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Toasted Coconut Chocolate Bars. Buttery shortbread cookies layered with sweet, lightly toasted coconut in a maple caramel sauce. Each coconut bar is covered in dark chocolate and topped with sea salt. These simple bars are sweet, salty, nutty, extra chocolatey, and so DELICIOUS!
You know those Samoas Girl Scout cookies everyone loves? These are very similar but in the form of a bar.
My original idea for this recipe was more of a toasted coconut bar covered in chocolate with no cookie crust. But in testing, I realized I needed some kind of base for the coconut to sit on. That’s when I entertained the idea of adding a cookie layer.
It took a bit of testing, but these finally came out just right. They turned into something like Samoa cookie bars! The shortbread crust is salty and buttery, the coconut layer is perfectly sweet, and the chocolate holds them together while making them that much more delicious.
These are the details
Step 1: make the shortbread crust
This cookie is simple. I wanted to be sure it would hold nicely, so I used an egg to help bind everything.
Beat together butter with flour, maple syrup, one egg, and vanilla. The mix will seem crumbly, but once packed into a square pan and baked, it will bake up nicely.
Step 2: the coconut caramel
This layer is the most important. A mix of lightly toasted coconut, maple, cream, vanilla, and sea salt.
Start by boiling the maple syrup with coconut cream or heavy cream. You need to create a caramel sauce to bind the coconut together. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and sea salt. Then, stir in lightly toasted shredded coconut.
This mix should be sticky.
Step 3: layer the coconut
Next, spread the coconut caramel mixture over the shortbread cookies. Pack the caramel onto the bars tightly, and place the pan in the freezer. It’s important that the bars are almost frozen when cutting. The chilled bar will be easiest to cut.
Do not stress if the coconut is falling off as you cut into bars, this will happen. Simply press the coconut back together. It can be a little messy, but don’t stress about making each cut perfect.
When you have the bars cut, freeze them one more time. This last freeze will make them much easier to dip into the chocolate. I know it’s a little annoying to have to chill the bars twice, but the time in the freezer is needed.
Step 4: dip/dunk/drizzle in chocolate
Finally, the chocolate!
Melt your favorite bar of chocolate, typically I use 72% dark chocolate. Take each frozen bar and dip it through the melted chocolate, tossing to coat each bar fully. Let the chocolate set up for a few minutes, then top each bar with flaky sea salt.
The sea salt on top creates a wonderfully salty balance to the sweet coconut and chocolate. It’s delicious!
Make sure to store these bars in the fridge to prevent the chocolate from melting.
Looking for other winter dessert recipes? Here are my favorites:
Chocolate Dipped Sesame Oatmeal Bars
5 Ingredient Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Healthier Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
Healthy…ish Homemade Samoas Cookies
Tahini Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Salted Tahini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Toasted Coconut Chocolate Bars, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Toasted Coconut Chocolate Bars
Servings: 12 bars
Calories Per Serving: 523 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookie
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup (or use brown sugar)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Coconut Filling
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup coconut cream or heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- sea salt (optional)
- 4 cups lightly toasted shredded coconut
- 12 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, melted
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 inch square baking dish with parchment paper. 2. In a bowl, beat together the butter, flour, maple, egg, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. This mix may seem dry but should pack nicely. Press evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake 20 minutes until lightly golden. Let cool.3. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, combine the maple syrup and coconut cream/heavy cream. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 5-8 minutes or until thickened to a caramel-like sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla and a pinch of salt. Stir in the coconut. Spread the mixture over the shortbread cookie, packing it tightly in. Freeze until firm, 30 minutes. 4. Cut into 12 to 16 bars. If the coconut falls out of place, simply press the bar back together. Freeze for another 30 minutes.5. Cover/dip each bar in chocolate and sprinkle with salt (if desired). Freeze for 10 minutes to set the chocolate. Eat right away or store in the fridge.
If you love the girl’s scout Samoa cookies, this will be your new favorite recipe!! Absolutely delicious and they were a hit at my recipe dinner club! I was making for a large group, so I doubled the recipe (except for the 4 cups of coconut, which I felt covered a 9×12 pan easily). I tried both milk and dark chocolate, and everyone preferred the dark chocolate as the milk chocolate made it overly sweet. I used maple syrup and 1 whole egg. MAKE THESE!! You will not regret it!!
Hey Lindsey,
Happy Friday! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it and sharing your feedback! xT
I don’t understand all the ppl commenting about confusing instructions. It CLEARLY says 350 oven temperature, syrup and brown sugar are interchangeable, and 1 egg!
I haven’t tried these yet, but they look amazing.
Thanks so much Jill! I hope you love this recipe! xx
Hi! I’m just wondering if you can freeze these to use at a later time? Thanks so much for all your great recipes. My family thoroughly enjoys them!
Thanks so much for your kind message Chris! Sure, you could definitely freeze these, I would say for no more than 3 months. I hope you love this recipe! xT
Just a question. Did you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut? Making these tonight! They look amazing!
Hi Amy,
I like to use unsweetened coconut for this recipe. I hope they turn out well for you! xT
Hi there!
