"Sugar-Free" Bounty Chocolates

So, I’ve been trying to bake/make healthy sweets for a while, but a lot of my attempts have fallen flat…the problem with healthy food often seems to be that it lacks flavour, or at least is not as good as the full-fat version. This recipe however is an exception! Homemade dark chocolate covering a coconut filling – the only sweetening agents are a little maple syrup and honey – so no refined sugar! I know, strictly speaking that isn’t sugar-free, but it’s a catchier title than “refined sugar-free bounty chocolates”.

The only weird ingredients you need to get are coconut oil and cocoa butter – this is available on amazon – it’s about £15 for a kilogram, but that will last you a long time!! Plus, if you don’t want to use it all for chocolate, it’s brilliant in home-made soaps (so I’ve heard).

I used a chocolate mould from Lakeland -  Using a mould will make your life a lot easier! If you don’t have a chocolate mould, you can use cake pop moulds instead for nice hemispheres. Failing that, you can be super messy and dip blobs of the coconut into the chocolate…it will still taste awesome.

Makes 12 chocolates

Ingredients:

For the chocolate:

• 50g cocoa butter
• 40g cocoa powder
• 20g maple syrup (adjust to your preference of sweetness), at room temperature

For the filling:

• 40g dessicated coconut
• 20g coconut oil
• 10g runny honey
•  

Method:

1. Make the chocolate. Put 25g of the cocoa butter into a large bowl and microwave on high power, until the cocoa butter has melted. This takes longer than chocolate does, but keep an eye on it and swirl the bowl every 30 seconds or so.

2. To the bowl add 20g cocoa powder and 10g maple syrup – beat until smooth. Leave the chocolate to one side until it is spreadable.

3. Place half-teaspoonfuls of chocolate in each hole of the mould. Using the back of a spoon, spread the chocolate up the sides. Once all the cavities have been filled, check there are no missing spots, then leave to set.

4. Make the filling. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until liquid.

5. Add the coconut and honey and use your hands to bring the mixture together. Once all of the coconut has been incorporated and the chocolate has set.

6. Add teaspoons of the coconut filling to the moulds and press down lightly – try not to overfill them.

7. Make the other half of the chocolate – I make this in two batches as otherwise the second half would have set too hard to be used. Melt 25g cocoa butter as previously, then add 20g cocoa powder and 10g maple syrup. Pour over the tops of the chocolates , and scrape off any excess chocolate.

8. Leave at room temperature for at least 1 hour to set.

9. Very carefully pop the chocolates out of the mould.

10. Enjoy!