I have been making a version of this coconut butter carob bark for almost twelve years. The original version of the recipe was included in a blood sugar balance online course I took with my friend and mentor Elisa Haggarty. While she is no longer a holistic foods chef, I learned so much from her during that program, and this healthy dessert has obviously stuck with me. I have simplified the recipe over the years, and the rendition below is my most recent go-to. In my second trimester of pregnancy, I have been working on reducing my sugar intake as much as possible. With nausea and food aversions limiting my healthy choices during my first trimester, I am using my renewed sense of energy and appetite to get back into balance. However, I still love a sweet treat after dinner, so I grab a piece of this coconut butter carob bark, pair it with a juicy Medjool date, and call it an evening.

How to make this coconut butter carob bark

The recipe calls for three ingredients:

Melted coconut butter
Creamy tahini
Carob powder

The melted coconut butter might be the trickiest part of this recipe. I will be completely honest – it isn’t my favorite part of the process. This is why I keep a jar of coconut butter on my home’s heater system, which sits in a utility closet right off of my kitchen. The hack constantly keeps my coconut butter in melted form. I know not everyone has this set-up, so there are other ways to melt your coconut butter:

Put the jar in an oven while it is pre-heating
Put the jar in a bowl of boiling water until melted
Put the jar directly on a hot stovetop until melted
Melt using the double-broiler method
Make coconut butter in your blender so it is immediately creamy and ready to use

If you use the final method, you could even use your blender to make the bark right then and there. I go over that in this post. You would process the coconut butter first, add the tahini and carob powder, blend again, and voila!

For this particular recipe, I whisked the melted coconut butter, creamy tahini, and carob powder together in a large mixing bowl, poured it into the bottom of an 8×8 Pyrex pan lined with parchment paper, and froze for one hour before breaking it into pieces.

What makes this coconut butter carob bark sugar-free?

There are some natural sugars found in both coconut butter and carob powder, but there are no added sugars in this recipe. For that reason, I am labeling it sugar-free.

I remember when I told a friend about coconut butter after first discovering it. She immediately texted me and exclaimed that it tasted like vanilla frosting. It is that good! Sometimes I will satisfy a sweet tooth with a simple spoonful. It also comes in travel packs, which makes a great on-the-go snack. Coconut is a medium-chain triglyceride, which is uniquely metabolized in the body. It comes with a whole host of health benefits, and especially supports energy, metabolism, blood sugar balance.

Substitutions you can make

Any nut or seed butter of choice. Instead of tahini, you can use any nut or seed butter. Think almond butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter. Just make sure it is creamy if you are not using your blender.
Cocoa powder or cacao powder. I chose carob powder in this recipe since I usually eat a piece after dinner, and carob powder is caffeine-free. Although chocolate doesn’t really keep me awake by any means, I have intuitively thought it may be negatively impacting my sleep since I tend to often wake up in the middle of the night. If you don’t have this problem, or would prefer a chocolate flavor, you can use cocoa powder or cacao powder instead.

Nutritious add-ins

There have been times when I added in some other ingredients to boost the nutrition. Here are some superfoods you can add for some flare:

Hemp hearts
Goji berries
Cacao nibs
Chia seeds
Chopped nuts (like pistachio)

Planning and prep

Planning and prep comes down to the method you choose to make this coconut butter carob bark. Melting the coconut butter is the element that will take some forethought (unless you keep your jar in a warm place as well). Aside from the time it takes to melt, know that it will take about an hour in the freezer to harden before you can actually eat it. I like to make this recipe in the morning or mid-day, so that I can enjoy a piece after dinner that evening.