I love coconut, and I love chocolate too. So, if you feel the same way, or if you know someone that has the same favourite flavours, why not indulge in a scrumptious combination of coconut delights?

Coconut is one of those flavours that truly remind me of Summer and holidays. At the same time, it is exotic but also tastes like home: in the southern coast of Italy, on every beach you can find vendors selling fresh pieces of white crunchy coconut. They carry them in buckets and call them “cocco bello”, meaning beautiful coconut.This is the inspiration behind Lavolio’s Coconut Follies Collection. A divine combination of coco-crazy treats. Each collectable tin contains the following flavours: 

• Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut-winner of the Great Taste Award- contains a toasted hazelnut within a sumptuous double layer of white and dark chocolate.
• Almond & Coconut:inside its crisp sugar shell you fill find an indulgent and super smooth layer of white chocolate and coconut oil, encasing a lovely textured almond.
• Dark Chocolate & Almond,recognizable by its signature egg shape, inside you fill find hidden within its textured yellow shell a crunchy almond, pepped up by a double layer of dark and white chocolate.
• Coconut Croccante,with its distinctive brown dots, is a sumptuous piece of coconut coated in an extra crunchy shell (made up of real pieces of shredded coconut).

The coconut (cocos nucifera) has numerous uses, some very well-known and beloved, like coconut water, coconut milk and coconut oil, and some that are emerging fast into the world scene like coconut flour and coconut sugar.

Coconut flour, as an alternative to all-purpose flour, is more absorbent: it takes very little of it to produce a recipe. Generally, you can substitute ¼ cup of coconut flour for 1 cup of regular flour. You would also need to add more eggs and more liquid. Regarding nutrition, coconut flour is higher in calories and fats than regular all-purpose, but also higher in protein, fibre and lower in carbohydrates. Like your Lavolios, it’s also gluten-free!

Coconut sugar is nutritionally very similar to white sugar, but closer in flavour to brown sugar and molasses. And like them, it will give a brown colour to your bakes, so keep that in mind when experimenting with it.

In many countries, the coconut has religious and cultural connotations. It is a symbol of good fortune, well-being and wealth, an offering to the gods and to one’s ancestors, and its flesh and flowers feature in many celebrations and religious ceremonies.  

Coconut is one of the most delicate and exotic flavours known to man. It is also criminally underused at dinner parties. You, dear coconut lover, now find yourself in the perfect position to put that right as you stand there reading this, imagining your ideal dinner party.   You can see it now: as your guests sip their dessert wine and yearn for a coconutty sweet to round off a delicious meal, you put this box in the middle of the table, open it with excitement, then sit back and relax as the contents are roundly devoured. They are refreshing and naughty at the same time. In creating Coconut Follies, I wanted each bite to make you feel like being on a tropical, sunny vacation.