The other day, I shared some stories from my readers about random acts of kindness and it really got me thinking. Being kind and putting someone else’s feelings above your own, especially those of someone you don’t know, takes a little extra effort. It might be inconvenient and it might mean making yourself a little uncomfortable, putting yourself out there where you otherwise wouldn’t do so. But it’s almost always worth the effort. One of the stories I received from my readers illustrates this perfectly. It was a little longer than the others so I saved it to share separately. It touched me deeply.
Vicki learned a lesson in kindness at a young age, when her father took her into their small town on Thanksgiving Day. All the aunts and uncles, the whole extended family, were gathered at her house for the festivities, but her father had an important errand. He went to town common, where a homeless man name Pete lived with his dog under the bandstand. Vicki’s town was very small, and everyone knew Pete and typically avoided him. But on that day, Vicki’s father invited Pete to share their Thanksgiving meal.
Pete had been through World War II and had suffered serious shell shock. He felt uncomfortable around most people, preferring the company of his dog. He tried to decline Vicki’s dad’s offer, but eventually he agreed, as long as he was allowed to eat in the kitchen and not in the big crowd of Vicki’s family. So home they went with Pete, much to the consternation of several of Vicki’s aunts and uncles.
While the rest of the family ate in the dining room, Pete, Vicki and her father enjoyed their meal in the kitchen. Vicki recalls this as the best Thanksgiving ever, laughing and talking with Pete, hearing his stories. And afterward, when they dropped Pete back at the bandstand, there were tears in his eyes. Vicki’s father also set up an account at the local eatery for Pete, so that whenever he needed a hot meal or a cup of coffee, he could go there.
- 1 cup Low Carb Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 oz cocoa butter
- 1/4 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
- 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 4.5 oz high % cacao chocolate
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Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides for easy removal.
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In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the Low Carb Sweetened Condensed Milk, coconut oil, and cocoa butter, stirring until smooth.
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Stir in powdered sweetener until well combined and no clumps remain. Stir in shredded coconut and coconut extract.
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Spread mixture into prepared baking pan and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
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Remove from pan by lifting with the overhanging parchment. Cut into desired size and shape (I made 18 long, thin bars).
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Freeze bars for 30 minutes.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
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Melt chocolate in small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Drop a frozen bar into melted chocolate and gently toss with a fork to cover. Remove and shake off excess chocolate, then place on prepared baking sheet.
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Repeat with remaining bars. Refrigerate until chocolate is set.
Serves 18. Each serving has 4 g of carbs and 1 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 3 g.
167 Calories; 17g Fat (86.5% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 21mg Sodium
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Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
Love that you created a healthier version of a Mound’s bar! They are one of my favorites!
Emily @ Life on Food says
That story is so touching. If everyone did something like that once in their lifetime. And these Mounds bars. Sharing this recipe is pretty kind too.
Jeanette says
Thanks for sharing another inspirational story Carolyn – it always amazes me what a huge reward I get from giving so little of your myself to others. It’s the small acts of kindness that mean so much to others. As for your husband, he’s lucky to have you as his wife making these mounds bars!
Monica says
Will Stevia work just as well as Swerve? I tried Swerve and it had no taste, plus I can’t afford it.
Carolyn says
No, in this case you really need a bulk sweetener to make the candy come together. Can you get a different sort of erythritol or xylitol?
Monica says
I will look into it. I REALLY LOVE Mounds and Almond Joys so I will figure something out. Thank you for responding.
Arthur in the Garden! says
Wonderful!
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents says
Thanks so much for sharing that story. 🙂 It was very touching.
Katharine says
That story is wonderful!
RavieNomNoms says
Did it work?
Carolyn says
This comment came through!
steph@stephsbitebybite says
What a sweet story!! I need do be so much better about my acts of kindness! These little bars look outrageously good!
jillian says
lovely post. while not a big candy eater i have always liked mounds bars…even tho we do not eat them anymore…so will have to make these! i have organic virgin coconut oil…is this the same as coconut butter? if not what is the difference? thank you.
Carolyn says
You need coconut oil and cocoa butter, not coconut butter. The cocoa butter helps it form properly. If you don’t have it, you can skip it but they will be a lot softer and you may need to freeze them for a while before cutting.
