22/11/2021

Chocolate Coconut Crunch

Name: Chocolate Coconut Crunch
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 160 g butter; 170 g self-raising flour; 25 g cocoa powder; 1 pinch salt; 100 g desiccated coconut; 75 g light brown soft sugar; 40 g dark chocolate (finely chopped); 120 g dark chocolate (broken into pieces); 25 g butter (diced); desiccated coconut (for sprinkling)

Chocolate Coconut Crunch is an easy, egg-free bake with a biscuity chocolate-coconut base and rich, melted chocolate topping.

With simple ingredients, it can be put together in ten to fifteen minutes. Just melt some butter then stir in flour, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, sugar and chocolate pieces.

Bake for twenty-five minutes, leave to cool and spread over chocolate melted with butter.

Finished with a sprinkle of coconut, Chocolate Coconut Crunch is an effortless, sweet treat.

Jump to Recipe

I’m afraid I can’t take full credit for this lovely, easy bake.

I came across a version of it in the second Farmhouse Kitchen cookery book: a tie-in from the 1970s TV series of the same name.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

The book was published in 1978 when I was at what we’d now call primary school.

Unless it was during one of the periods where I was eligible for free school meals, I’d come home for lunch. After eating my sandwich, Farmhouse Kitchen was one of the programmes I’d watch with Mum before walking back to school.

I love cookery books from that period. I have a quite a collection now, including the three Farmhouse Kitchen books. They’re full of unfussy dishes. Perfect when you want something simple but good.

The recipe that inspired my Chocolate Coconut Crunch was ‘Chocolate Coconut Slab’.

I first made it almost a year ago when looking for an easy, chocolatey recipe.

I didn’t know quite what to expect from the title though. Was this ‘slab’ a cake or brownie?

It was only once I’d begun cooking that I was surprised to find it had no eggs. Then, once the bake was done and cooled, I realised that it was similar to a dessert very familiar to eaters of school dinners in the 1970s and 80s.

Sometimes called ‘chocolate concrete’ this was a very hard chocolate biscuit. We’d have it for dessert, and always with pink custard at my school. Trying to break into it with your spoon, shards would often go shooting across the table!

However, my Chocolate Coconut Crunch is crispy rather than tooth-crackingly hard.

With a few extra bells and whistles, including dark chocolate inside and melted chocolate topping, I think it’s positively grown-up.

CHOCOLATE COCONUT CRUNCH

Chocolate Coconut Crunch really couldn’t be easier to make.

You’ll find a detailed recipe card here: Jump to Recipe

But here’s a quick run-through.

Simply melt some butter in a saucepan then stir in sifted self-raising flour, a pinch of salt, and cocoa powder.

Also in there are desiccated coconut, sugar, and finely chopped dark chocolate.

Once you’ve spread the mixture into a lined 20-centimetre square baking tin, it’s ready to bake.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to get firm. You’ll know when it’s ready as the bake will be slightly pulling away from the sides of the tin.

At this stage, there will still be a little bounce if you press the top. But, left until completely cold, it becomes appetizingly crunchy and crispy.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

One thing the chocolate ‘concrete’ of my schooldays definitely didn’t have, besides coconut, was a smooth, rich chocolatey topping.

To get this lovely glossy confection, all you do is melt dark chocolate with a little butter.

I find the easiest way to do this in a microwave. Heat on high in bursts of thirty seconds, stirring between each burst.

Then just spread it over the completely cold Chocolate Coconut Crunch.

Finally, sprinkle over more desiccated coconut and put somewhere cool until the topping is set.

If the room is at all warm, then this is best done in the fridge.

SERVING & STORING

When the topping is chilled and set, transfer the Chocolate Coconut Crunch to a board.

Using a sharp knife, you’ll need to press down firmly to cut through the crispy biscuit base.

To give everyone a generous portion, I cut it into nine.

But go for twelve if you like, or even smaller squares.

I must confess that Chocolate Coconut Crunch is never around for more than three days in our greedy household.

But I see no reason why, stored in an airtight container, it shouldn’t keep at least five days.

A rich, biscuity chocolate treat, I love Chocolate Coconut Crunch as an easy dessert or sweet snack with a cuppa.

Cut into elegant little squares, I think it would make lovely petits fours to go with coffee and/or brandy too.

HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?