Vegan Snickers Bars
Talk about a trial and error kinda recipe.
After multiple attempts (in the same day -- I had to get it right!), I finally got a recipe I’m happy with for these vegan snickers bars.
First, I made snickers cookies and they were too dry.
Then, I made snickers cookies again but they were kinda boring.
Finally, I made snickers bars with a date caramel and chocolate coating and was SHOCKED at how well they all came out.
I’ve mentioned in other recipes that I’m not a sweet kinda person.
I love savoury, salty foods -- for every meal.
It’s very rare that I’ll make something sweet for myself because I’m craving it.
Like, once a year kind of rare.
HOWEVER, with Easter around the corner and plenty of time on my hands (this recipe was created and written during the COVID-19 lock down), I had to try my hand at something sweet and delicious.
This recipe is:
Vegan
Refined sugar free
Great for sharing
Perfect for Easter
The healthier alternative to real snickers bars
It does take a few sessions of refrigerating as you make these in their layered steps, but, that doesn’t mean they’re not worth it.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy recipe, this one is not the one.
It’s not difficult at all, it’s just not the fastest thing to whip up since you need to refrigerate them twice throughout to get the best results.
LESSON ALERT!!!
Here’s a huge lesson I learned from making the chocolate in this recipe: make two batches instead of all at once.
The chocolate mixture dries really quickly (which is great for the bars), but it makes it difficult to coat the bars somewhat evenly.
So, I’d recommend making half the chocolate mixture and coat half of the bars, then repeat for the other half.
Something to keep in mind, it’s okay if the chocolate starts to dry and clump a bit as you coat the bars.
Real snickers bars aren’t smooth, so some texture makes the bars look more realistic.
VEGAN SNICKERS BARS
INGREDIENTS
COOKIE BASE
¾ cup oats
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ cup date paste or syrup (or 12 dates -- instructions below to make the paste)
½ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup chocolate chips (or more if you like loads of chocolate chips)
3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
CARAMEL LAYER
1 cup dates
3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1 ½ tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Sprinkle of salt
CHOCOLATE COATING
Make this in two batches; each batch with the amounts below -- see lesson alert above
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup melted coconut oil
¼ cup sweetener (brown rice syrup, maple syrup, or agave syrup)
INSTRUCTIONS
COOKIE BASE
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
Mix all dry ingredients of the cookie base in a bowl, then add the date paste, almond milk, and peanut butter and mix until well combined.
Spread the mixture evenly onto baking paper in a 9in x 6in baking pan.
Place the cookie base in the oven for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Date Paste (if you need to make it from scratch)
For the date paste, boil water then allow dates to soak in the boiled water for 10-15 minutes.
Drain the water from the dates into a measuring cup.
Put the dates into a blender, then pour ¾ cup of the “date water” in with them.
Blend dates until they are a consistent paste.
If it’s too thick, add a little date water and blend again until desired.
CARAMEL LAYER
Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Spread the caramel layer evenly on top of the cookie base in the pan.
Refrigerate the pan for at least an hour.
CHOCOLATE COATING
After the cookie and caramel pan has been in the fridge for at least an hour, lift the soon-to-be-snickers out of the pan using the corners of the baking paper.
Place the baking paper and dessert on a cutting board and slice into thin bars.
Put cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, and sweetener in a bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Note: it’s very important to use a whisk or the sweetener will just sit at the bottom of the bowl. Second note: don’t forget to make this chocolate mix in two batches because it hardens quickly.
Get a fresh piece of baking paper and place it on something you can put into the fridge. A larger pan than what you’ve used so far may be useful so you can space out the bars or multiple small pans or plates work too. :)
Get a shallow, wide bowl and pour in a thin amount of the chocolate mixture.
Take one sliced bar and place it carefully into the chocolate mixture.
Using a spoon, scoop more chocolate onto the bar until you can’t see the cookie or caramel layers on top or on the sides. Be careful not to use too much -- you can scoop some out of the shallow wide bowl back onto the bar.
Take two forks and slide them under the short ends of the slice.
Lift the slice and place on the fresh piece of baking paper.
Repeat for each slice of bars until the chocolate mixture runs out.
Remake the second half of the chocolate mixture and continue until all the bars are covered and in a fridge-sized tray of some kind.
Place all bars in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Eat and enjoy!
