Lulu's Kitchen: Raspberry 'Bounty' Bars

Welcome to the always-tasty world of Lulu's Kitchen, our kids' cooking blog series starring 12-year-old Lulu, who's something of a wunderkind in the kitchen!

These pretty-in-pink berry and coconut treats are the perfect pick-me-up PLUS they're completely free of refined sugar. Kids can easily make them as they don't involve the oven and are perfect for sharing with friends. No wonder our resident sweet-tooth chef Lulu couldn’t wait to roll out these little beauties taken from Pete Evans’ Lunch Box cookbook. 

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Lulu tips: "I love these cute little bars, but they can take a bit of practice to get them all smooth and the same size."

"Instead of the super-dark chocolate that the recipe says to use ('cos some kids think the dark stuff is too bitter), I just got some regular chocolate buttons from the bulk food store and melted them instead. It still worked fine!"

INGREDIENTS

330g (4 cups) shredded coconut
270ml coconut milk
80g honey or 80ml maple syrup
200g frozen raspberries, thawed
200ml coconut oil, melted
250g dark (70-100% cacoa) chocolate, chopped (*see Note)

METHOD

1. Line a tray with baking paper.

2. Place the shredded coconut in a bowl of a food processor and blitz into crumbs. Add the coconut milk, honey or maple syrup, raspberries and coconut oil and whiz for 30 seconds to combine. 

3. Tear off a couple of 30cm x 15cm sheets of baking paper from your roll. Place one sheet of paper on a workbench, long side facing you. Working from the edge closest to you, spoon about 4 tablespoons of the mixture across the sheet horizontally, leaving a 1cm gap from the edge. Starting with the edge closest to you, begin to tightly wrap and roll all the way to the end of the paper to form a log. Smooth the outside of the log with your fingers to remove any air pockets. Gently lift and place on a flat tray, then repeat with the remaining mixture until it is all used up. Place the logs in the fridge to set for 1 hour.

4. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of just-simmering water. (Make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water or it will overheat.)

5. Remove the raspberry and coconut logs from the fridge and cut into roughly 5cm bars. Dip a dessertspoon into the fridge for 30 minutes or until the chocolate is set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.

*Note: If you can, make sure that the dark chocolate you use for this recipe is free of both sugar and dairy.

Recipe appears in Pete Evans' Lunch Box cookbook and you can grab a copy of the book for yourself here