The kiddos did not get a single Almond Joy in their Halloween haul this year and we were all lamenting it. I figured it must be super easy to make them at home and indeed there were tons of recipes online. I was drawn to the one at https://theconscientiouseater.com/homemade-almond-joys/ because of its simplicity and use of unprocessed ingredients that I always have on hand. It has many similarities to my Vegan Mint Meltaway recipe, which is a definite point in its favor. I’m under no illusion that maple syrup is anything but a form of sugar, but I do like knowing exactly what is in my food and homemade things do tend to be a bit less sweet, in my experience.
The texture of these is not quite as luscious and sticky as a traditional Almond Joy, but it’s a satisfying candy to eat and doesn’t leave me feeling a bit sick like a regular Almond Joy will. And the family’s craving for the candy will be satisfied by these.
INGREDIENTS
186g shredded, unsweetened coconut
157g coconut oil (solid)
5 TBSP maple syrup
20-50 almonds
Coating:
8 oz dark chocolate (I use 72% chocolate) broken into pieces
1 tsp coconut oil
DIRECTIONS
- Put coconut, coconut oil and maple syrup in a food process and process until well-blended and the coconut is quite fine. Scrape a few times. Total processing time is 3-5 minutes depending on how fine your coconut started out
- Form the mixture into about 20 small rectangles and put them on a lined baking tray (they would probably fit on a quarter sheet pan). Make a depression lengthwise in each one and put a raw almond in the trough. Feel free to size your candies how you’d like. Next time I’ll make them half the size to get proportionally more almond in each one and to make bite-sized morsels
- Freeze the rectangles for at least 15 minutes or until quite solid (you don’t want them to fall apart in the warm chocolate)
- While the rectangles are cooling, melt the chocolate in the microwave. I like 50% power for 2 minutes then stir and 30 second to 1 minute further bursts at 50% power. You could also use a double boiler. When the chocolate is melted, stir in the coconut oil, which helps add snap and shine
- I like to prepare an additional baking tray with ice cubes on it. Remove the first tray from the freezer and place on the tray of ice
- Take a rectangle and coat with melted chocolate either by dipping or poking with a fork and submerging. You just don’t want your almond to fall out
- Place the enrobed candy back on the cold baking tray
- When you’re all done, freeze for an additional 15 minutes or so then store in the fridge or freezer
Comments