Make your own homemade mounds bars and almond joy bars with no refined sugar and natural coconut, coconut oil and cocoa powder.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
Coconut layer for homemade mounds bars
1 1/3cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2cup of unrefined coconut oil, softened/melted
1/4cup of honey
1 teaspoon coconut extract or vanilla extract (or half and half)
Coconut layer for homemade almond joy bars
1 1/3cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2cup of coconut oil
1/4cup of honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
36 almonds, left whole or chopped (your choice)
Chocolate Layer (use with either coconut layer)
3/4cup cocoa powder
1/4cup of honey
1cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the coconut layer of homemade mounds bars, start by melting the coconut oil and honey over low heat until soft. Don’t overheat. Whisk to combine. Add the extract and coconut flakes. Alternatively, just dump it all in a bowl and mash together with your hands until well blended.
To make the coconut and almond layer of homemade almond joy bars, start by melting the coconut oil and honey over low heat until soft. Don’t overheat. Whisk to combine. Add the almond extract and coconut flakes. Alternatively, just dump it all in a bowl and mash together with your hands until well blended.
To assemble the candy, you can use a standard 12 compartment muffin tin or two miniature muffin tins with 12 compartments. Another option is candy molds. I purchased a Wilton 24 compartment silicon mold with 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares and a plastic Make’n Mold 12 compartment peanut butter cup mold. One recipe filled the silicon mold and the peanut butter cup mold, and left a little extra chocolate that I poured into the mini muffin cups.
Divide the coconut mixture evenly between your compartments. Make sure you get an even mixture of coconut flakes and coconut oil. Press firmly into pan/mold to get a solid candy with no air pockets. If making almond joy bars, place one or more almonds in each compartment.
Place in a freezer on a flat surface, and freeze until hard (about 30 minutes).
Directions for the chocolate layer of the homemade mounds or almond joy bars
Combine 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup honey, 1 cup coconut oil and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract in a small, heavy bottomed pot. Heat gently, and whisk until well blended. Pour into a liquid measuring cup to make it easier to pour into the molds.
Remove your muffin tins or molds from the freezer. Top each candy with a layer of chocolate. For full sized muffin tins, use about two tablespoons per muffin compartment. For mini muffin tins or candy molds, fill molds. Pour any excess chocolate into additional molds, or onto a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet (you can break it apart later to eat like almond bark).
Return tins/molds (and any excess chocolate) to freezer. Freeze until hard (about 30 minutes).
To remove the mounds bars from the full size muffin tins, simply slide a butter knife down one side and pop them out. Alternatively, invert on a clean counter and get the mold a thump. I found that the bars stuck a little in the mini muffin tins, but came out easily from the silicon mold and the peanut butter cup mold. Make sure they’re completely frozen before you remove them from the molds.
Notes
Store these in the refrigerator or freezer, as they will melt if left out at warmer temperatures. (Coconut oil becomes liquid at around 75°F.) Sitting out for an hour or two at the party with temps in the low 70s, they were just fine.