If you haven’t had a raspberry ‘Ruffle’ bar before, you have not lived. They have been one of my favourite treats since childhood, and back in the days when good old Woolworths was still around, I remember filling my Pick ‘n’ Mix bag with these things. The best thing is, they’re vegan too!
They say threes a crowd, but that’s not the case with Ruffles, which are made with three of my most favourite things- coconut, raspberries and chocolate. They’re sweet, rich and fruity all at the same time, and so damn delicious! I could never turn down a raspberry Ruffle, but I have been trying to make as much of the food I eat myself at home in recent months, so I just had to make a raw version of my old fave. I often find it scary how much extra sugar and random chemicals are added to processed foods these days. And it’s so simple to make your own raw version of your favourite chocolates too! Plus, you can make them way bigger, which is always a good thing, right?!
Don’t get me wrong, Ruffles are good, but they’ve got nothing on these homemade bars.
These bars have a rich tropical flavour with a sweet coconutty aroma, but the rich, raw dark chocolate adds a real touch of decadence. The centre is mix of sweet coconut and delicious coconut cream, with a dash of zingy raspberry powder, and it melts-in-your mouth thanks to a couple of generous spoonfuls of this amazing Sri Lankan coconut oil, which is extra smooth, extra coconutty, and extra good for you thanks to it’s saturated fats!
I’ve been hearing a lot about this diet called the ‘Pegan’ diet at work recently, and whilst it advocates eating meat, which I do not agree with, it also advocates lots of fats to stay slim and healthy, which I most definitely do agree with as I always feel my most happy and glowing when I have lots of healthy fats (gone are my days of doing HCLF!), so these bars are a fab way to get some good fats into your diet!
But the best thing about these bars is the fact they are coated in the most heavenly, smooth and silky raw dark chocolate from the raw chocolate genius’s at Loving Earth, because I really could not be more excited that I finally got to try their amazing chocolates! I feel like in the UK the raw food movement is just beginning, which is really exciting, but we just don’t have the amazing variety of super cool brands selling a wide range of really innovative raw treats here that places like Australia have yet.
So I have been living vicariously through my lovely Australian Instagram followers for the last year, drooling over their Loving Earth treats, because Loving Earth are the best example of how exciting raw food can be.Seriously, just check out how many incredible flavours of raw chocolate they have, and bars made with weird and wonderful ingredients I’ve never even heard of, like gubinge and camu. And they’re a really nice bunch of people too, as their company ethos is based on the philosophy that the earth is a living organism, and so they ensure all of their products are healthy, the way they are produced is sustainable, and they treat all of their farmers fairly.
They’re the Willy Wonka’s of raw chocs, and you’re going to be able to get your hands on their goodies in the UK from February! Now if that isn’t cause for some celebratory raw chocolate making, then I don’t know what is! However, if you’re not able to get your hands on their products just yet, you can coat them with the chocolate from this recipe here instead.
You can find out more about Loving Earth, and all the amazing plant-based products they make here, or go and say hello on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
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Disclaimer: I’m so grateful to Loving Earth for sending me their amazing raw chocolates to try. However, it should be noted that this is not a sponsored post, and all opinions expressed are my own.
- 1½ cups (150g) unsweetened desiccated coconut
- 150g coconut cream (the fat from the top of a can of full-fat coconut milk)
- 2 Tbsp liquid coconut oil
- 4-6 Tbsp maple syrup (dependant on taste) OR liquid sweetener of choice
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 3½ heaped Tbsp raw raspberry powder
- 200g Loving Earth Dark Chocolate (OR sub your favourite raw or dark chocolate)
- In a large bowl, mix the desiccated coconut, maple syrup and the coconut cream until they are well combined.
- Add the liquid coconut oil, vanilla and raspberry powder and mix until a sticky mixture is formed.
- Line a tray with greaseproof paper. Shape the coconut mixture into 10 even sized bars with your hands.
- Place in the fridge to harden whilst you melt the chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate slowly over a bain-marie, ensuring it does not get warm.
- Dip each Ruffle bar in the chocolate, making sure each one is covered in a thick, even layer of chocolate.
- Gently press some freeze dried strawberries or raspberries on top of each bar, and drizzle the remaining chocolate over to decorate. Place back on the greaseproof paper.
- Leave to harden in the fridge again before eating. They will keep for 2 weeks in an air-tight box in the fridge
If you want to know more about the ingredients used in this recipe, check out my ‘Raw Pantry’ page!
Ohmygosh these look so amazing!!
Aw Jodie! Thank you so much 🙂
Man oh man. These look divine. They remind me of the candies you might find in a Valentine’s Day candy box. Except better!
Oh Casey I love it! Thank you so much! When I think of special chocs I always imagine Miss Trunchbull’s incredible box of treats from Matilda! Those are chocolate goals for sure! 😉 Have a great weekend!
WOW! THese just may be my new favorite cane bar! Great recipe!
That is such a sweet thing to say, you rock! Thank you! They might be mine too, but of course I’m biased 😉 Have a fab weekend!
Oh my goodness! These look amazing! I have to try them asap. Pinned 🙂
Thank you so much Bianca! That’s lovely of you to say! Let me know how you get on if you do give them a go! I hope you like them 🙂 Happy Sunday!
Oh My Gosh Rachel! When i first saw these on Instagram i fell in love! Not only with the deliciousness of these bars but your photography of them, just amazing!
