Healthier homemade gluten free + vegan snickers bars – a soft, nut flour crust topped with a simple date + peanut caramel and finished off with a layer of chocolate. Just prep, set & enjoy!
What’s your favourite type of candy bar? Also – do peanut butter cups count as candy bars?
Seeing as how this is now my third snickers style recipe here on this site (see my vegan snickers cheesecake bars here & healthier homemade snickers bars here) I think it’s safe to say I’m all about the snickers bar. That said, I’m quite keen on a butterfingers too, but I’ll save my love of those for another day.
Today we’re talking snickers – chocolatey, peanut-y, caramel-y, nogat-y goodness.
Let’s get to it!
How to Make these Vegan Snickers Bars
Altogether these bars are made up of ten ingredients and three layers. It might look and sounds like a lot at first glance but they all come together fairly quickly and without too much effort.
Bottom Layer
First things first: the bottom crust. This is made up of only four ingredients: a blend of almond and coconut flour, melted coconut oil, and maple syrup.
Simply mix all of these together in a bowl until a soft dough forms. The dough may look crumbly, but if you clump together a handful it should stick.
Once mixed, transfer to a lined 8×8 inch baking tin and press down into the bottom of the pan to form an even layer and that’s it for the crust! Set the pan aside for now.
The Caramel Layer
Moving on: time to make our date caramel. The caramel is made up of a pitted medjool dates, peanut butter, almond milk, coconut oil and a touch of vanilla extract.
To make, add everything to a good blender and process until mostly smooth. In the end you should be left with a thick, nougat-y mixture. It is thick, but it will spread. Add the caramel to the bottom crust and gently spread over the top to create your middle layer.
Top of the caramel with a layer of salted peanuts. Sprinkle the nuts over the top and then gently press into with the palm of your hand.
The Chocolate
Finally, melt together a tablespoon of coconut oil with some chopped chocolate and pour over the top. Tilt the pan from side to side to help spread the chocolate around. Try your best to cover every last corner.
Once your bars are formed, transfer the tin to the fridge or freezer to set until you’re ready to slice.
Pop this in the freezer for about 30 minutes if you’re in a hurry to get to the goods. If you’re not short on time go ahead and leave this in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Whichever route you choose here is totally fine – it’s up to you!
Just make sure that if you do leave these bars in the freezer for more than a couple of hours at a time you will need to let them thaw out for at least 10-15 minutes before you bite into a slice.
Questions & Tips
Do I have to use a blender?
- Yes! The first time I made these I did it all by hand.
- When it comes to making the date caramel, roughly chop up the dates using a large knife on a cutting board. When the dates become too sticky to keep chopping, transfer them to a large mixing bowl and use your hands to pull apart and mash the dates into a sticky mixture. From here you can mix in the remaining date ingredients.
- It’s does take a little more elbow grease making these without a blender but it’s still totally doable!
Can I make this paleo?
- Yes! These vegan snickers bars are already grain & refined sugar free. That said, peanuts are not technically paleo so if you’re interested in a more paleo friendly version of these bars you can use another nut butter + nut combo instead. I think cashews would be lovely here.
Can I use a different type of date here?
- Technically yes, but you may need to tweak the recipe to accommodate different dates here. Medjool dates are larger and softer than most other types of dates. They also have a more caramel-y flavour that lends itself here well.
- If you use another type of date you’ll probably need to add more and your bars might not be quite as sweet.
How long do these keep & how to store?
- Keep these bars store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
So – back to my original question: What’s your favourite type of candy?! If you’re got any request for healthier, homemade versions of your favourites let me know in the comments below!
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No Bake Vegan Snickers Bars
Homemade, no bake vegan snickers bars - learn how to make a healthier version of your favourite candy bar with only 10 ingredients!
Ingredients
Bottom Layer
- 1/2 cup coconut flour (56 g)
- 1 1/2 cup almond flour or almond meal (144 g)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (55 g)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (80 g)
Caramel
- 200 grams medjool dates, pits removed (about 12 dates)
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (125 g)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (30 g)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (60 ml)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 ml)
Topping
- 1/2 cup salted peanuts (65 g)
- 150 grams vegan chocolate, melted
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil (15 g)
Instructions
Bottom Layer
Mix together all of the ingredients for the bottom layer (coconut flour, almond flour, coconut oil and maple syrup) together in a medium sized mixing bowl until fully combined.
Transfer the dough to a lined 8x8 inch baking tin. Make sure to leave an inch of liner hanging over the side so that you can easily pull out the bars.
Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan in an even layer. Set aside.
