Ever eaten a coconut rough bar? they’re so delicious- crunchy toasted coconut and chocolate is a match made in heaven but these paleo chocolate coconut slice are a more whole food based alternative. Made with just 7 ingredients and high in wholesome fats.
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As a kid coconut rough bars were one of my favs as was basically anything with coconut and chocolate. Theres just something about the toasted coconut and chocolate combination, the crunch with the smooth textures and the smell gets me every time.
I don’t even know if they make them anymore? but either way these are my new favourite toasted coconut and chocolate snack. All the joy of a coconut rough but transformed into a high fat, paleo-friendly snack bar filled with some of my fav things- coconut, tahini, cacao butter and cacao!
Seriously delicious sounding, right?
Ingredient list
- Cacao butter or ghee/butter. Personally I love the dairy-free option of cacao butter for this recipe, but I have tried with all 3 and they are all great. Cacao butter will give you a firmer (more shelf stable) slice, and really lets the coconut and chocolate flavours shine.
- Hulled tahini– tahini, or sesame paste, in one of my favourite ingredients in the pantry. I always used hulled tahini as its is milder and sweeter. Tahini means this paleo chocolate coconut slice is NUT FREE and LUNCH BOX
- Maple syrup or honey. We use only 2-3 Tbsp of sweetener in the entire recipe which makes our healthy chocolate coconut slice low in sugar. I prefer the taste of maple syrup in this recipe, but also LOVE to use a local honey as my preferred sweetener when I can. Both options are tried and tested and delicious.
- Cacao powder– I use raw cacao powder in our paleo coconut rough slice, but you can also use cocoa powder if you have that on hand.
- Shredded coconut– as we are toasting the coconut I recommend using shredded coconut, but you could use any type of dried coconut in a pinch.
- Vanilla and salt. Basically I don’t make anything sweet without either of these ingredients- salt and vanilla make cacao shine.
- Optional: Cell Squared Grass-Fed Liver Powder. I designed this recipe for Cell Squared over on my instagram account as an easy (and amazingly delicious) way to sneak in their nutrient-dense, but quality Beef Liver. You can add anywhere between 1-3 tsp to get a whole food vitamins in and mineral boost in your choice snack.
Tips for perfecting the paleo chocolate coconut slice
- Toast your coconut! Don’t skip this step- it really adds the best flavour to the recipe and untested coconut won’t be the same.
- Make sure you melt all the fats together at the start. Follow the recipe as is- if you melt just the cacao butter and mix this hot liquid into your other ingredients the tahini will seize and separate. If you want a fudgey, smooth and creamy slice follow the recipe exactly as it is written.
- Use a great tasting cacao powder. Your healthy coconut rough slice will only be as delicious as the ingredients you use and not all cacao powders are created equally. My two favourites are this one by Cell Squared and this one by Loving earth.
- Make them extra fudgy by adding in fresh dates. Dates change the texture to something so fudgy and fantastic, and you can leave the coconut or omit.
If you loved my Paleo chocolate coconut slice (coconut rough slice) you’re probably looking for more healthy whole food snack recipes. You can try:
- Healthy passionfruit bars
- Easy berry gummies
- Carrot cake energy balls (date free)
- Paleo vegan chocolate bread
- Fermented blueberry lemon bliss balls
- Cherry bounty bars
- The best healthy spiced carrot cake muffins
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you love these paleo chocolate coconut slice as much as I do, and I welcome any questions below. Please consider leaving a review if you’ve made these- your feedback helps others find this recipe too.

Paleo chocolate coconut slice (coconut rough slice)
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours setting time
- Total Time: 20 minute
- Yield: 9-12 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: No bake
- Cuisine: Australian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Ever eaten a coconut rough bar? they’re so delicious- crunchy toasted coconut and chocolate is a match made in heaven but these paleo chocolate coconut slice are a more whole food based alternative. Made with just 7 ingredients and high in wholesome fats.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shredded coconut
- ¼ cup (62g) ghee/coconut oil or cacao butter
- 2/3 cup (192g) hulled tahini
- 3 Tbsp (65g) raw honey (or pure maple syrup)
- 1/3 cup (37g) raw cacao powder
- 1 tsp vanilla powder/extract
- 2 Tbsp collagen powder
- 2 pinches of good quality, fine salt
- Optional nutrient booster- 3 tsp liver powder ( I used cell squared). *** see notes
Instructions
Heat a frypan over a medium heat. Add coconut, reduce heat to low. Toast for 3 mins, tossing regularly, or until fragrant + golden brown. Turn off heat and transfer coconut to a bowl. Line a small tin (15-20cm square) with baking paper. Set aside.
- Add 2cm water to a small saucepan and bring to simmer. While this heats, move onto step 3.
- Add ghee, tahini, honey/maple syrup and vanilla to a heat proof bowl. Set this bowl over the pot simmering water. The bowl should sit on the rim of the saucepan, + not touch the water. Stirring often, gently melt until just uniform (ie you do NOT want the mixture to be hot, just liquid). Taste the mixture here, adding extra honey if you prefer a sweeter bar. Turn off the heat.
- Add cacao powder, collagen and liver into the bowl and mix gently, only until combined. Remove bowl from the heat, fold through the coconut, reserving 1 Tbsp. Pour the chocolate mixture into the lined tin, and top with remaining coconut.
- Set in the freezer for 2 hours. Use a hot, sharp knife to cut into 6 rectangles, then store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
* We strongly advise adding the coconut into this recipe to help hide the liver taste
**If using cacao butter your bars will set extra firm
*** Liver is a natural product + can vary in taste from batch to batch. We tested this recipe with different batches, and the results varied. Cacao powder also differs widely in taste/strength, so we recommend starting with less liver, adding 1 tsp at a time if you are sensitive to its flavour.
NOTE- some images in the blogpost were shot when I added in 1/2 cup chopped Medjool dates. If you want to make these bars into something more like fudge then you can add in the dates.
Hi, looks delish, but if you don’t have collagen powder would you sub it for anything else or would you increase the cacao? And where would you add in the dates? TIA!
Hi Sam, you can absolutely just omit the collagen for this, or add in carob or extra cacao powder.
Hello, thank you for your amazing recipes!
I was just wondering if I could use coconut butter instead of cacao butter? Thank you x
Hi Amanda. Thank you for the sweet words. Yes you could- just note it’ll set a bit harder 🙂
Cannot locate recipe for lemon vegan cheesecakes w/jelly