Homemade Snickers Bars (Vegan)

These homemade vegan snickers bars are naturally gluten free, much lower in sugar than the real thing, and 100% delicious! This is a fun recipe to make for Halloween or a special treat for kids and adults alike.

Now that we're officially less than a month from Halloween, it's time to make homemade candy!

This year more than ever, I imagine many of you (and certainly myself) will be spending lots of time at home. Although we're all missing traveling and social events, now's the time to try those recipes you've been putting off.

Homemade candy is the perfect weekend baking project! (After all, how many loaves of sourdough bread can you make?)

These homemade snickers bars aren't the easiest recipe, but they sure are delicious! We went for authenticity instead of simplicity to try to make these as similar as possible to the real thing, while still using more natural ingredients.

These are so much fun to make, and most of the prep time is hands off (lots of chilling in the refrigerator). Plus, they store well in the refrigerator or freezer, so you can make a big batch and enjoy them for weeks!

If you're in the mood to bake, we've shared a few more of our favorite vegan candy recipes at the bottom of this post.

What should we make next?! Milky Way? Butterfingers? Let us know your favorite candy in the comments below!

Layers

A classic Snickers bar is made with a layer of nougat, a layer of caramel and peanuts and a chocolate coating.

Nougat

Real nougat is made with sugar, egg whites and usually some kind of nuts/fruit. The nougat you'll find in packaged candy bars (like actual Snickers) is made with corn syrup, hydrolyzed proteins, and all sorts of other crazy stuff.

Needless to say, it's pretty challenging to make a suitable vegan alternative to real nougat. We tried this recipe a few different ways (including vegan marshmallow fluff), and they all ended up not working or being way too complicated.

We finally landed on a combination of cashews, coconut cream and cacao butter that has a solid texture and tastes pretty similar to nougat!

Cacao (cocoa) butter is an essential ingredient for the taste factor. Cacao butter is the fat that's extracted from cacao beans. It's a cream-colored solid at room temperature that melts into a super creamy, rich, golden liquid at low heat.

It's adds a richness and depth of flavor that's pretty tough to replicate. However, if you have trouble finding it, you can sub it with melted coconut oil. This will change both the texture and flavor, but it will still work.

Caramel + peanuts

Luckily, homemade vegan caramel is much easier to make!

To create a caramel that's not too runny, we use a mixture of dates, coconut sugar, coconut cream, a little bit of peanut butter (for consistency) and some arrowroot or corn starch to thicken.

It's easy to make and SO tasty! Once the caramel is made, we stir in salted peanuts for that delicious, salty crunch that so perfectly complements that caramel.

Chocolate

Finally, the last layer is a simple mixture of melted dark chocolate and a small amount of coconut oil.

Instructions

PREP: Soak cashews in room temperature water for 2 hours. If you forget, you can soak them in very hot water for 30 minutes. Drain cashews and set aside.

MAKE NOUGAT: If using cacao butter, add to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk until completely melted. If using coconut oil, melt in microwave or saucepan until liquified. 

Add everything but cacao butter to blender until smooth and creamy. Slowly stream in melted cacao butter (or melted coconut oil). Pour into a parchment paper-lined 8x8 pan. Refrigerate!

MAKE CARAMEL: Meanwhile, pit, halve and soak dates in room temperature water for 15 minutes to soften (makes them much easier to blend!).

Drain water and add dates to a blender with remaining caramel ingredients except for the salted peanuts. Blend until smooth, then transfer to a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.

Once the caramel is thickened, remove from heat, stir in peanuts and let cool for 30-45 minutes.

FREEZE: Once cooled, gently spread the caramel over the nougat layer. If the caramel is too hot, it will soften the nougat and you won't have distinct layer. Freeze for 2-4 hours, until solid. 

CHOCOLATE COATING: Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring well in between each interval, until fully melted. Let the chocolate cool for 10 minutes. 

SERVE: Slice bars in half one way, then rotate pan and slice into relatively thin slices (about 1-1 ½" wide). Dip each slice into melted chocolate using two forks to keep it steady. Let excess chocolate drip off, then transfer to parchment paper.

Optional: top with more chopped peanuts. Return to freezer until chocolate hardens completely. Enjoy!!

Storage

Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 10 days or in the freezer (separated by layers of parchment paper) for up to 3 months.

If frozen, let defrost at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before eating (to avoid breaking a tooth 😉).

More vegan candy recipes:

• Twix Bars
• Mini Almond Joy Bites
• Peppermint Patties
• Peanut Butter Cups
• Loaded Rice Krispie Treats
• Chocolate Pecan Caramel Turtle Clusters

If you make these homemade vegan snickers bars, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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