These Vegan Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Bars are a dream come true! With a soft almond flour cookie base, rich peanut butter caramel center and dark chocolate coating, they’re delicious and satisfying without being too sweet!
Anyone remember these Homemade Chocolate Chips from last week? They’re dairy-free, soy-free, and ready in about 30 minutes using 5 simple pantry ingredients. Not to mention, so yummy! They’re also the delightful chocolate topping to these Vegan Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Bars!
The bottom layer is a shortbread cookie made with fine almond flour, coconut oil and maple syrup. It’s not overly sweet, and the perfect, soft base for these bars.
The middle layer combines creamy peanut butter with coconut oil, sweetened with a little maple syrup. Together it takes on a caramel texture that perfectly complements the shortbread cookie base. And of course, what bars are complete without a little chocolate, right?! Which is where these Dairy-Free Homemade Chocolate Chips come in – simply melt, pour and refrigerate/freeze.
If you’d rather purchase vegan chocolate to make the top layer, rather than making your own, Enjoy Life has a great option. You can find others brands as well at your local grocery store. If keeping it vegan is important to you, just check the ingredients to make sure milk, milk fat or other dairy fillers haven’t been added. If you’re interested in reading more about vegan chocolate, you can check out this full article.
FIVE REASONS TO MAKE THESE TODAY:
- Gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo
- Completely vegan (if that’s your thing 😀)
- Rich, decadent without being too sweet
- Ready in under an hour
- NO refined sugar
In short, if you’re looking for a clean, simple, yet decadent sweet, these are for you!
Vegan Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
COOKIE LAYER:
- 1 ½ cups superfiner almond flour
- 3 tbsp refined coconut oil melted
- 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp sea salt
CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER LAYER:
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup refined coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp sea salt
CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
- 3/4 cups Dairy-Free Homemade Chocolate Chips* or chocolate of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 8x8 dish with parchment paper.
- Melt coconut oil in medium bowl, then stir in almond flour, maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt. Stir together until a cookie dough texture forms. Add dough to parchment lined pan, spread evenly and press firmly with fingers to create cookie layer. Bake for 10 minutes.
- While the shortbread cookie layer bakes, add peanut butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and sea salt to a small sauce pan. Cook over medium, stirring continuously, for 2-3 minutes or until smooth consistency is reached.
- Once shortbread layer has baked, allow to cool slightly (5-10 minutes) then spread caramel peanut butter filling over bottom later and add to freezer for about 30 minutes or until middle layer has hardened.
- Once the middle layer has hardened, add homemade dairy free chocolate chunks to small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds or until melted. Whisk the chocolate, then pour evenly over caramel peanut butter layer, smooth into an even layer.
- Freeze bars for 15-20 minutes or refrigerate 30-45 minutes, until chocolate has hardened
- Remove bars from pan, cut into 16 small squares and Enjoy!
- Store bars in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Slightly adapted from Ambitious Kitchen’s Salted Tahini Caramel Millionaire Bars.