I’m adding this recipe to my to do list, so simple and they look fantastic!
Sam xx
Aw Sam thank you so much lovely lady, that’s just too sweet of you! You’ve officially made my weekend! Coming from you that means so much! I really hope you love them, it’s so nice to make something sweet and simple sometimes 🙂 Hope you’ve had a great weekend! xx
I’m in love with these bars 🙂 Haha it’s as simple as that. Rachel you have an amazing blog!! Don’t know why I haven’t had the courage (?!) to comment earlier (except today – the chocolate eggs omg). Thanks for being so inspirational!! xoxo Berry
Hey Tiina! So sorry I missed your amazingly kind comment before- thank you so much for being so sweet, it means so much 🙂 And huge congratulations on your fantastic new role as a Feed Feed editor- I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more. You rock! xxx
OMG – you’ve got me drooling girl! i hope I can find some freeze dried raspberry powder at the store!!!
Hehe! I aim to please! 😉 I hope you can find some too! If not, Amazon normally has it, or you can buy whole freeze dried raspberries and blend them into a powder. Good luck lovely!
I was going to ask about raspberry powder too! These sound wonderful! I just adore raspberry ruffles! Could you make plain and simple Bounty bars. Using this recipe but without the raspberry powder? As for the raspberry ruffles, they’ll never last two weeks in the fridge in my house, and there’s only me in it! Actually could they be frozen? Not that that will stop me eating them!
Hey Evee! I hope you manage to find some raspberry powder, but if not then these are totally delicious plain too! So feel free to make them Bounty bars instead 🙂 Hehe, they didn’t last very long in my house either! 😉 I’m not 100% sure on freezing because they never last long enough to get to that stage, but I did freeze a really similar recipe, and they were really yummy when they were defrosted, so I say- go for it! And enjoy 🙂 x
Oh gosh I so want to make these!!! I don’t know where to get the raspberry powder from though 🙁 could I sub fresh raspberries?
Hi Katie! I’m not sure what part of the world you’re from, but I’m in the UK and just Googled raspberry powder and found that lots and lots of online shops sell it (I love sprinkling it on oats and nicecream so use it all the time!), so that might be worth a go! I haven’t tried it with fresh raspberries so don’t want to tell you it would work incase it’s terrible! I’d imagine the mixture would be really moist and sticky, but you might have some luck if you use a very small amount? If not, then these taste delicious with no raspberries at all too!
Raspberry powder DIY: blend up freeze dried raspberries in your blender until powdered. I know here (US) I’ve never seen raspberry powder, but you can get freeze dried berries in just about any grocery store…
Great tip Deanna!
Hi where do you get the ingredients from? I really want to make theses. I have Google but I’m finding it hard. Thank you
Hiya! All the place where I bought the more unusual ingredients from are linked in the recipe itself (just click on them and it will take you to the website)! The coconut cream is a canned one from Coconut Merchant, but I don’t think they do them anymore! You can get these in any supermarket. The maple syrup is from Pure Maple (but any grade A will do), and the vanilla bean paste is from Nielsen Massey, and is sold in any supermarket. Hope this helps!
Hey there! These look amazing, do you know if tinned coconut milk would work as an alternative to cream? Im in New Zealand and will be trying these without the raspberry powder, but with freeze dried raspberries on top – ASAP! Thanks 🙂
Hi Kate, sorry it’s not very clear in my recipe what I mean by coconut cream (I’ve just changed this now!), but I use the fat from the top of a can, so absolutely yes, use the canned stuff! I hope you enjoy them! x
These ones are HEAVEN!!! Making them as we speak and couldn’t resist to have one after a little accident with chocolate lol very tasty!!!
So glad I found your page!!!
Thank you for being awesome <3
Aw Neringa this is so sweet of you, thank you! So happy you like them! And hey, a chocolate accident sounds like the best kind of accident to me 🙂 I so often end up with chocolate smeared all in my hair and over my face after making a recipe :’) xx
Could you give a cup type measure for the coconut cream? Or tell how many cans of it you use and how many ounces the can is? I don’t know what 150g of coconut cream would be. These look so good I’m looking forward to trying them soon if I can source the ingredients. Thank you!
Hi Laura, so sorry there’s no cup measure on here! I used to do them but broke my cup measure (time to get a new one!). The can I used was 400ml, which is 14 fluid ounces according to Google (sorry I’m rubbish at conversions!). I think 150g of coconut cream would work out to roughly 2/3 of a cup. Hope this helps, and I hope you like them! x
Hi! Rachel, have you had a book of Rawberry Fields recipes published yet ? I am bowled over by your recipes, but spend ages copying them out by hand and I use reams of printer paper copying them!! A book would be sooo! much easier! Tricia
Hi Tricia! You are so kind, thank you! I would love to make a book (and get back to creating recipes!), but sadly life has been so busy that this hasn’t happened yet 🙁 Hopefully one day! x
I’d love to try these but I despise coconut, is there something else I could sub it for?
Hi Mia, unfortunately I don’t know what would be a good replacement for these as the original chocolate bar that these are based on are made entirely from coconut. You might have some luck making them with a raspberry cashew cream!
What about almond?? Like ground or flaked?
What about almond?? Like ground or flaked?
Ground could definitely be worth a try! It might alter the taste, but it will definitely still be delicious. Just be sure the mixture is wet enough to hold together when forming the bars, you may need a little bit extra coconut oil or a spoon of almond butter to help bind it. Good luck!