Spiced Chocolate Coconut Bars – THM S

Yummy! This is one of  my favorite chocolate candy recipes!  Since starting Trim Healthy Mama I have made all kinds of plan friendly chocolate candies. My first attempt of course was Skinny Chocolate from the book (page 371).  I have had lot’s of success (and a couple failures) with that recipe and many variations thereof. 🙂 It is a great recipe that you should really try!

This chocolate was a gift from my mom and it was so yummy I wanted to share it with you.  She found the original recipe from an Atkins site but she tweaked it to make it more THM friendly.  I am going to list the recipe below exactly the way she made it because it was so good.

Spiced Chocolate Coconut Bars – THM S

• 1 c extra virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 c xes sweetener or gentle sweet (if you are not using THM brand be sure to grind your sweetener in a coffe grinder)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (this recipe is NOT hot at all.  You only feel the cayenne a tiny bit after you swallow.  You could easily add more if you like heat, but this bit gives it the perfect amount of flavor without heat!)
• 5 TBS unsweetened shredded coconut flakes (divided)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt (optional)

Let’s make it!

•  Gently melt coconut oil
• Whisk together oil, gentle sweet, cocoa, cinnamon and cayenne till smooth.
• Add 3 TBS shredded coconut and mix well

• Pour chocolate into a parchment lined pan or candy molds. I used squares and cute snowmen and snowflakes!

• Mix remaining 2 TBS of shredded coconut and salt together in small bowl.

• Sprinkle coconut mixture over the top of chocolate. (My mom has really finely ground coconut and it did not rest on top, but sunk in.  Yours may do the same thing, but the idea is to have a layer, even if it is sunken in.)

• Put chocolate in freezer for 15 minutes to harden.
• Remove from pan (molds) and cut or break into pieces and enjoy!

• Store in the refrigerator.

Want to change it up?  Here are some ideas:

• Don’t like coconut flavor? Use refined coconut oil and omit the coconut flakes.
• You can add chopped nuts if you want to add crunch.  It really is delicious!
• Want to have this on a Deep S day of fuel cycle? Leave out the coconut flakes keeping everything else the same.
• You can of course use any on plan sweetener that you prefer, but I really like xylitol-based sweeteners like gentle sweet in chocolate.  If you are using straight erythritol use the same measurements as above.  If you are using Truvia or THM SweetBlend then you will want to start with half the amount and taste and add more if necessary.

This is so good it will probably become my go to chocolate bar.  I hope you like it as well.