I was thinking about making the following recipe, only I have no interest in the “healthy” part. I suspect that the person who wrote it adapted it form a standard recipe and somehow thinks that maple syrup is healthier than corn syrup. The recipe reminds me strongly of a Bob’s Red Mill macaroon recipe I’ve seen recently and wonder if this one is derived from that. Either way, I don’t want the maple flavor in the candy and was going to substitute corn syrup. I think it would be a 1:1 substitution but I’m looking for verification. What do you think?
Healthy Strawberry Chocolate Bars
Makes 8 – 10
3 ½ tbsp freeze-dried strawberries + extra for topping
1 ½ cups dessicated coconut
150g coconut cream
2 tbsp coconut oil (liquid)
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate, melted
Place 3 ½ tbsp freeze-dried strawberries into a food processor or use a mortar and pestle and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the coconut, maple syrup and coconut cream. Add the coconut oil, vanilla extract and freeze-dried strawberry powder and mix well until sticky.
Shape the mixture into 8-10 bars and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Transfer to the fridge until stiff. Once stiff, gently submerge each bar in the dark chocolate and return to the parchment paper. Drizzle with some remaining dark chocolate and sprinkle some extra freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
Transfer to the fridge for the chocolate to set, then enjoy!
(FWIW, I’m going to substitute banana for the strawberry, make bite-sized nuggets, and coat with tempered chocolate.)