Luana says
Vicki’s story brought tears to my eyes.
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
loving these! Great story! 🙂
April Newman says
Powerful story. Great recipe. Thanks, Vicki and Carolyn.
Barbara says
Made these yesterday, but used the chocolate coating from your peanut butter egg recipe. Didn’t have the other kind of chocolate…… DELISH! Oh well…..added an almond in there too for an almond joy. That, was an act of kindness for me!!!!! Oh thank you! Thank you so much for this recipe!!!!!!
Carolyn says
You’re most welcome!
Mallory says
I just found your website tonight and LOVE it already!!! This is going to make the low carb life so much easier.
I do have a question- Does low carb automatically mean low sugar? I’m doing Atkins so its both and I wanted to double check before stuffing my face with these amazing candies and other treats on here.
Thanks!
Carolyn says
Yes, for me, low carb means low sugar. I typically don’t use any sugar in my recipes, although I do use some chocolate (85 or 90% cacao which means very little sugar in the chocolate). And on occasion I use a few teaspoons of molasses to help things brown up properly or to imitate brown sugar flavors, but it’s such a small amount, it only adds about .5 g of carbs per serving
Mallory says
Awesome, thanks!
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Such a nice treat!
Shaina says
Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t!
Couldn’t help myself. Thanks for sharing such a sweet story and some of my favorite candies.
Courtney says
Hi Carolyn,
had a go at making these and for some reason they are very wet, as in, still pourable after 15 hours in the fridge. I used everything as specified except regular condensed milk. Do you know where I might have gone wrong? A great story, and this is the first of your recipes I’ve ever had trouble with, love this blog!
Carolyn says
You used sweetened condensed milk from the store? Like Eagle Brand? Because that’s very high in carbs. Or did you use unsweetened, evaporated milk, which is a VERY different thing. I am trying to figure out what you did here to help solve the problem. My condensed milk contains xanthan gum to help thicken it, which would make the end result thicker and less gooey.
Courtney says
I’m in Aus but yes an equivalent of Eagle Brand regular sweetened condensed milk. Will try evaporated milk instead and see if that fixes the problem! Thank you 🙂
Carolyn says
No, no, don’t try evaporated milk, that would be far worse! What you need is some sort of thickener in the condensed milk. Can you get your hands on xanthan or guar gum? If not, how about a little sifted coconut flour?
Barb says
Carolyn, can I use coconut cream (not oil, using that, as called for) in place of the condensed milk. I just don’t have the time to make the milk, and no real use for it after that. But I do have organic coconut cream – it’s thick, almost but not quite pourable. It would also give more coconut flavor, too. What do you think?
Carolyn says
It’s worth a try! Not positive it will work but it’s worth a try.
Chrissi says
Wow, I just made these and they are absolutely amazing. Far surpassed my expectations. The filling is soft and delicious and just the right texture and flavour.
Thank you SO much for making this recipe available. I think I am going to make these again and again and again. I can’t believe how healthy they are for me, but they taste EXACTLY like my favourite candy bar! Lol. The only way I can tell that they aren’t the same is the slight aftertaste of the sweetener but that’s all. On first bite they are completely identical.
I used Truvia instead of your Swerve. It’s 3x the sweetness of sugar because it’s a combination of erythritol and stevia. I’d rather have just plain erythritol but Truvia is all I can find, and it worked out just fine. I used 1/4 cup Truvia in the sweetened condensed milk, then 3 tbsp of powdered (with magic bullet) Truvia and 6 drops of liquid sucralose for the sweetener for the filling. I also don’t have any stevia drops so I didn’t use any (used sucralose instead).
It turned out AMAZING. I can only imagine that the flavour would be even better with pure erythritol instead of Truvia but this was really, really great. I am so happy right now. My only problem is I ran out of chocolate halfway through coating them, so I froze the rest so I can coat them later 😀
Carolyn says
So glad you liked them!
valeria woelfel says
I don’t get the chocolate. what % is it?
Carolyn says
Any percent over 85% will do.
Shawna says
Hi,
Can I use Lily’s chocolate chips melted to coat these? Still would be low carb?
Carolyn says
You sure can but I would melt them with a little coconut oil to thin it out. A tbsp or two.