Hands up if you’ve ever made coconut butter bark? It’s the simplest and most delicious treat. The best part? There’s no cooking required!
Once you have your softened coconut butter (or coconut manna) it’s literally as easy to make as these three steps: spread, sprinkle and chill. It’s more a method than a recipe, really. And that means it’s infinitely adaptable. This week I wanted to make a naturally sweet treat that was totally festive, but as fun and easy as recipes come. So I whipped up this pomegranate coconut butter bark.
To really seal the deal when it came to seasonal flavors, I paired the pomegranate with studs of crystallized ginger chips and a scattering of mandarin orange zest. It’s all my favorite sweet, tart and spiced flavors in one bite. (If you’re following the AIP, swap out the ginger chips with these caramel sea salt coconut chips for some great crunchy texture without the cane sugar in the ginger chips).
Because this recipe has so few ingredients, the quality of the coconut butter you use matters. Use the smoothest, creamiest coconut butter (or coconut manna) you can find. Some jars can be a little gritty and you really don’t want that here! So, whether you use your own homemade coconut butter or your favorite jarred brand, make sure it’s super creamy.
Again, to make this really easy (can you spot the theme when it comes to me making treats?), I used a whole jar of coconut butter, about a generous 1 1/2 cups worth. No weighing and measuring that way, ha! Spread thinly on a lined baking sheet, that makes for a fair amount of coconut butter bark, but since it keeps so well in the freezer I knew I could make a whole batch here without worrying about it going bad or uneaten!
You might be wondering about where to get some of these ingredients. I’ve linked to online sources for all of them in the recipe below, but it’s often cheaper to buy them in person. I usually pick up the coconut butter alongside the peanut butter and similar spreads, the ginger chips in the baking aisle and the caramel sea salt coconut chips in the snack aisle of my local Sprouts. This time of year, both fresh pomegranates and ready prepared pomegrate arils are pretty much everywhere in grocery stores.
You can store the coconut butter bark in an airtight container or bag in either the fridge or freezer. I prefer the frozen version as it has a really satisfying snap when you bite into it. That’s one of the reasons I like to spread the mixture thinly, to make a thin and crispy bite. If you would like your bark to have a slightly softer feel, keep yours stored in the fridge. If it’s cold enough in your kitchen or pantry that coconut butter remains solid, you can try storing your coconut butter bark in a cool dark place there.
I was worried that the pomegranate arils would turn out too hard after some time in the freezer, but they don’t. Thankfully, they’re not the jaw breakers that I feared! Since they do have a high water content compared to all the other ingredients, they are noticeably colder, though, so watch out if you have sensitive teeth.
The coconut butter bark is delicious with just the pomegranate, ginger chips and orange zest, but I also like to finish it off with a generous sprinkle of Himalayan salt. I’m partial to that combination of sweet and salted, so I can’t resist! If that’s not your thing but you’d like a bit more of a textural contrast, you could also finish the coconut butter bark with a sprinkle of coconut sugar. Totally up to you.
You can absolutely break this coconut butter bark up and give it as a gift, just like you would traditional chocolate bark. But! You’ll want to make sure that it doesn’t get warm enough to melt. Coconut oil will completely melt at 76 F / 24 C, so you need to make sure to keep it generously below that temperature so that it arrives in bark shaped pieces rather than one melted mass.
Looking for some other coconut butter bark recipes? Try out my candied ginger and rose coconut butter bark and my raspberry and caramel sea salt coconut butter bark here!
This post was included in the Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable.
Pomegranate Coconut Butter Bark with Ginger & Orange
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
Ingredients
- 14 oz / 397 g jar of coconut butter or coconut manna (a heaping 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 cup / 85 g fresh pomegranate arils
- 2 – 3 tbsp (22 – 33 g) crystallized ginger chips (omit or sub caramel sea salt coconut chips for AIP)
- 2 tbsp fresh orange zest (about 2 mandarins or small oranges)
- Optional, to taste: sprinkle of Himalayan salt or coconut sugar
Instructions
- SOFTEN: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. The coconut butter needs to be soft enough to stir and pour. If it isn’t, either gently heat the glass jar without its lid in a microwave on about 50% power for a minute or so OR pop the jar with the lid on into a bowl of warm water for ten minutes or so to soften. Stir the coconut butter until it’s smooth, evenly combined and creamy. You don’t want the jar to get too hot to the touch or for the coconut butter to be liquid, or it will spread too thin. You’re looking for a thick, smooth consistency that can pour and spread, but not run on its own too much.
- SPRINKLE: Pour the softened coconut butter onto the parchment lined baking sheet and use a spatula to spread it into an evenly level rectangle that’s about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. While the coconut butter is still soft, sprinkle it with the pomegranate arils, ginger chips (or caramel sea salt coconut chips for AIP), orange zest and Himalayan salt or coconut sugar, if using.
- CHILL: Transfer the baking sheet to the fridge or freezer. Chill for 30 minutes before breaking into pieces as you like. To store, keep the pieces in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. If it’s cool enough in your kitchen or pantry that coconut butter stays solid, you can store the bark in a cool dark place there. Note that the freeze dried raspberries will become soft after a few hours when exposed to air.
I tried this recipe for my family – it looked healthy and we’re always trying to cut down on processed food and sugar. This just did not taste very good. I used Coconut Butter form whole foods.
I’m sorry to hear that this wasn’t for you, Ann. It sounds like you don’t particularly care for coconut butter in general, since that’s the dominant flavor and base ingredient here.