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This recipe is almost too good to be healthy, and amazingly, it is one of my family’s most delicious and healthy dessert recipes!
Chocolate Coconut Clusters
These chocolate coconut clusters also have only 5 ingredients, are simple to make, and kids love them! My kids eat these like candy…. in fact, they prefer these to candy! They taste like a mixture of almond joy bars and raw coconut macaroons, and are a dessert you can feel good about letting your kids have because they are packed with healthy fats.
Nutrient Rich Ingredients
The simple but nutrient dense ingredients are what make these so delicious, filling, and nourishing. They contain:
- Coconut flakes: A great source of protein, fiber, and beneficial fats.
- Coconut Oil: Has hundreds of uses and benefits. A great source of medium chain triglycerides and beneficial lauric acid. It is also filling and anti-fungal, making it effective at fighting overgrowth in the digestive track. I wrote another post about 7 ways to eat more coconut oil if you’re interested in incorporating more coconut oil into your diet.
- Almond Butter: Another source of quality fats and protein and it provides great flavor to this recipe. Sub or leave out if you have an allergy.
- Dark Chocolate: Good source of magnesium and antioxidants. Some studies even suggest it might lower the risk of heart disease.
Chocolate Coconut Clusters Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 oz unsweetened shredded coconut
- ⅓ cup + 1 TBSP coconut oil melted
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In medium bowl, mix coconut flakes, the 1/3 cup melted coconut oil, almond butter, and vanilla until well mixed.
- Refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Using hands, form into 1 inch balls and put on a plate lined with parchment paper.
- Put the plate in the freezer until the clusters harden completely.
- Once the clusters have hardened, melt the chocolate in a double boiler with 1 TBSP coconut oil, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Dip the clusters into the chocolate and put back on a plate or in a small baking dish
- Put them into refrigerator and eat once they get cold.
- Enjoy the awesome mixture of crunchy chocolate shell and chewy coconut center!
Notes
Nutrition
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A-freakin-mazing. I made these as an attempt to quell my son’s cookie addiction…and I created an addiction of my own. These are awesome!
Hi Mama,
Do you use refined or unrefined coconut oil for this recipe?
Thanks!
I use unrefined extra virgin, though refined might work too. The
coconut taste from the unrefined is really good in this though. If
you use refined, just make sure it is solid at room temp or it won’t
hold together.
I was just wondering about the almond butter? If you have a peanut allergy is there any concern using the almond butter or is there a substitute? Or can it be omitted all together in this recipe?
Can you make without a double boiler?
Sure you can! You can use any method you’d like for melting chocolate. An easy substitute for a double boiler is to place a glass bowl over a pan with a small amount of simmering water in it. The glass bowl shouldn’t touch the water. The heat from the steam will melt the chocolate.
I made these over the weekend. Awesome!
I made these yesterday for the first time. I accidentally omitted the almond butter (this is what happens when your 2.5 yo son is “helping” in the kitchen). I should have realized since they were hard to “ball up.” They froze well, though, and they were amazing! They are way better than the dark-chocolate-covered Ritz crackers that I send out as Christmas gifts. I think that gift has been supplanted. Thank you so much for this recipe! I will try to include the almond butter when I make them again, but I can’t imagine that they could taste any better!
Hi I was wondering if there was an almond butter substitute? We have nut allergies.
Thanks!
Sooo good! All the ladies at the meeting loved these and couldn’t believe how easy they were. They were relieved and excited about the healthy ingredients!! Thank you so much!
Is there a way to make those chocolate coconut clusters using unsweetened cocoa and sugar substitute? I am all about coconut oil, but please no sugar. Thanks.
We usually make them with bittersweet or baking chocolate. You can also roll it in cocoa powder before you freeze it, or melt coconut oil, cocoa powder and stevia in a double boiler and dip in that instead.
Is there anyway to make balls without the shredded coconut? I love using coconut oil but hate eating the shredded!!
HA! Seriously? The questions, complaints and “can I make these without chocolate and coconut”….??!! Perhaps this is pessimistic but this has me thinking one of two things, 1.) READ what the recipe is and move on if you can’t eat one of the main ingredients and 2.) I will NEVER, ever post a recipe online
I couldn’t agree with you more!
Amen! I totally agree too.
I have a daughter taht cannot have any nuts (in any form) or chocolate… any other ideas for treats or special snacks?
You could get things like beef jerky, cheese cubes, and berries. My kids love those for special snacks. Treats could be a little tougher. I’ve used sweet potatoes as the base for pancakes, cakes and breads before instead of even coconut flour, and this seems to work great (especially with cream cheese icing) I’ll try to get those recipes up soon or email them to you.
on a different site the lady replaces nut butters with tahini that she sweetens with honey might that be an option for your daughter?
Approximately How long do you leave them in the freezer, just wondering how long it takes for them to get hard ??
I’m going to make these tomorrow! I need to have great snacks for my kids so that I can wean them off the snacks they used to eat…crackers, and packaged crap.
any thoughts as to why my mix was SO runny…?.. 5 oz of coconut did nothing to bind it all so I added at least triple that..then chilled it…then made the balls since there would be no way to have made the balls with how runny it was…. maybe i should have let the melted coconut oil melt..?…however, then , it would have hardened…. sigh, they did taste good though…but i am wondering what i did wrong?…. i shouldn’t have had to add soooo much coconut shreds…
Follow the recipe the way she says, 5 oz coconut, 1/2 cup almond butter and 2/3 melted coconut oil… and of course the vanilla! It’s not going to form a “perfect” ball, like cookie batter. but it will form circular shapes, like a mound. Try forming them smaller as well. Hope this helps.
