Chocolate Coconut Balls are an easy, no-bake treat you can give as holiday gifts

Easy, no-bake treats are always a good thing to have in your holiday recipe file. There’s always so much going on with parties, family guests, gift shopping and all those tasks and errands you have on your seasonal to-do list. Plus, as gatherings with friends and families get close, you need your oven for other things. These Chocolate Coconut Balls are a no-bake treat, and they taste so good you can add them to your festive table or give them as gifts, knocking a few things off your list at once.

The recipe comes from Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons. Blogger Jill says her grandmother made them, and theirs is a family that clearly loves their coconut. All you need is coconut, powdered sugar, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and shortening. The hardest, most time-consuming part of the recipe is melting the chocolate in the microwave and dipping coconut balls into it.

To make them, start by mixing the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and sugar. Note that you’re going to specifically want desiccated coconut for this recipe. Jill says you can substitute shredded — but if you’re picky about texture, you might want to pulse the coconut in your blender or food processor a bit.

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Form the mix of three ingredients into balls and put them on a pan lined with wax paper. Stick the pan in the fridge. Then, melt your chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet are best) and shortening. Once that’s done, you can dip your coconut balls into the chocolate and get rid of any excess. Then, put them on the paper and let them set. The entire process should take about 20 minutes.

You can even create a healthier, less-processed version of this cute treat with desiccated coconut, honey, coconut oil and dark chocolate. Jill also suggests adding an almond in the center or incorporating chopped almonds One commenter noted that her mom used to stick a cherry inside, which also sounds like a tasty addition.

Jill suggests using a candy dipping tool set to make dipping your treats in chocolate a bit easier. Enjoy!