These cute little coconut fudge bars are delicious coconut flavoured fudge bites on a chocolate cookie base with an optional kick of peppermint extract if you like it (and those 3 flavours combined are truly something special).
It’s easy to make and there is no candy thermometer required!
The texture of these treats lands somewhere between coconut ice (or a bounty bar) and dense fudge. And it tastes divine. A dense, chewy treat loaded coconut flavor, enrobed in chocolate – what could be better.
You’ll love these coconut balls too.
This recipe was first published here on December 8th, 2020 and has been updated with more informative steps.
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Ingredients & substitutions
Chewy coconut and fudge all wrapped in chocolate, these bites don’t need too many ingredients – just 7-8 all up.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Sweetened condensed milk (5): Many easy fudge recipes begin with this. A thick, sweet milk syrup, it adds dairy and sugar all in one hit.
- White chocolate (2): You’ll need 360g and it’s the ingredient that sets this fudge. You’ll get 30 pieces of fudge out of this recipe, so the chocolate goes a long way. It’s best to use chocolate bars or specialised chocolate drops made for melting. Chocolate chips are designed to hold their shape so melting them means overheating the chocolate which can affect how the fudge sets.
- Peppermint & coconut extracts (6 & 7): The peppermint extract is optional but I promise it’s such a great flavour with both coconut and chocolate. Make sure to use extract and not essence, the first being the real deal, while essence is a synthetic flavouring. If you like, you can use vanilla extract in place of the peppermint
- Desiccated coconut (3): This is a much finer and drier version of shredded coconut. Not flour or powder though.
- Chocolate cookies / biscuits (1): I use Arnotts choc ripple – just a good crunchy chocolate cookie. You can use oreo but you won’t need as much butter to bind the crumbs.
- Butter (4): this is used mostly in the crumb base to bind it together and just a little in the fudge mixture for a touch of flavour.
- Chocolate (note shown): Coating the coconut fudge in chocolate (milk chocolate here with a drizzle of dark chocolate) gives them a bit of a Bounty flavour so it’s like eating bounty fudge.
How to make coconut fudge
Ready to find out how simple it is to make these coconut fudge bites? Let’s go.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Start by processing the biscuits to crumbs, then add melted chocolate and press them into the base of a tin.
- Heat condensed milk, chocolate and butter in a pan, stirring constantly until it’s all melted. Add the extract/s and desiccated coconut then pour it over the base.
- At this point it needs to set overnight or for at least 6-8 hours.
- Cut it into 32 pieces, then coat them in melted chocolate. Let that set for another hour or two then they’re ready to eat or gift.
I love fudge recipes and there are so many on this site to choose from. Some of my favourites for gifting are this easy dark chocolate fudge, easy lemon fudge and the reader favourite salted caramel fudge.
Tips and tricks
- There’s no need to cook the mixture (no need to simmer or boil) – the white chocolate will set it so just melt it all together.
- To cut it into 32 pieces, first cut it into 4 long pieces. Turn them and cut each of those in half, then each piece into 4.
- For coating, it’s easiest to have more chocolate than you actually need to use. This is so there is always a deep pool of chocolate to coat the pieces in, as opposed to scraping the bottom of the bowl when you get to the end.
- Also on coating, a smaller bowl is better than really large one as the pool of chocolate will be deeper.
Storage
This fudge keeps well 10-12 days or more stored in the fridge in an airtight container. You can store it in the pantry so long as it’s cool but it won’t keep quite as long. You can eat it cold or at room temperature too. You can store it in the freezer as well. It won’t freeze solid, meaning you shouldn’t keep it any longer than a month in the freezer. It can also be eaten straight from the freezer.
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Ingredients
CHOCOLATE COOKIE BASE
- 250 g unfilled chocolate cookies (~8¾oz)
- 100 g unsalted butter , melted (3½oz)
THE FUDGE
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g / 14oz)
- 360 g white chocolate , chopped (don’t use choc chips), (~12¾oz)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (notes 1)
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract optional
- 130 g desiccated coconut 1 ½ cups
TO FINISH
- 300 g milk chocolate (10½oz) (notes)
- 50 g dark chocolate (~1¾oz)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Spatula
- Heavy based medium saucepan
Instructions
- Line an 8 inch square tin with baking paper.
- Crush the cookies to crumbs using a blender or food processor (or place the cookies in a ziplock back and crush them using a rolling pin)
- Add the melted butter and mix well.
- Press firmly into the base of the prepared pan and place in the fridge.
- Place the condensed milk, chocolate and butter in a medium heavy based saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth and glossy.
- Add the desiccated coconut, peppermint (if using) and coconut extracts and stir through.
- Pour over the cookie base then chill overnight to firm up.
- Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well between each until smooth.
- Take the set slice out of the tin and cut into 32 bars (cut into quarters, then each of those into 8).
- Lay a sheet of baking paper over a large baking, then sit a wire rack on top.
- Drop one of the bites into the melted chocolate. Use two forks to move the fudge around and coat completely. Transfer to the wire rack to drip. If you like, drizzle some dark chocolate over the top of each bar and allow to set again.
- Once all the bars are coated, line the base of a container with baking paper. Carefully transfer the bars from the wire rack to the container. (Don’t let them set on the rack, otherwise they’ll stick to it. Place the container in the fridge for the bars to set (couple of hours)
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- It’s much easier to coat the bars by melting more chocolate than actually required. None of it needs to be wasted though. Pour the excess chocolate into a zip lock bag, then lay it out flat in the fridge so that it sets in a thin-ish layer. That way you can break off pieces when you need to and you can re-melt it for your next chocolate covered recipe.
- This recipe, while incredibly easy to make, requires setting time overnight, so plan ahead.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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10 Comments on “Coconut Fudge Bars”
Hi Marie, I really want to make this but do you know the gram weight of dessicated coconut. I have looked at online conversions but they vastly vary. Thanks.
Hello Jayne. The 1 1/2 cups required for the recipe would be 130g.
Why can’t you use chocolate buttons?
Hi Lorelle. It really depends on the if they’re the melting variety or not. Many brands of chocolate chips are made to hold their shape and it means they need to overheat before they melt properly and this then affects the way they re-set. If you’re using a really good quality chocolate or melting buttons, they’ll be fine.
This is the best fudge I have ever had! Thanks SSM
So happy you love it
You make the best looking confections and delicious as well. Also I love that cute spatula!!!
Thanks Trang. I need to soothe my sweet tooth ?
Will be making this soon as it sounds scrumptious! I have two questions first, though. What size can of sweetened condensed milk? Our standard size is 14 ounces. Then, what is desiccated coconut? Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I can’t wait to get answers so I can get started!!
Oh excellent Debbie. Please tell me what you think of it. A 14 ounce can is the correct size for the condensed milk. Desiccated coconut is very finely shredded coconut that is also very dry. I found the link below which might be helpful but I’d love if you could let me know the name of the correct one so that I can update my recipe. Thanks Debbie https://www.chowhound.com/post/desiccated-coconut-dried-shredded-coconut-1015510?page=2