I just made them for the first time and I too had a VERY runny mix, like pancake batter. I kept having to incorporate ingredients to help the mix form some sort of shape…disappointing. I think there’s too much coconut oil for the amount of other ingredients.
What kind of shredded coconut did you use? I think there is some variation among brands…
I, too, had problems with the mix being too liquid. Then I thought that there might be a difference between shredded or flaked coconut that this recipe calls for and what I used – dessicated coconut. I added about 2-3 ounces more to make the mix manageable but the centers were more of a soft but crunchy texture as the dry dessicated coconut doesn’t soften much in the oil. In any case, it’s all good!
Another little discovery I made was due to having some excess coconut filling and no more space on the baking tray I used for the mounds. I felt a bit lazy to make more mounds after finishing the chocolate dipping of the first batch, so I just mixed the coconut mixture into the remaining melted chocolate and poured it into a mini loaf pan. The result was a coconut chocolate bar much like the coconut haystacks I used to love. Just goes to show, totally yummy things can come out of a lazy afterthought!
I had the same runny mixture problem. I solved it by putting the mixture in the fridge for about 1/2 hour or so until it firmed up enough to handle. It worked beautifully. I also double dip them in the chocolate: I freeze them then dip and put them back in the freezer for a few minutes and them dip them again! Awesome! I put one in my smoothie in the morning and have one as my after dinner treat that tells my system I’m done eating for the day. Thanks Mama for this recipe, it took a little playing with but all good things do!
I just tried these and I agree with you . I think 2/3 cup of oil is too much for the amount of coconut. I could not make balls with my hands, it would have been a mess. I started to use only 1/3 cup of the oil and now I wish that I had done that. I will next time I make these. Otherwise they were pretty good.
Wow! So delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Just made these this afternoon! Sooo good. I love dark chocolate, so these are perfect!
Glad you liked them!
How much oil in each step? 2/3 in first…1 tbl in second?
Yep… should have clarified that!
Katie, it was clear to me !
Recipe calls for 1/3 c coconut oil. Instruct say 2/3 c. Readers say 2/3 c too much. What is correct?
1/3
I just tried making these and the proportions are totally wrong. Adding 2/3 cup of oil to a tiny bag of coconut and you get a bit fat oily soup. Please review these proportions. I am having a very frustrating time trying to save this mess, albeit a tasty one.
How do you suggest melting the coconut oil? I would like to try these. I haven’t ever used coconut oil, but I look forward to it. Thanks for the article. I haven’t bought coconut oil, so I don’t have calories counts etc…so do you know the caloric count, fat etc.?
Coconut oil is liquid at about 72 degrees, so I just place the glass measuring cup on a warm surface (I use my top of my toaster oven when it’s on). You can Google calories for coconut oil, but the jar will have the info you need right on it.
I just made them and chilled the mix in the fridge first before shaping, as mine was soupy as well. They are amazingly delicious once you figure that out. I’ve been using coconut oil in cookies and know that it has to become firm again before shaping. Yummers!
Also, I suggest using parchment paper as mine got beat up trying to scrape them off the plate.
These clusters are divine with bittersweet chips.
Lisa – thanks for this added info. I’m in the middle of making some now and also put mine in the fridge to help harden them up so I can shape them. Great tip on the parchment paper, I’ll be using that.
I agree! It was a total mess. Too much oil. I ended up using .65 lbs of nut butter and lots of coconut. They were runny but we made it work.
I came back on here to see if anyone else had the same problem as me… yes, the proportions seem all wrong! WAY too much oil, however, like Kimberely, we adjusted, and then adjusted again!! And we made it work. But I put in an entire bag of coconut that was 16oz! Wellness Mama… whats the story?! (ps: the end result IS very tasty, but thank goodness I had the extra coconut on hand or I would have just thrown out the oily mess!)
I made these yummy treats twice now. They turned out fabulous! Put the mixture in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour. They rolled beautifully. Then I put the rolled balls in the freezer for about 1/2 hour. Cooled the chocolate a bit and them dipped them, put them back in the freezer, and they were perfect! I keep them in the freezer and when ever I get my craving for something sweet they are ready to bite into. I did add about 3 oz more coconut, added nuts and raisins too. Just my preference on trying something with added ingredients.
I also think there’s an error as far as the amount of coconut oil. I only used 1/3 cup coconut oil and found that it was plenty. Result is definitely delish!
The recipe calls for 1/3 cup coconut oil
It’s been changed … It used to call for 2/3 cup oil ….
Yeah, I wondered looking at it. The ingredients list says 1/3 but the recipe says 2/3.
I need help I did the recipe using the 1/3 and I read everyone’s comments before trying this recipe so mine came out not soupy at a all and I’ve added a bunch of extra almond butter and coconut oil and now it’s been in my fridge for 2 days cause I lost my motivation but I really want one!!! Lol so any way to save this mixture I’ve already started ? Also the bag of coconut igot was 8.8 ounces so I just eyed that when putting it in but I couldn’t be that off HELP please 🙂
Does anyone know the nutrition count for 1 serving?
I just made these. How awesome! I actually had some creamed coconut I added to help hold the whole batch together and cut down on oiliness of coconut oil. found creamed coconut at a Mennonite store. Also refrigerating the recipe before rolling into balls really helped hold everything together. Did not use freezer. Made similar treat for dogs using peanut butter and oats minus chocolate. Thanks for sharing Katie.