Combining melt in your mouth chocolate with beloved caffeine, these chocolate covered espresso beans makes for a great pick me up snack or as a holiday gift!
Is there really anything better than chocolate and coffee? These delicious and easy chocolate covered espresso beans combine those two things together, giving us the perfect melt in your mouth treat. These flavours go so well together and making your own is made so easily that you can even make a game out of it with your kids! Surprise the coffee-lover in your life with a bag of these as a gift or enjoy them all yourself!
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
It really only requires three ingredients to make and there’s a good chance you already have it in your pantry. Toppings are optional but they do add a nice pop of colour and variety if you are serving these to guests or gifting it to friends.
This homemade treat is vegan and gluten-free! A lot of the store-bought versions of these treats don’t use vegan chocolate and aren’t certified gluten-free so making it yourself allows you to be accommodating to anyone who is unable to enjoy the store-bought ones.
Both dark chocolate and espresso is high in antioxidants so these chocolate covered espresso beans are technically a good for you treat!
Key Ingredients
Coffee Beans — We suggest that you use Espresso Beans or Dark Roasted Beans. No need to be concerned about any bitterness from coffee beans as the chocolate balances out the flavours.
Chocolate — We use a combination of both dark chocolate and semi sweet chocolate for these chocolate covered espresso beans. If you prefer to use a different chocolate, you are welcome to!
Toppings — The possibilities for toppings for these chocolate beans are endless! Some of our favourites are cacao powder, crushed freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries, hemp seeds, peanut butter powder, flavoured collagen powder, and flaky sea salt.
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Temper the chocolate by either melting it in the microwave or on the stovetop. The easiest way to melt it is in the microwave: place the chocolate in a heat-safe bowl. Place the chocolate in the microwave for 20-25 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave and gently give it a stir. It won’t be very melted at this point, but stirring it makes sure all pieces of the chocolate warm up a bit. Microwave the bowl for another 20 seconds and repeat. Microwave one more time for about 15 seconds and stir. The chocolate should be just nearly melted with a few small pieces of chocolate chips/chunks remaining. These will continue to melt as you stir.
Step 2: Once your chocolate is melted, drop ½-1 tablespoon of espresso beans into the bowl of chocolate.
Step 3: Using one or two forks, carefully coat each of the espresso beans in chocolate and lift them one or two at a time out of the chocolate.
Step 4: Tap the fork on the side of the bowl to get rid of any extra chocolate, and then place the chocolate covered bean on a parchment covered sheet pan. Repeat until you’ve covered all of the espresso beans currently in the bowl.
Optional Step 5: If you wish to coat the beans with any toppings, make sure to do so while the chocolate is still liquidy and soft. If you wait until the chocolate firms up, some of the toppings may not stick. Sprinkle on the cacao powder, freeze dried fruit, hemp seeds, PB powder, collagen powder or sea salt.
Step 6: Once you complete a sheet of chocolate covered beans, place the sheet pan in the fridge for a few minutes to help the chocolate firm up. If you’ve properly tempered your chocolate, the chocolate will look shiny and hard, and stay solid even at room temperature.
Expert Tips
When melting the chocolate, if you’re using a bar, cut it or break it into small pieces first so it melts evenly and quickly.
When dipping the beans into the chocolate, you’ll have to work quickly as the chocolate will stiffen up over time. To fix that, microwave the chocolate for 8-10 seconds or so between every few batches as the chocolate stiffens. I also recommend only adding a little of beans to the melted chocolate at a time so you don’t end up having your beans in your mixture as it stiffens.
If you don’t have a microwave, you can melt your chocolate on the stove by placing a heat safe bowl over a pot of water, making sure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Place the chocolate in the bowl and bring the water up to a boil, stirring the chocolate until it has melted.
For a super chocolatey espresso bean, you can also coat the espresso beans in chocolate two times. Simply repeat the steps in the instructions, then re-dip the beans in small batches back into the chocolate. Keep in mind that you will need more chocolate in order to coat them a second time.
