As you can imagine, both store-bought chocolate/coconut/almond candy bars and homemade coconut candy recipes are FULL of refined sugar—anywhere from 1 to 3 cups of it per batch. It doesn’t have to be that way. Treats can be healthy too! I’ve teamed up with Nuts.com to give you these healthy Coconut Joys with a fraction of the sweetener! 🙂
I was really impressed with how many ingredients I found on Nuts.com recently. I’ve been told by multiple friends, including my nutritionist, that Nuts.com has the cleanest nuts and nut flours (something important for us celiacs!), but I didn’t realize how much else they have to offer! I searched under their organic menu and found what I needed to make these healthy coconut treats, which can easily be made nut-free if you need to!
So HOW do you get these treats to hold together without a cup or more of refined sugar? I know it’s tricky, I struggled with it too. (Seriously, I made them half a dozen times.) All that sugar is the glue that binds typical candies together AND gives them lots of moisture at the same time. So here I am trying to add moisture without much sweetener, and they’re falling apart. That’s where the chia seeds and coconut oil come in. The chia seeds soak up the coconut milk that I’m adding for moisture, and along with the coconut oil help to solidify these Coconut Joys. The end result passed the kids and husband taste test with flying colors. 🙂
I’ve always been a big fan of healthy treats. Keeping these in the freezer for me and my family is a great way to enjoy a bite of something lightly sweetened, but also packed with nutrition! I hope you love them too!
Healthy Coconut Joys
special equipment: candy mold
1/2 cup 70% dark chocolate chips (please use fair trade, like these. read why in my healthy Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook)
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds *
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
about 28 whole almonds
*I grind my chia seeds in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet
- Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Lay the candy mold on top of a cookie sheet. Use a silicone basting brush to coat the insides of the candy mold with chocolate, then freeze until cold, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the filling: In a large mixing bowl whisk the shredded coconut, chia seed meal, and sea salt to combine.
- Add the coconut milk, honey, and coconut oil to the bowl with the shredded coconut mixture and stir to combine.
- Take the candy mold from the freezer and fill each compartment with the coconut mixture, so that it’s about even with the top. Add an almond to each, pressing it down slightly.
- Freeze the candies over night to harden completely.
- Remove the mold from the freezer. Turn the mold upside down and gently push each candy out. Store the candies in the freezer, wrapped in paper, placed inside a ziplock bag. Enjoy frozen!
Makes about 28 candies
♥, Kelly
This post was sponsored by Nuts.com, however, the opinions are my own.
VL says
HI, we have a celiac in the family too, and always order from nuts.com certified GF division. Do you know if these gifts are from the GF section? (I see only the oatmeal on the page of gifts is labeled GF). Hope so, it is a great promotion!
Bethanny says
I ran out of shredded coconut, so I used black sesame instead. Taste great!
Brenda says
No candy mold? Make the filling, refrigerate for an hour (if too soft use more chia), scope out a tbsp and roll into a ball then push an almond inside. Freeze the balls then dip into melted chocolate, place on cokie sheet and return to freezer until chocolate sets
Holly says
Hey I have been looking for a good dessert for this Thanksgiving weekend to satisfy the sweet tooths of some of my Chiropractic patients, and I really appreciate this recipe. I made it last night and it was awesome. Thank you so much, I cannot wait to share it with them.