With dark chocolate and chewy coconut in each delicious bite, this is absolutely the best homemade Mounds Bars recipe you’ll find. And they are so easy to make!
Copycat Mounds candy bars
Mounds bars used to be one of my all time favorite candy bars.
Today’s homemade version calls for just four ingredients and can hold its own against the classic, with the same beloved rich chocolate shell and sweet coconut filling.
Whip up a batch of these addictive coconut bars in under five minutes.
You will not regret it!
Readers also love this Coconut Ice Cream
Healthy vegan Mounds bar ingredients
Here’s everything you need to make the coconut chocolate bars at home.
Gather together shredded coconut and coconut oil, liquid sweetener, optional pure vanilla extract, and chocolate chips or broken up chocolate bars.
Unlike many other homemade Mounds bars recipes or Bounty bar recipes, this one calls for no corn syrup and no sweetened condensed milk.
Sweetener options that work well include pure maple syrup, honey, or raw agave. Or for sugar free Mounds bars, stevia will also work.
If you experiment with a granulated or powdered sweetener, be sure to report back.
The most important thing with these bars is to buy full fat, unsweetened shredded coconut or desiccated coconut. For best results and a better texture, do not use low fat coconut or sweetened coconut flakes.
Including the vanilla extract compliments the coconut flavor. It can easily be left out if you prefer, and the coconut bars will still be tasty.
I love the bold, rich flavor of the original dark chocolate Mounds bars. If you are a semi sweet or milk chocolate fan, feel free to use either of these (or even white chocolate) instead of the dark chocolate chips.
The easy coconut dessert recipe can be gluten free, dairy free, egg free, tree nut free, soy free, raw, paleo, and vegan.
Almond Joy bars recipe
Turning this into an Almond Joy bar recipe is incredibly easy.
Press a raw or roasted whole almond into the top of each coconut patty before coating them in the melted chocolate.
Alternatively, you can add the almonds to the top after covering in chocolate.
I sometimes also like to add a few drops of pure almond extract to heighten the almond flavor. Because the extract is highly concentrated, you only need a few drops.
Also make this Almond Flour Banana Bread
Homemade Mounds bars recipe video
Watch the step by step recipe video – above
How to make chocolate covered coconut bars
Three ingredient Mounds bars are coated in melted chocolate, for a fun and easy no bake homemade candy bar that all coconut lovers will enjoy.
To make the recipe, start by adding start by gathering all of your ingredients and lining a plate with parchment paper or wax paper.
Add the shredded coconut, sweetener, and softened coconut oil to a blender or food processor. If using vanilla extract, include this ingredient as well.
Blend or process the mixture fully. You will know it is done when the coconut dough is sticky and does not fall apart when pressed together.
Using your hands or a cookie scoop, smush the mixture into Mounds bar shapes. You can make traditional sized candies, mini Mounds bars, or even giant Mounds!
Place the raw coconut patties on the prepared plate, and chill in the refrigerator or freezer until hard and cold.
Carefully melt the chocolate chips or bars, either in the microwave or using the double boiler method.
(For more on how to melt chocolate, see this Chocolate Covered Strawberries recipe.)
If you want a smoother chocolate sauce that more evenly coats the patties, stir the optional oil into the melted chocolate.
Dip cold coconut mounds in the chocolate coating. Place them back on the parchment lined plate, then chill in the refrigerator or freezer to set the chocolate shell.
So the unwrapped candies maintain their shape and texture, it is best to keep leftovers cold in the fridge or freezer.
Sugar free keto Mounds bars
To make a keto version, replace the liquid sweetener with two tablespoons of water.
Increase the coconut oil to four tablespoons, and add plain or vanilla stevia drops to taste. Look on the jar of your specific brand of drops for the amount of drops equal to three tablespoons of sugar.
Use chocolate chips with no sugar, or make your own Sugar Free Chocolate Chips.
Or you can make your own raw chocolate sauce by combining a fourth cup each of cacao powder (or cocoa powder), melted coconut oil, and raw agave or honey.
As for nutrition facts, each keto and low carb candy bar will have just 2.2 grams of carbohydrates and 1.2 grams of net carbs total.
Add the bars to the top of a Keto Cheesecake
Healthy candy bar serving suggestions
Any time is a great time to enjoy these homemade Mounds bars.
Serve them on a cookie tray for dessert at your next party. Or grab one as a snack from the fridge whenever a chocolate craving strikes.
They are equally welcome at Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Or Easter.
Cut the no bake chocolate coconut bars into pieces, and use them to decorate coconut cupcakes or Vegan Chocolate Cake or as a topping for ice cream.