Recipes FAQs
Chips or bars of chocolate will work for this recipe. If you are using bars of chocolate, make sure to chop the chocolate or break it into small pieces to make the tempering process easier. We used a combination of dark and milk chocolate to make a variety of flavours, but you can certainly use one type of chocolate only if you’d prefer.
Store in the fridge in an airtight container and enjoy cold! You don’t want to leave them out for too long as the fridge helps keeps them tasting fresh!
Other than enjoying it yourself, you can gift them to friends and family. You can also add them to trail mix or top off a smoothie bowl with a couple!
While we haven’t tried, I don’t see why not! However, the texture and taste of the coffee beans might change when thawing. It’s really up to you.
More Recipes You Might Like
If you love chocolate like I do, here are some more chocolate desserts you might like!
- Best Almond Chocolate Bark with Granola Crunch
- Chocolate Cups with Chia Jam
- Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
- Vegan Tahini Stuffed Dates with Salted Chocolate
- Vegan Cookie Cups with Chocolate Mousse
- No Bake Nutella Cheesecake Cups
So lovelies, have you tried chocolate covered espresso beans before?
Easy Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- ¾-1 cup Coffee Beans Espresso Beans or Dark Roasted Beans
- 90 g dark chocolate bar or chips
- 90 g milk or semi-sweet chocolate bar or chips
Topping ideas:
- Cacao powder
- Crushed freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries
- Hemp seeds
- Peanut butter powder
- Flavored collagen powder
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Temper the chocolate by either melting it in the microwave or on the stovetop. The easiest way to melt it is in the microwave: place the chocolate in a heat-safe bowl. Place the chocolate in the microwave for 20-25 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave and gently give it a stir. Microwave the bowl for another 20 seconds and repeat. Microwave one more time for about 15 seconds and stir. The chocolate should be just nearly melted with a few small pieces of chocolate chips/chunks remaining. These will continue to melt as you stir.
- Once your chocolate is melted, drop ½-1 tablespoon of espresso beans into the bowl of chocolate.
- Using one or two forks, carefully coat each of the espresso beans in chocolate and lift them one or two at a time out of the chocolate.
- Tap the fork on the side of the bowl to get rid of any extra chocolate, and then place the chocolate covered bean on a parchment covered sheet pan. Repeat until you’ve covered all of the espresso beans currently in the bowl.
- Optional: If you wish to coat the beans with any toppings, make sure to do so while the chocolate is still liquidy and soft. If you wait until the chocolate firms up, some of the toppings may not stick. Sprinkle on the cacao powder, freeze dried fruit, hemp seeds, PB powder, collagen powder or sea salt.
- Once you complete a sheet of chocolate covered beans, place the sheet pan in the fridge for a few minutes to help the chocolate firm up. If you’ve properly tempered your chocolate, the chocolate will look shiny and hard, and stay solid even at room temperature.
Notes
- When melting the chocolate, if you’re using a bar, cut it or break it into small pieces first so it melts evenly and quickly.
- When dipping the beans into the chocolate, you’ll have to work quickly as the chocolate will stiffen up over time. To fix that, microwave the chocolate for 8-10 seconds or so between every few batches as the chocolate stiffens. I also recommend only adding a little of beans to the melted chocolate at a time so you don’t end up having your beans in your mixture as it stiffens.
- If you don’t have a microwave, you can melt your chocolate on the stove by placing a heat safe bowl over a pot of water, making sure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Place the chocolate in the bowl and bring the water up to a boil, stirring the chocolate until it has melted.
- For a super chocolatey espresso bean, you can also coat the espresso beans in chocolate two times. Simply repeat the steps in the instructions, then re-dip the beans in small batches back into the chocolate. Keep in mind that you will need more chocolate in order to coat them a second time.
Nutrition
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
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