Good news. I survived my presentation. I only stumbled through my words a couple of times and I didn’t discover any typos in my Power Point during the middle of my presentation like I did in the last one I gave when I accidentally spelled ‘as’ with two s’s. That wasn’t embarrassing at all.
Apparently I was so busy preparing for the presentation last week that I didn’t even realize it was my one-year blog birthday! greens and chocolate is one year old! When I look back at my recipe index and all of my old posts, it’s hard to believe that I cooked and baked everything that I did. It sure was a delicious year! I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for visiting my little corner of the food blog universe from time to time. It means the world to me!
Since I know you came here for some good food and not to read my sappiness, onto the food! These homemade almond joys are delicious little gems, and worth every second of effort I put into them. That said, they’re kind of a pain in the butt to make. If you’ve ever made anything that had to be dipped in melted chocolate you know what I mean. It’s a messy job but I can imagine worse things than being covered in melted chocolate, so I’d do it all again. Plus, they were described by one of my taste testers as “Almond Joys on crack.” I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing.
Homemade Almond Joys
adapted from Blue-Eyed Bakers
makes about 25 candies
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (this is about half of a 14 oz can)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
14 oz shredded, sweetened coconut
about 50 whole almonds
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Line a 9×9″ baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to fully incorporate. Add coconut and stir until well combined. Press mixture into prepared pan and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, cut the chilled coconut mixture into 1×2″ bars. Melt 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips in the microwave, checking every 15 seconds. Top each bar with a small amount of melted chocolate, then place 2 almonds on top of each bar on the chocolate. Place the bars with almonds on a large baking sheet and chill in freezer for 15-30 minutes. Just make sure they are chilled so they don’t get too messy in the chocolate.
Melt the remaining chocolate chips. Once the bars are chilled, dip each bar into melted chocolate to coat completely. I did this by placing each bar on a fork then using a spoon to pour melted chocolate over each bar. Some of my almond joys didn’t have chocolate on the bottom, but I was okay with that. Place on wax or parchment paper lined baking sheet and chill in refrigerator until firm. Store in refrigerator in airtight container. Enjoy!
greensnchocolate
greensnchocolate
greensnchocolate
Congrats on your 1 year anniversary. The time sure does fly once you get started, doesn’t it? Pain in the butt or not, these look like something right up my chocolate loving alley. I need to try them!
Happy blog birthday! mine was sunday
its crazy that its been a year! Happy blogging! ps…these look super yum
Congrats on the anniversary! Can you believe I had never tried an almond joy until this past Christmas?? Then, of course, I became hooked.
Oh these look so good! I’d love for you to submit this to the M&T Spotlight at http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
Ooooooooooooh. I love me some almond joy. I’m so tempted to try making these, but I’m afraid I’d them all. Kudos to you for doing these!
I’ve never heard of almond joys but from looking at the ingredients list I can tell why they would be ‘joyful.’ Anything with sweetened condensed milk and almonds gets a big tick in my book.
I am so going to make these for my Dad. He loves Almond Joys! Haha so do I so maybe none of them will make it to him
oh well. These look sooo worth it, most chocolate covered things are!
glad your presentation went well..and happy 1 year! I love your blog!
ever since I saw these on blue-eyed bakers I’ve had them bookmarked! must make!!
CONGRATS! WOHOO! DONE AT LAST!
Congrats on being done!
AND – I love these Almond Joys. I used to always make these at Christmas… but haven’t in a few years. There is nothing like coconut and chocolate!
Susan http://www.ugogrrl.com
Happy “One Year Blog Birthday”! These Homemade Almond Joys sound amazing. Those were my favorite candy bar for awhile. I would love to make this homemade version.
Oh my goodness! Those sound (and look) terrific!
Happy birthday..those are so delightful!
I just came across your blog on Tasty Kitchen- these tasty-looking candies caught my eye. Your blog is wonderful! So many recipes for me to try out. Good job!
This is a great recipe! I tried it the other day, and they turned out amazing. Well, messy a little bit messier looking than yours, but still delicious. I put my experience with the recipe up on my blog too. http://eunoiax.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/finally-the-weekend/
Thanks Emily! I do remember these being quite messy…but definitely worth it