While we were traveling through Bali, we spent a TON of time at this adorable little healthy restaurant near one of our Airbnb’s in Uluwatu. And it had so many delicious raw vegan treats to choose from. I’m not a raw vegan eater, but I do love those types of desserts. Every day we would buy a few to eat at home and we almost always bought the raw twix bars there. They were phenomenal. So I put it on my list of things to make once I got back home. I’ve made this recipe a handful of times now and I still don’t feel confident saying they are vegan twix bars. But I do feel comfortable calling them caramel cookie bars because that’s exactly what they are. And they are DELICIOUS!!
Speaking of vegan, have you watched the documentary The Game Changers on Netflix? My husband and I watched it recently and really liked it. I thought it was one of the few vegan documentaries out there that was well done and wasn’t a full scare tactic type of movie. I eat more veggie meals than meat meals nowadays just because that’s what my body is craving, but I’m definitely not anti-meat whatsoever, especially humanely raised, grass-fed and finished, organic meats. And even though I thought the movie was interesting, I think it’s important to hear both sides and get the full science breakdown. And that’s something Chris Kresser talked about on Joe Rogan’s podcast, episode #1389. If you watch Game Changers, I highly recommend listening to that podcast episode, too, to get both sides so you can figure out your own opinion!
This was the first PaleOMG recipe I made in our new kitchen!! We moved this time last week and are now finally feeling pretty settled. I FREAKING LOVE our new house. It is everything we had hoped for when we started looking. We have so much room in our pantry now, so much drawer space in our kitchen, and so much light throughout. I spend 90% of my life at home since I work from home, so having a house that works with my business is the absolute best!! And now we actually have space to host a real family Christmas. Before our house was so tight, hosting just felt overwhelming. But now we have room to move about, cook dinners, open presents, and do whatever. I’M SO DAMN EXCITED!!!
Now I want to start planning a fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day menu, and start making new traditions with our family. This is the first time in years and years that I’ve felt excited about the holidays. I changed my attitude around at the start of 2019 and it’s really continued on the entire year. It’s the best! Do you guys have any holiday traditions I should know about? Or any recipes you have to have at your own table? I want to learn how to be the hostess with the mostest this year. Teach me your ways!!
Raw Vegan Caramel Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 bars 1x
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- pinch of salt
For the caramel
- 10 medjool dates, pitted
- 5.4oz can of coconut cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the chocolate layer
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Line a bread pan with parchment paper and spray the edges with some coconut oil spray.
- Place medjool dates in a bowl and fill with water. Let soak for about 5 minutes before draining.
- While the dates soak, add all ingredients for the crust into a food processor and pulse until completely combined. The dough should mix into a slight ball once combined. Put dough in the bread pan and use your fingers to press dough around evenly throughout the pan.
- Add the soaked dates to a food processor and pulse to break down. Add the coconut cream, vanilla extract, and salt, then turn the food processor on, scraping down the sides as needed. You’ll need to blend the date mixture for about 2 minutes, until completely smooth.
- Pour the date mixture on top of the crust, smooth throughout, then place in the freezer to freeze for 3 or more hours.
- Pull the pan out of the freezer and pull the edges of the parchment paper to lift the caramel bars out of the pan. Use a sharp knife to cut it into 8-10 bars then place on a cooling rack with parchment paper underneath. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave or double boiler. Use a spoon to pour the chocolate on top of the caramel, waving the spoon back and forth. Then all you gotta do is serve! These bars are a little messy if you try to eat them with your hands, so I recommend a spoon. But you do you, baby boo. Store in fridge!
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More Raw Desserts For Ya!
No-Bake Chocolate Caramel Tarts
No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cream Bars
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This recipe is very intriguing! Thanks for sharing – quick question, I know you made with almond flour and regular flour isn’t paleo, but are you familiar if I switched out almond flour for regular flour if that should work? My daughter has a nut allergy, but I still thought these would be great to try!
Thanks so much!
i honestly have ZERO CLUE. i’ve never made anything with real flour so i can’t say for sure. but it’s worth a try!
I don’t think you’re supposed to eat raw wheat flour, so probably best to find another substitute.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Making these ASAP.
hope you like them Anastasia!
These look so good! Have you ever been to Taspen’s Cosmic Kitchen in Conifer? They have paleo twix bars that look like a flatter version of these. I sometimes plan hikes in that area solely to go there after. Can’t wait to try these at home and see if they taste similar or even better!
never heard of it!! i’ll have to try that spot sometime!
These sound amazing!! I don’t have a food processor, just a Vitamix and I know it can be somewhat tricky to avoid things turning into a paste… think I could make it work with a Vitamix or is there no point?
i think so, i would just make sure you’re not blending for too long!
Oh hell yeah. These are giving me Twix vibes. Im here for this.
hope you like them Alli!
These were easy and delicious! I did use Lily’s no sugar added chocolate chips and it still came out great.
Um wow! These look so freaking good and I bet would be really good from the freezer!
(In response the commenter above, regular flour would not taste good! I’m a trained pastry chef and flour would taste like cardboard and dry. Think what cornstarch tastes like when it hasn’t cooked into a sauce yet. No bueno! She could try something like tigernut (it’s not a nut but a tuber).
Anyways… family traditions here are:
decorating the tree with all of the tacky, homemade ornaments on Christmas Eve, tapas for dinner on Christmas Eve while watching “The Night They Saved Christmas”, homemade biscuits & gravy + cinnamon rolls on Christmas while opening gifts+ mimosas (hello carbs!), gingerbread house decorating competition, local festive Christmas lights in the park, and cookies/adult beverages with Santa. 😉
Now as an adult and mom, I look forward to watching my daughter open her gifts (she is 5) then being able to CLEAN everything and get ready for NYE!
I hope Christmas in your new house is so special!
love the idea of tapas on Christmas Eve! that’s such a fun idea!
If I wanted to replace the coconut cream in this recipe, about how much is the volume used here? Or should I use the same number of ounces of my replacement? The recipe calls for 5.4 ounces of coconut cream, and I’d usually be confident replacing ingredients, but that amount makes me unsure. Thanks!
what are you replacing it with?
I am making these ASAP! Been following you for as long as I can remember and i LOVE all the recipes I have tried but love all your commentary before the recipes just as much! Christmas is my jam and I have a ton of little things we do that make it super fun! We play find the pickle on the tree, Christmas Eve pjs ( everyone wears new pjs purchased by mom), and the best part are the morning balls! Every Christmas morning since I was a kid my mom has made three balls ( as I kid I just giggled asking for the balls); Tuna ball, beef ball, and olive/pecan ball. We sit around and eat them all morning and it’s glorious!
well that all sounds absolutely lovely!