The recipe was adapted from my 3 ingredient Coconut Balls.
Mounds Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup or honey or agave (a keto option is included above)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 3 oz chocolate chips (or see substitution above)
- optional 1 tsp oil
Instructions
- To make homemade Mounds bars, start by blending the first three ingredients and optional vanilla in a blender or food processor (not by hand, or they fall apart) until sticky and no longer crumbly. Smush into Mounds bar shapes. Place on a parchment or wax-lined plate, and chill in the refrigerator or freezer until hard. Carefully melt the chocolate, then stir in the optional oil if you want a smoother coating. Dip cold coconut mounds in chocolate. Chill to set, and store leftovers in the fridge or freezer so they maintain their shape.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Copycat Dessert Recipes
i’ve never actually had a mounds bar, but these look SO delicious. And i’m sure they’re wayy better tasting than mounds 😉
Oh yum, these look fantastic Katie! My dad would love this recipe! 🙂
There is no way in heck these would last a week…not in this house, lol. I’m going to have to try these right after I try the butterfinger bars I finally remembered to buy the molasses for.
Yep, right in the path of Sandy here in VA. wasn’t much though. My old neighbors in my hometown of Brooklyn tell me otherwise. Half of NYC are my friends and family (not literally). today was a crazy back and forth of phone calls and ” ARE YOU OK??!!”
in other news, these look crazy good. And if I didn’t finish my cocoa powder, I’d try ’em too. bummer.
yummmm!! i’ve always LOVED mounds! can’t wait to try this!
katie, i have a question about stevia. i have a little bottle of powdered stevia (not packets). is there any rule regarding how to substitute it in recipes for liquid stevia? thanks so much! 🙂 lisa
Yummm! These look easy and good, like most of your recipes. I’m putting together a bunch or tasty recipes to send to my BF while he’s in Americorps and these just made the list. Thanks!
Regarding your question: His team might be sent out there for clean up help/disaster relief, and my mom’s in southern CT, but she seems to have maintained her power and grace as usual.
Those sounds so good. I had never heard of mounds before this month. In Canada they have two chocolate bars similar to mounds: Coconut (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L_xtQKmEeWU/TBVMP6ViI0I/AAAAAAAAB1g/Q0DvKVM0aIk/s320/DSCF1125.JPG) and Bounty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_(chocolate_bar)). 😀
YUM! This is exactly what I need, coming out of Sandy (thank gd, mostly intact). Thanks for sharing!
We techinically aren’t affected by the hurricane, because we live in the midwest, but one of our power lines had a sympathy pain and came down last night(as well as the power turning off for a few hours..)
I actually don’t like Mounds, because I don’t like coconut, but my mom LOVES them, so maybe I will have to make some just for her. 🙂
For some of you who never heard of mounds, you are in for a treat. They were always one of my favorites growing up – actually almond joys were my favorite, which was essentially a mounds with almonds right under the top coating of chocolate 🙂
CCK, do you see any problem just popping some almonds on the top of the filling before pouring on the chocolate to get some healthy almond joys?
We got hit by the hurricane here in Rochester, NY but it wasn’t nearly as bad as they said it was going to be. Thankfully, we didn’t have any big trees near us so damage to our house or cars like many others in the area. These look yummy! Love mounds bars.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A healthy version of my favorite candy bar! Thanks Katie!!
Cool! I recently made a healthy vegan version of Almond joys! Check them out on my blog http://www.chowvida.com/2012/04/almondjoys-vegan-gluten-free/
Gonna try your mounds recipe, too! 🙂
Making me hungry once again… 😉
Just made these – so good! I used sweetened coconut (my grocery store doesn’t sell unsweetened) and it was just fine. The sweetened coconut +agave made it pretty sweet, like as sweet as a real Mounds bar. I might use a little less agave next time, but it tasting exactly like a real Mounds was not the worst thing that ever happened to me : D
Also, I don’t have a food processor. I tried using a few pulses on my blender, but wasn’t having any luck, so I just put the mix in a bowl and mixed it with my hands. I also don’t have muffin tins of any size, so I used ice cube trays.
They’re so good! Just in time for Halloween.
Good to know! I am also going to make with sweetened because its all my grocery store carries. Next time I am at WF I’ll pick up a back of unsweetened. I’ll take your advice and use less agave.
Katie these look amazing! Just a quick question though, about how many servings is this recipe, I can’t see it anywhere and would like to know before I try it out so that I get the size right.
I live in Australia, but my brother is in NYC at the moment, only about 4 blocks from where that transformer exploded on 14th St! So we’ve all been a bit worried, but him and his friends are all okay, just without power.