Homemade healthy Bounty bars recipe: light and no bake dessert

Time:        prep. 10 mins
                  cool. appr. 90 mins
Difficulty: easy
Yields:      for 8 bounty bars
Cost:         low

When the thermometer columns are steady at 35 degrees, cooking takes on a kind of painful feel. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing for appetite, which seems to suffer no decline!

For dinners and lunches, refreshing salads with grains, potatoes or legumes, or combinations with hearty sauces and vegetables, can be good alternatives; but industrial desserts threaten our resistance to temptations, especially when the desire to turn on the oven is approaching to the zero, because of the excessive heat.
And we regret not being able to offer our loved ones healthy and light snacks; and if you suffer the same situation, this recipe of homemade healthy bounty bars is just for you.

Before talking about the ingredients, a request that comes from the heart: these homemade healthy bounty bars are really fabulous, but please buy only chocolate and coconut from certified fair-trade plantations; like all tropical foods (including our daily coffee) these too can hide human dramas, such as underpaid and mistreated local workers; as it happens also in some rich countries to refugee agricultural workers (to learn more read this article).
So for a sustainable and ethical consumption, it should be used the double integrated action of moderation and conscious purchase.
Moderation will return you useful in limiting the introduction of calories: but no, it has nothing to do with the high content of saturated fats present in coconut; which, unlike other saturated fats of animal origin, belong to the category of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA); different and therefore definable as healthier than other triglycerides because they are oxidized more quickly by the liver and are less obesogenic (1); as well as useful in not creating inflammation in the body, and even serve to improve the immune system: in contrast to the deleterious effects caused by long-chain saturated fatty acids (2), renowned as the cause of disturbances in glucose homeostasis (the balance in the supply of glucose to nerve tissues in the fasting state) and insulin activity.

As I said it’s hot and humid, so I don’t want to hold you back with any more details: let’s get right to the facts.

Ingredients for 8 homemade healthy bounty bars

100 g of greek yogurt, or ricotta cheese (homemade yogurt is also fine: read here to get how to strain it)
50 g coconut flour
4 hazelnuts or 2 walnuts divided into 8 parts
2 tablespoons of grape molasses (or maple syrup or brown sugar etc)
75 g of 85% dark chocolate
1 tablespoon of milk (cow’s or vegetable) to thin the chocolate

Directions

It’s a quick recipe and the result is certain, easily veganizable by replacing the yogurt with a vegetable one (the almond yogurt for example is incredibly delicious), and achievable without any specific tool: below is the video of my “homemade” process.

First, work the yogurt with the coconut and syrup using a fork. You may need to add more yogurt or coconut flour as needed to make a more kneadable dough: don’t worry!
After that, form the bars by placing a quarter of a walnut in the center if you want (for extra flavor and omega-3). Place the bounty bars on a piece of baking paper and let them firm up in the freezer for about thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
Take the bars out of the freezer and slide them one by one into the chocolate, then again place them on the baking paper; this time let the bounty firm up for about 1 hour or more, after cooling the hot chocolate for a few minutes on a wire rack, or baking paper.
That is all!
Homemade healthy bounty bars can be kept in freezer for about 1 month: I know it’s almost impossible, but it was my duty to inform you…. and thaw them out 10 minutes before serving!

Enjoy your snacks and good revolution to all

Bibliography
1) Michelle SW. Xiang, Jian K. Tan, Laurence Macia, Chapter 11 – Fatty Acids, Gut Bacteria, and Immune Cell Function, The Molecular Nutrition of Fats, Academic Press, 2019, Pages 151-164,
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811297-7.00011-1.
2) Montgomery MK, Osborne B, Brown SH, et al. Contrasting metabolic effects of medium- versus long-chain fatty acids in skeletal muscle. J Lipid Res. 2013;54(12):3322-3333. doi:10.1194/jlr.M040451

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• Original salty Vegan Cheesecake with black beans, avocado and cucumbers (very light and pleasant)
• What is TAHINI: a super food that you can make at home