chocolates harden!

Tips for tempering chocolate:

Make sure you don’t get any water or steam in your chocolate at any stage while tempering. Water= chocolate death!

Use only metal or plastic spoons to stir the chocolate.

If you let your chocolate go over 48 degrees C then its gone- you can’t use it any more.

It’s a good idea if you have one to use a thermometer to test the temperature when you’re heating a cooling the chocolate. I used a digital thermometer.

Having said all that, you don’t really need to temper the chocolate- but it does help to coat the coconut squares properly.