Coconut Chocolate Balls (Homemade Bounty)

These decadent, no-bake coconut chocolate balls are a mini version of homemade Bounty. Just 5 vegan ingredients and zero refined sugar.

When I was growing up in Ukraine, store-bought chocolate bars – especially those with English words on the wrapper – were a big deal, a very special treat. They were available in stores, but people didn’t buy them nearly with the same regularity as they do in America.

For example, if my mom was taking my sister and me on a playdate, we might bring a single Snickers bar (as in, one for several children to share) as to not arrive “empty-handed” (a major faux pas in Soviet culture). And a Twix might make the perfect bribe from my cool older cousin – a gift quietly exchanged with the understanding that I was not to tell our parents I’d seen her smoking cigarettes.

And then there was our weekend chocolate allowance. Each Sunday, my dad would head to the bazaar – an open-air food market – to pick up the week’s groceries. On his return, he would hand Lily and me our treat for the week – yellow M&M’s, a Kinder Surprise egg, or my personal favorite, Bounty.

Manufactured by Mars, this heavenly treat consists of a chewy coconut filling enrobed in creamy milk chocolate (like Almond Joy without almonds). Bounty was, and still is, popular in the UK and Europe, but not in the States. (Although here in NYC, many Polish/Russian markets carry them and you can often find them in the international aisle of regular supermarkets. And of course, there’s always Amazon.)

Knowing my near-barbaric love for this treat, last year for my birthday Rene got me a sizable number of Bounty bars as a gift. My birthday was December 7th and I’m only now finishing the stash – which got me thinking, Can I keep up this regular Bounty consumption without eating so much sugar and processed junk? (No offense, Bounty!)

And the answer was, of course, yes. There are hundreds of homemade candy bar recipes online and the one I liked most came from The Big Man’s World. The only problem I had with homemade Bounty was coating the filling in chocolate. Dipping whole coconut bars in melted chocolate is a messy process, and I found it hard to achieve a thin even coating.

My solution: turning the bars into flat-bottom balls (like truffles) and just dipping the tops. By dipping half of the coconut in chocolate, the chocolate is less overpowering and coconut gets to be the star. These are also easier to eat since the chocolate doesn’t have time to melt all over your fingers (which may be good or bad, depending on how you look at it).

I also couldn’t resist adding a sprinkle of sea salt on top of these no-bake coconut chocolate balls. And although these are technically dessert, they’re nutritious enough to consider an “energy ball”, so you’re welcome.

The Ingredients

When selecting coconut, be sure to buy it unsweetened, since you want to control the amount of sweetener you use. If this is your first time trying coconut butter, prepare your mind to be blown. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the plant world’s most delicious and decadent foods. It’s intensely coconutty, addictively creamy, and has a slight sweetness to it.

Coconut oil and coconut butter are NOT interchangeable. Coconut oil is just the fat that’s extracted from coconut; coconut butter is whole coconut flesh ground into a paste (like peanut butter).

Solid vs. Creamy Coconut Butter + How to Soften It

Coconut butter, like coconut oil, is sensitive to temperature changes. In warm temps, it’ll be smooth and creamy like peanut butter. In the cold, it turns solid. You can return it to a creamy consistency by using a water bath (instructions below in the recipe card). Don’t worry about it alternating between creamy and solid states too many times – in my experience, it doesn’t change the taste or texture.

How to Melt Chocolate in a Double-Boiler (a.k.a. Bain-Marie)

Here, a double-boiler – or “Bain-Marie” in French pastry terms – refers to a pot with a few inches of simmering water at the bottom, with a large heatproof bowl sitting on top. You put chocolate in the bowl and the steam from the water underneath gently melts the chocolate.

This is the best – and in my opinion, easiest – way to melt chocolate. You do not want to put chocolate directly in a pot and melt it on the stove, as the chocolate will burn and become all gloopy. Some people do melt chocolate in the microwave but then you also risk burning it. In my experience, microwaving chocolate for several minutes also slightly alters its taste. (But then again, I’m against nuking any food and do not own a microwave.)

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