Vegan Bounty Bars

This remastered coconut candy bar is one recipe that will not disappoint. With a dairy free dark chocolate covering, the fresh coconut filling stays sealed within making for the perfect bounty bar made at home that is accidentally vegan.

I am certain as kids we had our favorite candy bar. The one which would make a sad day feel so much better. A candy bar which showed more promise and joy over other things. For me, it had to be Bounty and Snickers. I never understood how they got the coconut inside the chocolate, its like a little coconut surprise. I have to add here, these photos you see in my post are from my very first photo shoot almost 7 years ago. I have shot these bounty bars again but I somehow love these shots cause I remember being blown away by the recipe and eating my way through this shoot.

Today, all grown up I am here to tell you that we are making this Bounty bar at home but I have to be a responsible adult and inform you, the homemade version will spoil you for taste. You will crave these over the store bought. No offense to bounty bars all over the world, I still enjoy them but if I had a choice between the homemade and store bought, it would be the homemade version for me. Hand on my heart.

There are a few ingredients involved and the reason I made this recipe vegan, was only because I made it for my brother who cannot eat dairy. Which means he can’t eat most candy bars from supermarkets. This was a little treat I made for him. Since then I have made it with dairy products and still had great results but honestly this vegan version is going to blow your mind and it is the original recipe I made 7 years ago. Since then my best friend back home in Bombay (Nastaha) has made it many times for her loves ones and shared its around as well. She made this recipe more popular than it already was.

To make this recipe you don’t need fancy ingredients or equipment which is what makes it even tastier. However you do need patience as the freezer does a lot of the work for you. The coconut filling has a combination of freshly grated coconut and desiccated coconut. We also add a little vanilla, coconut butter, almond flour, maple syrup and love.

The almond flour here acts like a sponge, if there is any liquid that might seep out or if the mixture is too wet, the almond flour will soak up all that juice. This excess liquid situation happens depending the type of fresh coconut used and if it was frozen prior to using etc. The dark chocolate is melted with some coconut butter until smooth and I love the addition of sea salt flakes to balance out the sweetness. As you can see there are a handful of ingredients here.

I need to quickly discuss the term coconut butter here, now we all know what is coconut oil, you can by it in bottles but ensure its the edible one and not the bottle for your hair. But there is something that is called virgin coconut butter which is also coconut oil but because it is predominantly cold pressed and virgin meaning, it has gone through bare minimum processing ensuring it is pure, hence it solidifies once chilled. However today you can purchase vegan coconut butter that looks like normal butter and tastes like coconut in the allergy section of some supermarkets next to the shortening etc. This is a product that has been processed a lot to create that butter like texture and overall look.

So what can you use? Ideally you want to use virgin coconut oil aka virgin coconut butter but the other options work too. If using the coconut oil let the coconut filling mixture freeze for a longer time before dipping, as oil is liquid at room temperature the mixture will be a little more wet hence it will need to be chilled longer. If using the vegan coconut butter the flavor is not that strong but it still tastes very yummy.

When making the candy bars it is important to keep the freezer relatively empty or ensure the plate has enough space to cool down the bars, cause you need to allow the coconut mixture to cool down completely in the freezer until its rock hard. This will then allow the chocolate to set even better once dipped.

Speaking of chocolate I like using nothing less than 70% dark chocolate however you could use milk if you like. Trust me when I say that the dark chocolate works perfectly in this recipe. As this recipe is vegan you need a good quality vegan chocolate to make this. If you aren’t vegan you can use any dark chocolate that you can get your hands on.

I set these bars in a loaf tin (8×4 inch) you could do it in any plate or tray that would help freeze the mixture. These babies last for upto 2 months in your freezer, however they won’t last that long as they will go into your tummy quick, fast and in a hurry. I like to double up the recipe cause I can store them for a long time. Each piece is wrapped in baking paper and foil to ensure they are safe in the freezer.

Let’s make some bounty bars, Happy Eating Ninjas!