Make Your Own Homemade Bounty Bars

Whether you think of bounty bars or mounds when you hear chocolate coconut bars, this is a lighter version of those candy bars. Sweet coconut filling, dark chocolate coating – but not sickly sweet like the store bought versions.

Bounty was my favourite chocolate bar growing up, but it’s just way too sweet for me now, even the dark chocolate version. This one, on the other hand, is made with some honey (or rice syrup for vegan bounty bars), coconut butter, and unsweetened coconut. It’s still candy, but not so tooth-achingly sweet.

With just seven ingredients total, including vanilla, this is a great recipe to make for a small treat to have on hand and makes excellent gifts. Since the bars are stored in the freezer, they can be made in advance, or just for you to have around. You need coconut butter for this recipe. It can be purchased at most grocery stores, but is easy and cheap to make at home if you have a food processor.

I first shared this recipe in 2016. It’s been updated with improvements to the recipe instructions and slight improvements to the recipe, new photos, including step-by-step photos, and more helpful information.

I don’t use affiliate links. Any links you see here are to other recipes or related information, not paid links.

Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

Essentially, you need three types of coconut – shredded, butter, and oil – plus honey, vanilla, and chocolate to coat. I really wanted the coconut flavour to be punchy here and the bars are made without sweetened condensed milk. These are my notes from a decade of making this recipe and you can find the full recipe card below.

• Coconut: this must be unsweetened, and shredded or desiccated. I recommend desiccated and prefer the smaller shred for this recipe. Unsweetened coconut makes the bars far too sweet and the honey can’t be reduced to make up for it.
• Coconut butter: this helps to bind the bars while also adding a stronger coconut flavour. You can make or buy it but if buying, make sure it’s unsweetened. The only ingredient should be coconut. It’s much less expensive to make yourself.
• Coconut oil: like the butter, it also adds to the taste of coconut and firms up the bars. I recommend using unrefined coconut oil so that you do get a better coconut flavour but refined works in a pinch.
• Honey: this is a big part of what makes the bars stick together, and shouldn’t be reduced or omitted. Brown rice syrup can be substituted for the honey for a fully vegan bar. I don’t recommend other liquid sweeteners because it has to be quite viscous and sticky to work properly.
• Vanilla: pictured is vanilla powder, which works very well, but the recipe has now been updated so that vanilla extract is outlined in the card with powder as a substitute. This is simply due to the easy accessibility of extract.
• Chocolate: any chocolate that melts will be fine. My personal preference is for dark chocolate in bar form or couverture, but chocolate chips are okay, if slightly waxy when frozen.
• Add-ins: this is a minimal recipe and all of the ingredients are vital to its success, but it’s possible to add some things if you’d like. Think along the lines of extra spices or a variety of toppings. Cardamom, cinnamon, freeze dried fruit, things like that.

How to Make Chocolate Coconut Bars

This is a straightforward no-bake recipe, and the important thing is to get the texture of the bars right before freezing the mixture. It needs to hold together when squeezed, and you might need to add a splash of water as outlined in the recipe to ensure that. Coconut butter can be a little too dry sometimes to work as it should – that’s when you’ll need the extra liquid.

Step 1: mix the coconut, coconut butter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla in a large bowl. Really get in there with your hands! It should be a consistency a bit like streusel topping or shortbread, where it holds when you press it but otherwise looks crumbly.

Step 2: press the filling into a lined tin, trying to get as even a layer as possible. A 20cm (8 inch) square tin is the perfect size but I’ve also used a bread tin before. The size doesn’t matter so much here because the bars aren’t baked, and you can even make little mounds or balls instead.

Step 3: freeze the bars for at least 20 minutes (or refrigerate for a couple of hours). Once chilled, cut into about ten individual bars. These can be any size you like.

Step 4: dip the frozen bars into melted chocolate, using a fork to flip and lift them. Thin the chocolate with extra oil if you want a very thin layer of chocolate coating on the bars. As written, it’ll be fairly thick. See the cross-section image below showing the cut bar for a visual of this.

Step 5: place the bars onto parchment paper to set the chocolate. This allows for easy release once the chocolate has hardened, rather than placing on a wire rack or an unlined baking sheet.

Step 6: do a second dip or drizzle extra chocolate, or top the bars with something like more coconut before the chocolate finishes setting. This is optional and decorative only.

More Coconut Desserts

Chocolate Coconut Balls – another no-bake recipe, inspired by Swedish chocolate balls
Triple Coconut Bread – also with shredded coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil, this is a tasty, lightly sweet quick bread
Vegan Coconut Cake – a two-layer coconut cake with vegan ganache frosting
Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread – date and banana sweetened, with no added sugar

If you make these Homemade Bounty Bars or any other vegetarian dessert recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.