Keto Pumpkin Maple Coconut Clusters - Vegan and Plant-Based

This quick and easy Keto Pumpkin Maple Coconut Clusters recipe smells so good that you will be drooling before this dish even leaves the oven! All the perfect fall flavours blended together for a crunchy, healthy, and delicious vegan plant-based snack!   Combining a simple 10 healthy, low carb, and vegan ingredients, you can make this delicious gluten-free snack in a matter of minutes. 

After making my Keto Copycat Super Seed Coconut Clusters recipe and getting such positive feedback from my readers, I decided that it was time to try a different flavour that would be perfectly suited for all fall.

Let's face it... I have already made my Keto Super Seed Coconut Clusters recipe over a BILLION times, that I decided to change it a little.

So, loving the original recipe so much, I decided to see if I could create a coconut clusters recipe that would be the copycat version of the newest Innofoods Coconut Keto Clusters...but dare I say...even better!

WHY WOULD I WANT TO MAKE A COPYCAT RECIPE FOR THE INNOFOODS COCONUT KETO CLUSTERS?

If you look closely at the ingredient list on the bag of the  "Keto Coconut Clusters" you will notice that the store-bought brand by Innofoods contains some ingredients that are certainly not considered "keto" or "sugar-free".

The 5th ingredient listed is cane sugar followed by brown rice syrup!

Both of these contain a glycemic index score of 50. While plain white sugar has a GI score of 58–84, depending on the type, whereas Erythritol and Allulose have a GI index of 0.

The glycemic index is an indicator of how much your blood sugar will rise after consuming an item.  The higher the score, the more your blood sugar will spike.

In order to stay in ketosis, you want your blood sugar to stay as level as possible.

Delicious Keto Treat that...

• only require 10 ingredients
• only take minutes to make
• actually truly taste better than the store-bought version
• have less than 1 gram of sugar per serving
• only require 1 bowl to clean
• are a delicious keto snack that you and your kids will love
• can be easily customized by simply swapping out ingredients
• doesn't end up with a lot of broken pieces that look like granola like the store-bought brand
• is Non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, vegan-friendly and no artificial ingredients
• are much cheaper to make than they are to buy
• DO NOT CONTAIN CANE SUGAR OR BROWN RICE SYRUP LIKE THE STORE-BOUGHT VERSION!

What about the taste

It is everything you could ever want in a single bite. The perfect combination of crunchy, sweet, nutty, spiced with all your favourite fall flavours, healthy, perfectly satisfying, highly customizable, and something the whole family will love!

Nutritional comparison with store-bought

FOR ½ CUP SERVING OF INNOFOODS KETO COCONUT CLUSTERS:

• Calories: 160
• Fat: 14 g
• Total Carbohydrate: 8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Sugar: 4 g
• Protein: 3 g

FOR ½ CUP SERVING OF MY COPYCAT COCONUT KETO CLUSTERS:

• Calories: 135
• Fat: 12.9 g
• Total Carbohydrate: 3.5 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
• Sugar: 0.6 g
• Protein: 3.5 g

As you can see, the nutritional profile is comparable in total calories and protein. 

However, when it comes to the amount of sugar, these Pumpkin Maple Coconut Clusters have just over 1 g of net carbs whereas the store-bought Coconut Clusters have 5 g of net carbs!

INGREDIENTS for homemade clusters

Unsweetened coconut flakes - Make sure that you use coconut flakes and not shredded coconut. Coconut flakes are much larger pieces of coconut and will allow the mixture to bind to itself to form the clusters. If you only have shredded coconut, you can still use it but you will end up with granola instead of "clusters".

Sprouted (or raw) pumpkin seeds - You can't possibly make pumpkin coconut clusters without pumpkin seeds! If you can only find salted seeds, make sure that you taste the mixture and adjust the amount of salt called for in the recipe. The last thing you want is a mouthful of salt!

Pecans - You want to have varying sizes of pecans in this mixture so if you only have large pecan pieces, make sure you chop them into smaller sections

Sliced almonds - The flat surface of the sliced almonds allows for the rest of the ingredients to bind. IF you don't have any sliced almonds, use additional flaked coconut instead.

Flaxseed - You are actually using whole flax seeds and not flax meal. Flaxseed is commonly used to improve digestive health or relieve constipation. Flaxseed may also help lower total blood cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol levels, which may help reduce the risk of heart disease. If you don't have any whole flaxseeds, you can replace them with chia seeds or more pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Pie Spice, Cinnamon, and Salt - You can't make a pumpkin recipe without the pumpkin or the pumpkin spice! Also, feel free to add a little extra cinnamon powder if you love cinnamon as much as I do!

Coconut oil - This helps to crisp the clusters for the perfect crunchy snack

Sweetener - A combination of sugar-free maple syrup along with some brown sugar substitute gives these bites just the right of sweet maple-y flavour!

OPTIONAL - Vanilla extract and maple extract can be added to the mix to give these coconut clusters even more flavour!

Making Coconut Clusters

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare a 8 x 8, 9 x 9 or any other size rectangular or circular size pan by lining it with aluminum foil
• Add all the coconut, nuts, and seeds to a medium-size mixing bowl and stir to combine the ingredients
• In a small saucepan (or in a microwaveable dish) heat the coconut oil, maple syrup, sweetener and spices - whisk to incorporate the ingredients
• Pour the coconut oil mixture of the nut and seeds and stir to incorporate
• Spread the mixture into the baking dish and press down slightly
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the coconut begins to brown.
• Remove from the oven and cover with an additional piece of aluminum foil
• Using a spatula or turner, press down firmly on the mixture
• Let it cool completely
• Once cooled, place it in the fridge or freezer to cool even further before breaking it into pieces

Ingredient Substitutions

• use any type of seed or nut in equal amounts
• use chia seeds instead of flaxseeds
• use butter instead of coconut oil
• use white sugar substitute instead of brown sugar subtitute
• use almond extract or coconut extract instead of the vanilla extract

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAKING COCONUT CLUSTERS:

• if you want thinner coconut clusters, use a 9 x 13-inch pan instead...just make sure that it is not too large as the clusters will spread apart too much and will not be able to be broken down into chunks (if this does happen, just eat it as granola!)
• use the rack in the bottom ⅓rd of the oven to help make sure that the coconut flakes do not burn
• If you use salted nuts, omit any additional salt
• Make sure you press the mixture down AFTER it comes out of the oven to make sure that the ingredients bind well together
• Make the foil double the size of the pan and when the coconut clusters come out, fold the foil over the top of the clusters.  Use a spatula and press the mixture down firmly.  
• I have only made this recipe using Lakanto Classic sweetener.  I think other erythritol based sweeteners should work as well as regular sugar
• Store these coconut clusters in the fridge for up to 14 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.  Since they contain coconut oil that will liquefy at room temperature, I do not suggest keeping them on the counter.
• If you try to use shredded coconut instead of larger coconut flakes, they may crumble more - to prevent this, allow the coconut clusters to cool completely and place them in the freezer for about 30 minutes before trying to break them into chunks

More Healthy Plant-Based Keto Snacks

• How to Make Roasted Shishito Peppers
• Keto Copycat Coconut Clusters - Super Seed Nut-Free
• Copycat Coconut Keto Clusters Recipe with Pecans, Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds
• Carrot Cake Protein Bars (Keto, Gluten-Free)
• Easy 5-Minute Vegan Pesto - Dairy-Free
• Healthy Keto Edible Cookie Dough - Plant-based, Vegan and Dairy-Free Recipe

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