Prepare to be blown away by how absolutely scrumptious these “Bounty” chocolate coconut sandwich cookies are. Crumbly decadent chocolate cookies meet flavour-charged coconut filling in this gluten, dairy and refined sugar free treat, which features coconut in three different forms!
I don’t like recipes. Which is ironic, considering that I have a food blog, and that at the end of this post, you’ll find a recipe (for super duper delicious “Bounty” sandwich cookies… just so you know) that I’ve written. But it’s true, nonetheless. It’s almost like very time I’m reading (and considering following) a recipe, there’s this voice at the back of my head muttering: “Just who do you think you are, telling me what to do. Bah, noooo thank you.” It doesn’t help that almost every time I have followed a recipe, something went spectacularly wrong.
Instead, I treat recipes like ideas. Something along these lines:
“Ooh, triple chocolate chip cookies with salted caramel? Okay, that sounds amazing. I’m making these right now. But I’ll ignore everything the author of the recipe, probably a much more experienced person than myself, has written. I’ll just throw everything together without measuring anything and hope for the best.”
In the past, when such an… expertly and precisely carried out baking experiment succeeded, I’d then spend the next few days berating myself for not writing down the measurements. Or, in fact, the ingredients. Oops. Starting The Loopy Whisk has helped in that regard, somewhat. I still don’t like recipes, though.
However, you will definitely 100% like the recipe for these kick-ass “Bounty” chocolate coconut sandwich cookies, which just so happen to be gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free. Unless recipes are not your thing (hello, kindred spirit), in which case you should totally ignore the instructions and follow your baking gut instinct, but still use this post as inspiration. Because you have not lived until you’ve made (and eaten way too many) “Bounty” sandwich cookies. Melodramatic, but true.
Let me start by saying that no matter how good you think these sandwich cookies are, if you multiply that by about a hundred, you’ll still only be about halfway to how oh-my-gosh-amazing they really are. The cookies themselves are crumbly, just the right amount of sweet, and so so so chocolatey. The chocolate-that-is-not-chocolate gives them a certain weight, which in tastebud-speak means extra decadence. You might be scratching your head right now thinking: “What is chocolate-that-is-not-chocolate?” It’s the thing to use if you want to bake something ultra chocolatey, but have no chocolate on hand, or want to make your baking dairy and refined sugar free.
Therefore, allow me to introduce: cocoa powder paste. It’s pretty much what it says it is: cocoa powder meets hot water to make this luscious, shiny dark brown mess, that might look delicious, but is at that point too bitter for words. But once you mix it into the cookie batter – oh, you’re in for a treat.
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The actual filling came about some time before these “Bounty” sandwich cookies were dreamt up. It’s what happens when you’re not-hungry for something super coconut-y with such concentrated flavour that a small bite feels like eating a whole coconut cake. Well, not really the whole cake, just the frosting (because let’s face it, in a coconut cake, that’s what you really want to eat).
The coconut filling is dense and rich and sweet and chock-full of coconut goodness – in three forms! There’s the coconut cream which forms the “body” of the filling and ensures that the coconut flavour blows your mind in every single bite. Then, there’s the dessicated coconut for the extra texture and the bonus coconut oomph. Finally, we have the coconut oil, responsible for the subtle coconut undertones that bring the filling together, as well as for keeping the filling quite dense. Why do we want the filling to be dense? Because then we can stuff more of it between the two cookies. Duh. We’re going all the way here.
After sandwiching a ridiculous amount of filling between two cookies, we’ll dip them into melted chocolate (which you can totally make yourself, from scratch, for extra bragging rights… or just melt some sugar-free chocolate) and then sprinkle on some extra dessicated coconut. Why? Because it makes them look pretty.
So there you have it – further proof that gluten free, dairy free and/or refined sugar free baking is by no means tasteless or a strange-looking mess. Instead, it’s crumbly decadent cookies, flavour-charged filling, and the unreasonable rate of disappearance of these “Bounty” sandwich cookies.
I suppose that starting a post with “I don’t like recipes.” is not very comforting to anyone coming here for… well, recipes. So let me just say: recipes are awesome. (Hmmm.) Especially those for gluten, dairy and refined sugar free “Bounty” chocolate coconut sandwich cookies. Which you should totally make. Following my recipe. Or not. Just make them.
"BOUNTY" CHOCOLATE COCONUT SANDWICH COOKIES
Ingredients
For cookies:
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup boiling hot water
- 175 g coconut oil, softened, not melted
- 200 g clear honey
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 400 g plain gluten free flour blend (I've used a simple store-bought blend of rice, potato and maize flour with no added xanthan gum)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
For coconut filling:
- 300 g coconut cream (Note 1)
- 100 g dessicated coconut
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 100 g clear honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
For assembling:
- 50 g dessicated coconut
- melted chocolate (Note 2)
Instructions
For cookies:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 ºF (175 ºC) and line a baking tray/sheet with baking/greaseproof paper.
- Mix together cocoa powder and hot water until a smooth paste forms. Set aside to cool.
- Cream together softened coconut oil and honey.
- Add the egg and egg yolk, mix thoroughly.
- Add the cooled cocoa powder paste and mix until evenly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together gluten free flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
- Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients, and mix well until a smooth cookie dough comes together. The dough will appear a bit oily – it's supposed to be like that!
- Shape individual portions of cookie dough, roughly 2 tbsp in amount, into balls.
- Place the cookie dough balls onto the baking tray, leaving about 1/2 inch (about 1.5 cm) between them. Flatten them (very slightly).
- Bake in the pre-heated oven at 350 º F (175ºC) for about 15 minutes.
- Leave the baked cookies to cool before sandwich cookie assembly.
For homemade Nutella filling:
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thorougly.
- The coconut filling will be dense, and you will be able to shape it using your hands (or a spoon).
For assembly:
- Shape the coconut filling into a ball roughly the size of the cookie balls before baking.
- Sandwich the coconut filling between the two cookies, and repeat until no cookies and/or filling remains.
- Dip half of each sandwich cookie into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip down.
- Dip the chocolate-covered half into the dessicated coconut.
- Let the chocolate to set, and enjoy!
- The sandwich cookies keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about a week (they never last that long, though).
Notes
Can’t get enough of sandwich cookies? Check out my…
… “Nutella” Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies!
