Delightful Coconut Dream

There's more to life than your favorite candy, isn't there?

(I mean, except for chocolate. That isn't candy. Chocolate is its own food group.)

Here's a confession: One of my favorite candies is the Mounds Bar. Or Almond Joy. There's just something about that chocolate covered coconut goodness that calls to me.

But when I'm trying to cut sugar out of my diet, there goes my occasional chocolate/coconut treat.

Or does it?

When we were at my favorite store in May, I bought this huge bag of coconut. This is dried, flaked coconut, but it's unsweetened. My thought was that I'd use it for a chicken recipe we like in the summer (coming soon!), but that really is an awful lot of coconut. So I started looking for another recipe...and guess what? Chocolate covered coconut bars!!!!

You know me. I fussed and fixed and experimented, and changed the recipe to what I call my Delightful Coconut Dreams.

A great thing about these is that you can make them with or without sugar.

Without sugar they're a low-carb treat (an S in the Trim Healthy Mama world!)

So here we go.

You'll need one cup flaked coconut. If you can find it, use the unsweetened. Look in health food stores or places like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Or if you're near Shipshewana, I know E&S Sales has it!

Measure the coconut into a medium sized bowl. To make it without added sugar, add 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 teaspoon Truvia.

If you aren't too concerned about added sugar, you can use this:

I used a Tablespoon of this sweet coconut syrup (used to make Pina Colada's and such) to 3 Tablespoons heavy cream for hubby's version.

Mix the coconut and cream/sweetener together. It should be a nice, sticky mess. Put it in a dish, shaping it into a rectangle roughly 4 inches by 6 inches, and between 1/2 and 1 inch high.

Stick it in the freezer for an hour or so. That makes it easier to handle!

A few minutes before you take the coconut goodness out of the freezer, you need to make your chocolate coating.

Use coconut oil for your base. Coconut oil melts at 76°, so it's perfect for this application. (This mixture also makes the perfect - and healthy - chocolate "shell" for your ice cream!)

Mix 3 Tablespoons liquid coconut oil (if your kitchen is less than 76°, you can melt it in the microwave for a few seconds), 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon Truvia (or sugar) in a small bowl.

Now take your coconut bar out of the freezer, and cut it into 8 pieces. Since it's frozen, it's much easier to cut.

Take the pieces, one at a time, and dip them into the chocolate mixture. As each one is dipped, transfer them to a piece of wax paper to cool. The chocolate hardens almost immediately.

These might not look as finished as the commercial product, but they sure are tasty! 

And guilt free! :)

Here's a recap of the recipe:

Delightful Coconut Dream 

Sugar Free version:

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon Truvia

3 Tablespoons coconut oil, liquid

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon Truvia

Version with sugar:

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

1 Tablespoon Cream of Coconut (optional)

3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon sugar

3 Tablespoons coconut oil, liquid

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon sugar

Mix coconut, cream and sweetener together. Shape the mixture into a 4" x 6" slab. Freeze for 1 or 2 hours. Remove from freezer and cut into 8 pieces.

Stir coconut oil, cocoa powder and sweetener together. Dip the coconut pieces into the chocolate and let cool.

Store in the refrigerator, and try not to eat it all at one time!

*If you can't find unsweetened coconut, go ahead and use the sweetened coconut flakes you can find in any grocery store. There is a lot of sugar in that coconut, so don't add any more to the coconut mixture. Add just enough cream to make the flakes stick together, and continue with the recipe as written.

The town of Deadwood, South Dakota today.

And in between chocolaty treats, I'm working hard on "A Home in Deadwood", my newest Love Inspired story. I don't have a final title yet, and I don't have a release date, but I do have a deadline!

One thing I love about writing historicals is the research. Deadwood is a fascinating place. It splashed onto the stage of history with a gold strike in 1875, a gold rush in the spring of 1876, and earned its notorious reputation with the murder of Wild Bill Hickok in August, 1876.

By the time Wild Bill arrived in Deadwood, his reputation was wide-spread. Everyone in the country knew the legends - true or not - that surrounded him. He and his companions - Calamity Jane, the Utter brothers (Colorado Charlie and his brother, Steve) and Bloody Dick Seymour - rode into the mining camp in mid-July, 1876, "mounted on good horses and clad in complete suits of buckskin," according to eyewitness Richard B. Hughes in his book, Pioneer Years in the Black Hills.

Wild Bill soon took up his current profession of gambling (poker was his game of choice), while the Utter brothers started laying the ground work for a pony express mail service between Deadwood and Ft. Laramie, Wyoming. The brothers' plans were put on hold, however, when Jack McCall shot Wild Bill in the back while their friend was playing poker in the Number 10 saloon on Main Street.

I won't go on - I could talk about history all day (just ask my family!) - but I have to share this picture with you!

You're looking at the Beaver Creek Valley in Weston County, Wyoming. That trailing road there at the bottom is the route of the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Line...and the Utter brothers' mail route between Deadwood and Ft. Laramie. (They got the line started after Jack McCall's trial).

There is history all around you, wherever you live. You just need to look for it. Your local library is the best place to start :)

Meanwhile, enjoy chocolaty goodness!