Mounds Bars. You either love 'em or hate 'em.

I happen to love these coconut candy treats. But then again, I don't think there is a sweet I don't love! 

I have only seen one recipe for homemade mounds bars and it required 4 extra ingredients than the recipe I am about to give you. My recipe is very simple and ahemmm, if you haven't already noticed my mounds bars are red, white, and blue! And guess what?! They are not on Pinterest!

I love when I can say ..... FIRST!

Fourth of July Mounds Bars

(Makes about 20 bars)

Ingredients
(1) 7 oz bag sweetened shredded coconut
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
(1) 12 oz bag dark chocolate chips
Food Coloring

Directions
1. Combine one 7 oz bag of sweetened shredded coconut with 7 oz of condensed milk. Mix well.

2. Separate your mixture into 3 different bowls. Put the same amount in each bowl andadd red food coloring to one bowl and blue to the other. The white obviously stays asis. The blue will only need about 2 drops but the red will require more otherwise it will be pink. If you have food coloring gels these work well. Refrigerate all the mixtures for 1 hour. 

3. Remove your bowls from the refrigerator and start preparing 2 inch mounds on a lined baking sheet. I think it's best to use a Silpat but if you do not have a Silpat, use wax paper. I did one color at a time then washed my hands and moved on to the next color so the colors did not bleed together. 

4. Using a damp paper towel, cover your mounds and shape them with your hands. Refrigerate for another 2 hours.

5. Once your mounds are completely cold you need to melt your dark chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. Now there are two ways to melt your chocolate. If you melt your chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals (stirring in between) like I normally tell you to do, your chocolate will be more soft and malleable; meaning, if you leave these mounds candies out all day, the chocolate will start to melt a bit and it will get all over your hands. If you want your chocolate to be hard (like when you buy a box of candy) you will need to temper your chocolate. Once your chocolate is melted you will want to dip your mounds into the melted chocolate and place back on the lined tray. This is totally messy and there is no other way to do it. Refrigerate for another 2 hours. 

Tip: If you want your mounds bars to look smoother  you can dip them again and do a second coating of chocolate and then refrigerate once again. This is what I did.