Sorry for the poor picture quality; I wasn’t really ready to photograph this recipe! I’ll take better pics when I make it next and will update this post accordingly. But at least you can still see the yumminess…

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Since I stopped eating candy or sweets, I must say that all the commercials for such things held *no* appeal for me this year. Most of it I can’t eat due to my peanut allergy; the rest is unappealing when I read the ingredient list. Blah! And since I stopped eating “sweets,” as in regular consumption of them, I gotta say that I just don’t miss them. I do get “sweet” cravings every so often, and raw honey does the trick amazingly well. Actually, my favorite indulgence is…ready for this? Eating little dabs of butter with honey drizzled on them! Yes, just butter and honey! No bread, lol! The fat and sweet combination really hits the spot. But as I’ve said before, I tend toward the weird side…

As I thought about Easter, though, and indeed about Valentine’s Day that recently passed, what I realized is that I don’t miss gorging out on cheap candy; I miss the specialness of having “treats.” I would rather happily enjoy a few rich truffles than a whole basketful of bland, mass-produced candy. But since I hadn’t even begun to think about where to find a real-foods-type of truffle or other treat, and didn’t have any recipes on my radar, I just pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind for later.

But then I came across a wonderful post by Raine of Agricultural Society. She’d made some scrumptious-sounding, truffle-like, real-food treats for a friend’s birthday party…what a great idea! My roommate’s birthday was coming up, and these treats were the perfect answer for what to make instead of cake! My roommate had been asking if she’d have a cake this year, but knowing my aversion to crappy ingredients, she asked with trepidation, as if I was going to stomp all over her desire for a birthday cake with my pronouncement of its deadly effects on those who eat it. Well, I did pronounce typical birthday cakes deadly, heh. What else can a real foodie do? But I told her she’d still have birthday goodies, although I refused to tell her what they were.

Her birthday is next weekend, and in an example of perfect timing, she went out of town this weekend. So I had time to test the recipe before her birthday…and look at that, I could try it on Easter weekend. Yay for special-occasion goodies once more!

Yesterday I went and got the ingredients. A bit pricier than what I used to pay for making sweet things, but that’s ok. The idea behind a recipe like this is that it is a treat, that it only gets made every now and then, that it feels like an indulgence. The higher price should keep it perfectly in perspective.

So without further ado, here’s the recipe. I found it at Raine’s site, and she found it at The Nourishing Gourmet. I’ve added my own notes from my first attempt.

“Mounds” or “Almond Joy” Candy Bars
Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

Coconut base

• 1/2 c. coconut oil (I use expeller-pressed, not virgin, so there isn’t any coconut taste in the oil; it is also a bit cheaper)
• 1/4 c. of raw honey (I used FL wildflower)
• 1 1/3 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tsp almond extract (I splurged on an organic one)
• OPTIONAL: 36 almonds (I used raw)

Chocolate topping:

• 3/4 c. cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 1/4 c. of raw honey (more for a bit more sweetness; I added a couple more squeezes)
• 1 c. of coconut oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

TOOLS

• A 12-compartment muffin tin, or 2 6-compartment tins
• A 2-cup glass measuring cup or a glass mixing bowl that can sit sturdily over a pot of water

DIRECTIONS

1. Start by testing to see if your muffin tin can lay flat in your freezer. If it can’t, use two 6-compartment tins (these should be able to lay flat); if you don’t have them, you’ll need to add more time to the making of these since they will have to harden in the refrigerator (see below).
2. Make the coconut base: Melt the 1/2 c. coconut oil and 1/4 c. honey over low heat until just melted. Whisk to combine.
3. Add the coconut flakes and the almond extract.
4. OPTIONAL: Place three almonds in each compartment of the muffin tin. Using almonds makes these an “Almond Joy”-like treat; foregoing the almonds makes them “Mounds.” (“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t…”)
5. Divide the coconut mixture evenly into each compartment, making sure you get an even mixture of coconut flakes and coconut oil. I think I put half a tablespoon into each and then added a bit more until it was used up. I also then sort of flattened & spread it into the bottom of each compartment.
6. Best way: Place in the freezer, flat, and freeze until hard, approximately 30 minutes. If you can’t place the muffin tin flat, if you have to set it at an angle it should be ok for THIS step; there isn’t enough liquid in the cups for it to matter (this was what I did). The other option is to lay it flat in the refrigerator and give it more time to harden up.
7. While the coconut base is setting up, make the chocolate mixture: Combine all chocolate ingredients in a 2 cup measuring glass and place in a pot of simmering water. Or if you don’t have a large enough measuring cup, as I do not at the moment, use a glass mixing bowl set over a pot of simmering water.
8. Slowly heat until everything is just melted; remove from heat. Either whisk briskly or use a hand blender to combine well (I stirred it really fast with a spoon).
9. Take out the now-frozen coconut mixture and evenly divide the chocolate mixture over it; start with two tablespoons of chocolate per compartment to start, then add one more per compartment until it is all used.
10. Put the muffin tin back into the freezer to harden, approx 30 minutes. This is where laying it flat is essential! You can’t set the tin at an angle once the chocolate is added, as it will spill. So if you can’t lay it flat in the freezer, lay it flat in the refrigerator. I didn’t time how long it took for the chocolate to fully harden this way, but it was probably at least an hour, probably more. After it hardened I put the tin into the freezer to fully set.
11. Once the treats have completely hardened and set, you’ll need to use a butter knife or other implement to carefully wedge them out. They might crack or break off in pieces (see photo above!), but hey, that’s the beauty of homemade treats. I also advise “testing” one before serving to others, just to make sure you’re feeding friends and family good stuff. Yes, testing one (or two) is of paramount importance…

NOTE: Keep them in the freezer until ready to serve. Also, eat quickly after removing from freezer, as they can melt fast.

NOTE 2: These are insanely delicious. Insanely. Rich, decadent, satisfying. One is all you need, maybe two, but only if you’re used to eating coconut oil. Why? Because these are sooo full of coconut oil, and if you aren’t used to eating coconut oil, it can bother your tummy a tad (she says from experience). If you’re used to coconut oil, then you’ll have no problems. If you’re not used to it, well, I won’t suggest you eat these daily until you become used to it, even if they are a fantastic way to get more coconut oil into your diet…no, I’d never suggest such a thing. (A post on the wonders of coconut oil is coming soon.)

What I found most amazing about these is my own reaction to them—my mental reaction, that is. I felt guilty…as if I’d eaten a big sugar-laden dessert…and so after I ate my two, I went out into the yard to do some yard work because I felt like I needed to help burn off all the sugar! Then as I moved bricks around, I realized that wait a minute, I hadn’t eaten hardly any sugar! The only sweetener in these bars is honey, and the amount of honey in one of them is no more honey than I usually eat when indulging in honey. The rest of it was all “unsweetened,” and all the ingredients are real and have nutritional value. Yet the flavors were so intense that my mind was convinced that I must have eaten something far more problematic than I had.

I am thinking of experimenting with this recipe in the future; I’d like to add some other flavors to the chocolate (perhaps some chili pepper, a la the movie Chocolat?). But until then, this recipe not only hits the spot, it hits spots you didn’t know needed hitting. I do believe it’ll be a huge hit with my roommate next weekend for her birthday. And as for today being Easter…why, I do believe that’s a lovely reason to eat another one (or two)! Have a wonderful Sunday!