Caramel Layer
Add the dates, peanut butter, coconut oil, almond milk and vanilla extract to a blender and blend until combined. It's ok if there are a few larger pieces of dates left but you want most of the dates to be broken up and mixed.
Spread the caramel date mixture over the top of the spread out bottom layer.
Toppings
Scatter the peanut over the top of the caramel. Gently press the peanuts into the caramel.
Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the top of the peanuts and spread out to the sides of the pan.
Set
Place the baking tin in the freeze for about 30 minute or the fridge for about 1 1/2-2 hours until set. Once the top layer of chocolate is set you can slice the bars up and enjoy.
Notes
Keep the bars stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Do I have to use a blender?
- Yes! The first time I made these I did it all by hand.
- When it comes to making the date caramel, roughly chop up the dates using a large knife on a cutting board. When the dates become too sticky to keep chopping, transfer them to a large mixing bowl and use your hands to pull apart and mash the dates into a sticky mixture. From here you can mix in the remaining date ingredients.
- It’s does take a little more elbow grease making these without a blender but it’s still totally doable!
Can I make this paleo?
- Yes! These vegan snickers bars are already grain & refined sugar free. That said, peanuts are not technically paleo so if you’re interested in a more paleo friendly version of these bars you can use another nut butter + nut combo instead. I think cashews would be lovely here.
Can I use a different type of date here?
- Technically yes, but you may need to tweak the recipe to accommodate different dates here. Medjool dates are larger and softer than most other types of dates. They also have a more caramel-y flavour that lends itself here well.
- If you use another type of date you’ll probably need to add more and your bars might not be quite as sweet.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16 squaresServing Size:
1 squareAmount Per Serving: Calories: 223Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 74mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 3gSugar: 16gProtein: 4g
Lucy Rae says
Highly recommend. It was easy and quick, with good results. We used cashews instead of peanuts. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! Thanks, Lucy! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for coming back to let me know what you thought 🙂
Lucija says
I am making these for years and this ks deginitely the best recipe for healthy Snickers 🙂
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed them so much! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment – it really does make my day 🙂
FATMA BUDEBS says
hello, can I use regular gluten-free flour? or does it have to be almond and coconut
Sarah Nevins says
Hi there! I can’t recommend regular gluten free flour here as I’ve only ever tested this with almond and coconut and they’re not flours that are easily interchanged with grain based flours.
Iza says
how can i use normal dates instead of these mejool dates ?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Iza – it really depends on what type of dates you want to use. Medjool are ideal because they’re big and sweet. You could use something like deglet noor but you’d probably need to use more because they’re not as big. If you don’t mind playing around and adding more dates as you need you can try using another type here
K says
Could you use plain flour for this recipe? Thanks
Sarah Nevins says
Hi K! It could work (sort of), but the amount of flour needed would need to be tweaked. Almond and especially coconut flour work very different from plain all purpose flour so you can’t swap them out for equal amounts of plain flour. Unfortunately I’m not sure how much you’d need without testing it out myself first
chahinez @lifestyleofafoodie says
Would you have any tips on how to make the top layer as smooth as yours? When I made mine, I couldn’t help but use a spatula to smooth out the chocolate and that kinda left me with a not so smooth final layer 🙁 !!
Other than that, it tasted AMAZING!
Sarah Nevins says
So glad you liked them! I just try to use a small bowl that’s deep enough to fully submerge the bars and then lower them in with a fork so I don’t have to touch the tops or sides. The first few are always nice and smooth but as I get the end and start running out of chocolate that’s when things start to get a little messy
Leanne says
This is soooooo delicious!! Thankyou for sharing. No problems with crumbling here, though I did find it a bit tricky to slice without either cracking the top (from refigerated) or squishing the caramel layer (when not refigerated). Solved it by heavily scoring the chocolate before refigerating, then cutting the whole way through once the slice was frozen. This resulted in nice squares. Going straight to the top of my favourites list!
Sarah Nevins says
Ooh that’s a really good idea! So glad you enjoyed these – thanks Leanne!
Judi Williams says
Followed the directions to a tee. Easy to make, Taste is good, however, bottom layer crumbles, frozen or thawed. Makes a mess and makes me sad.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Judi! Did you measure the coconut flour out in weight or in cups? It’s a very absorbent flour that can make things feel too dry if not enough moisture is added. When using cups you can often run the risk of adding a little too much flour. If you plan on making these again I’d recommend increasing either the maple or the coconut oil in the crust by 1-2 tablespoons. A little more moisture should help!
Natalie says
I love Snickers! These bars look amazing!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Natalie!