Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups

I have been pretty pleased overall with my candy creations this week. Depending on how the children like them, I'd say I could do this every year. It's rather nice to know exactly what is in the treats in our Easter baskets.

On the third day of candy making, I made some Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups. These are a coconut lover's dream -- just like a peanut butter cup, but with coconut and coconut oil and butter and... mmmmm.

The key to these little babies is creating a thin layer of chocolate on the top, bottom and sides, because you want to save room in the middle for the coconut cream. I can't guarantee I did that on each one, because we are talking homemade and, thus, less quality control, but I think I managed o.k. Time will tell.

I really sort of made this recipe up, but it's not rocket science -- sugar, coconut, fat, chocolate. I used half coconut oil and half butter for the fat, but you could probably use all coconut oil and dark chocolate for a (mostly) dairy-free treat (some dark chocolates have a small bit of milk in them). I made 12 dark chocolate coconut cream cups and 12 milk chocolate coconut cream cups, for a little variety.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups

makes 24

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

2 T. powdered sugar

2 T. melted coconut oil

2 T. melted butter

1/4 t. coconut extract

2-3 cups melted chocolate (it's hard to tell how much chocolate you have when you are using melts)

candy sprinkles (completely optional)
paper or foil mini muffin cup liners

Fill a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners.

Mix together melted oil and butter with coconut, sugar, and extract, until combined. Cool until it becomes creamy and semi-sold (you can pick up a bit with your fingers and mold it).

Melt about one quarter of your chocolate. I found it easiest to use Wilton disposable bags, using the microwave on medium power.

Fill the bottoms of the paper cups with a small bit of chocolate. I found the best method to be squeezing a ring around the bottom and then tapping the pan until it filled in, so that you (hopefully) have a thinner layer on the bottom in the center (so you can pack in more coconut cream!). Chill until almost solid.

Take a scant teaspoon of coconut mixture and mold into a sort of ball shape. Place on top of chocolate and flatten a little.

Melt another quarter of the chocolate. Squeeze (or spoon) on top of coconut mixture and tap pan until it flows over the coconut, using a small spatula or infant spoon if necessary to spread over coconut completely. Sprinkle on a few candy sprinkles if desired. Chill until solid, and bag in cellophane.

Just a little quality control check (I can't give my children candy I don't know is good)

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