Want your favorite candy bar, but vegan? We got you! These perfect vegan snickers bars are even better than the original!
Vegan candy bars! If only they were more accessible. It seems like it’s getting very easy to find a bar of chocolate or even a peanut butter cup at most stores; however, beyond that it’s almost impossible. Therefore, we are taking matters into our own hands and creating these absolutely delicious and amazing vegan snickers bars!
There is something truly amazing about the combination of chocolate, caramel and peanuts together; however, when you can veganized it and make it cruelty free, it’s even more mind boggling.
You will absolutely love this recipe if you loved snickers before. It’s so amazing to see that ingredients come together.
Grab your candy thermometer and let’s get to work!
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VEGAN SNICKERS BARS INGREDIENTS:
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make these vegan candy bars. There are four layers to these candy bars. They are:
Nougat and Peanut Layers
- creamy peanut butter and peanuts – Peanuts are a focal point of traditional snickers. Creamy peanut butter is smoother and allows for a better mixing and spreading process. The peanuts that we are using are roasted, but unsalted.
- maple syrup and powdered sugar – for sweetness, we are using both types. The maple helps with moisture, while the powdered sugar helps our layer set
- almond flour – we are using almond flour here because it doesn’t need to be heat treated allowing us to more more quickly through the process instead of adding another layer of steps.
Caramel Layer
- Corn syrup – this specific type of sugar helps to reduce any chance of grainy caramel forming. We are using light corn syrup in this recipe
- Vegan Cane Sugar – moisture and sweetness is balanced with sugar and corn syrup together
- Coconut Cream – traditional caramel uses heavy cream, but since we don’t have many options for that as a vegan, we are using coconut cream. This is the thick part of canned coconut milk
- vegan butter – this adds richness and makes the final product more smooth
- salt – just a pinch of salt to help the flavors pop
Chocolate Layer
- vegan chocolate chips – pick your favorite brand! Enjoy Life or the Top 8 Free from Walmart’s Great Value brand are our go tos
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
Nougat and Peanut Layers
- creamy peanut butter and peanuts – try adding pretzels instead of or in additional to the peanuts; the peanut butter can be subbed with any nut or sun butter. For a fun twist, try cookie butter!
- maple syrup – try agave, date syrup, or another liquid sweetener
- powdered sugar – we don’t recommend subbing this ingredient
- almond flour – coconut flour could be subbing – for allpurpose or gluten free, see of tips below
Caramel Layer
- Corn syrup – we have not tried swapping, but you could try with brown rice syrup or golden syrup. Possibly even agave. These many crystalized more than using the corn syrup
- Cane Sugar – can swap with brown sugar
Caramel is very finicky and we wouldn’t recommend swapping out or changing many things without knowing exactly how It’s going to change the recipe
Chocolate Layer
- vegan chocolate chips – you could sub chips for vegan chocolate bars as well
Frequently Asked Questions:
YES! You can make these up to 2 weeks ahead of time.
We recommend that you store them in an air tight container in the fridge. They will last at least 2 weeks this way. You can also store at room temperature for 5-7 days, but they will be much softer. If storing in the fridge, allow to set at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before or microwave for 15-20 seconds to soften the caramel.
Yes! You can store in a freezer safe bar or container for up to 3 months. Allow to come to room temperature before consuming.
Definitely not one that you think you could make top 8 allergen friendly, but we can walk you through some ideas although we have not tried these. For the nouget layer – sub almond flour for a heat treated gluten free flour and use sunbutter instead of peanut butter.
For the peanuts – try subbing with crunchy gluten free pretzels.
Enjoy Life and Walmart both make Top 8 Free chocolate chips that are vegan friendly.
Lastly, for the caramel layer – use a soy free butter like Flora or Earth Balance. Honestly, we highly recommend NOT subbing the coconut cream but you could try for a very thick non-dairy milk like extra creamy oat milk.
*Alternative – while we don’t have a date caramel, you could potential use that for that layer if you have a coconut allergy. We’d recommend freezing the layers together if you do this, since we don’t know how that would react together and if it would set without being frozen until dipping in chocolate. Like this date caramel but with oat milk.
Our first recommendation would be to sub with coconut flour. We highly suggest doing almond or coconut flour for this recipe. This is because this recipe is not cooked and these flours aren’t raw.
If you only have all-purpose or need to use a gluten free flour – we recommend heating treating the flour first. See how to heat treat flour.
Traditional caramel is very finicky. Vegan caramel is even more so. You truly need it to be at the right temperature for this recipe to work. Therefore, we HIGHLY recommend you use a candy thermometer. This is the candy thermometer that we use.
What other vegan fall dessert recipe ideas could I make?
- Vegan Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- Black Chocolate Vegan Brioche Donuts
- Vegan White Chocolate Reeses
- Traditional Vegan Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
- Vegan Caramel Apples
Pin these vegan caramel apples for later!
Let’s see your creations!
Share to Instagram and tag us @makeitdairyfree so we can see and share it!
Vegan Snickers Bars
Ingredients
Nougat Layer
- 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (any nut or sunbutter will work as well)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1-2 tbsp coconut oil, optional for easier mixing
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup almond flour *see post for flour substitutes
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Peanut Layer
- 1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, divided
Caramel Layer
- 1 cup vegan cane sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup coconut cream (thick part of canned coconut milk)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt, optional
Chocolate Layer
- 10 oz vegan chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
- Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment and spray it with oil.
For the Nougat Layer
- In a medium size bowl, add together peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and coconut oil (if using). Beat until combined well. Add in almond flour and powdered sugar and mix again. *Should look crumbly but not dry see the video for reference.
- Pour into prepared pan and press into an even flat layer.
For Peanut Layer
- Add 2/3 cup of peanuts on top, spreading them evenly across.
For Caramel Layer
- To a medium saucepan with high walls, add sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir together to moisten the sugar. Attach a candy thermometer and put on the stove over medium heat. Cook for 6-10 minutes or until mixture reaches 320 degrees F. *Do not turn your temperature up or down to make this go faster, you need consistency for caramel.
- Add butter and coconut cream in four parts, stirring after each*. The mixture will decrease during this process. Allow the mixture to cook until it reaches 240 degrees F. *careful of bubbling mixture
- Once temperature reached, remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Do not overmix. Add in remaining 1/3 cup of peanuts of stir again.
- Pour mixture over the peanut and nougat layers. Let sit at room temperature for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours or until set. *Make it faster: After caramel cools once poured over nougat layers, place into freezer – It should set within an hour.
For the Chocolate Layer
- Line a baking sheet with wax (preferred) or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove set layers from 8×8 pan. Invert so caramel is at the bottom. Cut into 8-10 bars.
- Melt chocolate in microwave or over a double boiler. *Add an additional 1-2 tsp of oil to thin if needed.
- Dip a bar in chocolate mixture. Let excess drain off. Place on baking sheet. Repeat until all bars have been coated.
- Place tray In the freezer for 10 minutes to set the chocolate layer.
- Store in a container in fridge for best results. Let come to room temperature before eating.
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