My husband bought the wrong cream could I use light cream instead of heavy cream in the recipe?
Thanks! Making these and can’t wait to taste them looks so good!!
Hi Sonia,
Yes, that should be okay for you to use! I hope you love this recipe! xT
Thanks for the tip! He also could only find sweetened coconut. Do I just put less maple syrup in the coconut “caramel” mixture? How much do I cut down on the maple syrup?
Thanks!! Love your recipes!!
I think you should be fine leaving everything, they shouldn’t be super sweet!
There was not enough of the Carmel sauce for the coconut, it was barely coated and fairly dry. They were pretty meh. Just do yourself a favor and order a box of Samoas from the Girl Scouts!
Hi Patty,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear you did not have enough caramel sauce. Please let me know how I can help! xx
Anything I can substitute for the egg? My son has an egg allergy.
Hi Emily,
I have never tested this, but you could certainly try using a flax egg! Let me know if you give the recipe a try! Xx
Delicious! I had to work with the recipe a bit (as others mentioned there was a bit of confusion for ingredients). I used maple syrup for the caramel and doubled the recipe for the caramel (a single caramel recipe didn’t cover the 4 cups of coconut to make it all sticky). When I make it again I’ll add the coconut to the caramel slowly to make sure it’s enough to cover the coconut (I added all the coconut at once and realized it wasn’t enough the first time around).
Hi Lyndsey,
Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and sharing what worked well for you! So glad to hear the bars were enjoyed:) xT
Is there any thing you could use other than the maple syrup?
Replying to myself, the maple syrup in the coconut filling, that’s where I’d like to use something else…
Hi Janice,
You can use 3/4 cup brown sugar with 4 tablespoons butter. I hope this helps! Let me know if you give this recipe a try! xT
How can brown sugar and maple syrup be interchangeable? One is a liquid and one is a solid, the texture will be totally different.
Hi Annie,
I tested the recipe with both and they both worked just fine:) Please let me know if I can help in any other way! xT
The reason it will work is because sugar melts and turns into liquid when you heat the sugar.
Due to discrepancies I have not made this recipe.
Recipe ingredients do not correlate with instructions.
There is maple syrup, not brown sugar in the crust ingredient list and 1 egg is listed in ingredients, but instructions call for egg yolk.
Hi there,
So sorry for any confusion here! You will want to use 1 whole egg. For the shortbread, you can use maple syrup or brown sugar, the recipe works with both. I hope this helps! xT
You show in your IG stories an egg yolk. Also say salt- no salt in the recipe. You also said you have never even tried a Samoa cookie?! But in 2020 you made another Samoa and said they are one of your favorites?!
3 stars because the directions do not match the recipe. The shortbread cookie calls for an egg and maple syrup, but in the directions it says an egg yolk & brown sugar…? There’s also no oven temperature listed. Else wise it turned out tasty.
Hi Dani,
Thanks for sharing your feedback and so sorry for any confusion! You will want to bake at 350F and then you will want to use 1 egg and either maple syrup or brown sugar will work. Please let me know if I can help in any other way! xx
Question, can I just melt chocolate and pour over top? Instead of dipping? Just seems easier 😁 I’m all about easy. Recipe sounds delicious!
Hi Kathy,
Totally, the bottom probably won’t be coated but if you are okay with that then go for it! I hope you love this recipe! xT
Oven temperature?
Hi Jacqueline,
You are going to bake at 350F. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
These looks SO yummy, Tieghan! I have a question. In the shortbread ingredients, no mention of brown sugar, and in the instructions, there is no mention of the maple syrup listed in the shortbread ingredients. Is it 1-2 Tbs of brown sugar, or 1-2 Tbs of maple syrup? I’m looking forward to trying these as I love almost all of your recipes!
Yes, I have the same question. Thank you!!!!
Hi Tami,
You can use brown sugar or maple syrup, both will work:)
Really tasty. I think maybe I did something wrong with my base as the dough was much wetter (I did use the name syrup and full egg… perhaps I should try the brown sugar next time). I also needed to bake the base a lot longer. I found the caramel was the perfect amount. Reminded me of smoothing out rice crispie squares when flattening the coconut mixture.
Hi Isabelle,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear that it turned out well for you! Interesting that your dough was so wet…how much flour did you use? Have a great Monday! xT
Mine turned out like giant coconut terds. I think there was way too much coconut vs caramel and so it did not make compact nice looking bars.
Hi Jennifer,
So sorry to hear this! Please let me know if I can help in anyway! Were you not able to press everything into the baking dish? xx
Also for clarification, is it an egg (ingredient list) or an egg yolk (instruction)?
Hi Jo,
You are going to use 1 egg for this recipe:) Please let me know if you give them a try! Xx
Shoot, I read this too late. I only used the yolk.
Thanks so much Lin!! You can actually use an equal amount of either one, both will work! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
Came here with same question, and I’m not seeing oven temp anywhere. Unless I’m missing it. Thoughts?
Oops – just saw the other comments. Questions answered 🙂
Hi Megan,
It’s 350F and listed in step 1:) I hope you love this recipe! xT