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These easy no-bake vegan coconut date caramel snack bars are made with 8 simple ingredients and make for an amazingly delicious energy bar or on-the-go snack! Refined sugar-free, no added oil and grain-free option included. Jump to Recipe
These Vegan Coconut Date Caramel Snack Bars are a wonderful thing. For anyone who hasn’t discovered the beauty of date caramel before, it’s just softened dates, pureed a little liquid like a splash of non-dairy milk and a bit of fat (in this case, I used almond butter). The rich, molasses-like notes of the blended dates is just so similar to cooked caramel, but way easier to achieve. I mean, blending dates is quite a bit easier than making caramel from scratch.
For this recipe, we use exactly that glorious combination of dates and almond butter to lend a gorgeous caramel note to these vegan date snack bars – no burnt pans, no endlessly waiting for sugar to melt. There is still a tiny bit of stove-time involved as these vegan date caramel snack bars also involve toasting some shredded coconut. You will love the round nutty flavor the toasted coconut shreds add to these bars. Oats add a nice chew and make these more filling. These taste like a healthier samoa cookies! They can be made grainfree and Nutfree.
If you love caramel, coconut and chocolate try these out you will not regret it!
Coconut Date Snack Bars.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried shredded coconut, Use small shreds that are super fresh and white
- 10 soft dates, pitted
- 1/2-1 cup of nuts and seeds, such as pecans, pumpkin, chia seeds, cashews, etc
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 3-4 tsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add the coconut to a skillet over medium heat, and toast until lightly golden. Once the pan is heated, the coconut toasts really quickly, so watch the pan closely for about 3-4 minutes. Cool for a few min s
- Transfer the coconut and dates to a food processor, and process until dates have broken down consistently.
- Add the seeds and nuts and process again until they are a coarse mixture and there are no large pieces. Add half of the oats and process again to break them down.
- Add the rest of the oats, almond butter, maple syrup, and salt. Pulse a couple of times for the mixture to completely mix in. If the mixture isn't sticky enough, add another tsp of maple syrup, and pulse a couple of times again, then transfer this doughy mixture to a parchment-lined brownie pan. Press it down really well using a spatula or a spoon.
- Melt the chocolate on a double boiler until completely melted, then drizzle all over. Let the brownie pan sit in the fridge for at least an hour to set, then slice.Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- These can be made grain-free by omitting oats. Add more nuts and seeds instead.
- to make these Nut-free, use seeds instead of nuts and sunflower seed butter instead of almond butter
- If you want, add some vanilla essence.
- Any nuts and seeds work here. Pick your favorites.
- You could use agave or brown rice syrup in lieu of maple syrup.
- Store these bars in the fridge for up to three weeks, or freeze for a few months
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- dried shredded coconut. Go for the good stuff – you are looking for small shreds that are super fresh and white.
- soft dates – any soft dates are easiest to blend and have a wonderful caramelly taste.
- nuts and seeds, such as pecans, pumpkin, chia seeds, cashews, etc. Use your favorites. For extra flavor, toast them first. I like cashews and pecans in these. To make them without nuts, use pumpkin, sunflower and hemp seeds
- old fashioned oats – quick oats would work too.
- almond butter – or your favorite seed butter for a nut-free version
- maple syrup is added for some sweetness. We don’t need much as the dates lend lots of sweetness to these bars.
- dark chocolate chips are my choice here but you can just chop up some vegan bar chocolate if you don’t have chips. Make sure your chocolate chips are vegan.
Tips & Substitutions:
- These can be made grain-free by omitting oats. Add more nuts and seeds instead.
- If you want, add some vanilla essence.
- Any nuts and seeds work here. Pick your favorites.
- Agave syrup or brown rice syrup can be used in lieu of maple syrup.
How to make Coconut Caramel Date Bars:
-Add the coconut to a skillet over medium heat, and toast until lightly golden. Once the pan is heated, the coconut toasts really quickly, so stand around the pan for about 3-4 minutes.
Transfer the coconut and dates to a food processor, and process until dates have broken down consistently.
Now, add the seeds and nuts and process again until they are a coarse mixture and there are no large pieces.
Add half of the oats and process again to break them down.
Add the rest of the oats, almond butter, maple syrup, and salt.
Pulse a couple of times for the mixture to completely mix in. If the mixture isn’t sticky enough, then add another tsp of maple syrup, and pulse a couple of times again.
Transfer this doughy mixture to a parchment-lined brownie pan. Press it down really well using a spatula or a spoon.
Melt the chocolate on a double boiler until completely melted, then drizzle all over. Let the brownie pan sit in the fridge for at least an hour to set, then slice.
How to store Caramel Date Bars
Store these bars in the fridge for up to three weeks, or freeze for a few months.
MORE SNACK BARS AND BITES FROM THE BLOG
- Carrot Cake Bites – They taste like Carrot Cake! you all have been loving them. GF
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls with Rice Krispies/Oats– Cannot get any better than pb and chocolate. GF
- Seedy Chocolate Snack Bars – no dates! GF
- Golden Sesame Balls – Because turmeric GF
- Mojito Energy Balls – so fresh and zesty! GF
- Blueberry Muffin Energy Bites – these snack balls Taste like blueberry muffins. GF
- Vegan Snickers Bars
Fantastic! Made them a couple of times. I put them in my kids lunch box as a way to replace the Z bar and cliff bar addictions.
Yay!
Great recipe, tasty !!! Definitely a keeper
awesome, thanks
These are amazing! I blitzed everything separately in my nutribullet then mixed it in a bowl. I also added in the choc chips by accident but it was still really nice!
sweet – nice accident! haha
These taste exactly like healthy Samoa cookies! So good! Making another batch tomorrow!
Very nice recipes
Excited to try these! Can you give me a rough idea of the amount of dates? The recipe says ten, but there are so many different sizes of dates out there and the ones I usually get are on the small side. Any idea in terms of either grams or cups?
sure thing – about 240 grams
Outstanding just like all of your recipes. I toasted pecans and sunflower seeds and followed recipe as written. I was worried it wouldn’t stick together but it did after refrigerated. My husband just ate one large piece, then cut himself a second piece. Guess I’ll be making them again in a few days. Thanks, Richa!
Awesome!
These look delicious! Do you think I could substitute tahini or peanut butter for the almond butter? Thank you for sharing such amazing recipes!!
Yes
those look wonderful but sadly i don’t have a food processor. Would it be possible to make them without one? thanks.
Yes you’d have to chop the dated and nuts and mix. Chop the dates small. They’ll become a sticky mess, but that’s what we want to keep the bars together. Then add the nut butter etc and press and mix and somewhat knead into a dough and press then into a pan
Thanks i appreciate the help and can’t wait to try them.