Vegan Double Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies

You’d never guess that these decadent-tasting vegan gluten-free double chocolate caramel sandwich cookies are made with oat flour, tahini, and coconut sugar! Date caramel is spread in between two double chocolate tahini oat flour cookies in this delicious dessert.

Let’s talk about dessert for a second, shall we? My dad is someone I look up to in many ways, not least because of his relaxed attitude towards food. While he has always been what I would affectionately refer to as a “health nut,” his approach has never been one of restriction, but rather of curiosity, and always wanting to fuel himself and his family with quality food.

He often recounts a story of our time in Whitehorse, Yukon (where my brother and I were born) during the early to mid 1990s, when my parents regularly shopped at Food For Thought, the (sadly now closed) local health food store. My dad admits that despite his lifelong affinity for sweets, he felt that he needed to change his dessert-loving ways if he wanted to be the true embodiment of health. One day, while shopping at Food For Thought, he observed the owner, Marion, enjoying a hearty slice of cheesecake from the local bakery. Surprised that the owner of a health food store, whom my parents looked up as a model of good health, would be eating such a dessert, he commented that he, too, enjoys his sweets and didn’t expect that she would, too. Her reply? That she enjoys dessert regularly, and feels that it helps her to feel satisfied after a meal.

Well, needless to say, that permanently changed my dad’s outlook on dessert. While both of my parents have always been health conscious, and made sure that our homemade desserts were on the healthier side, never has my dad displayed any sort of guilt or shame around sweets. I’m pretty lucky to have grown up in such an environment, and while I definitely struggled with restriction for a long time, I can’t blame anyone in my family for it!

Because I have been staying with my parents for quite a few months now (COVID threw a bit of a wrench into my moving out plans), we have eaten dinner together more nights than not. And every dinner ends with a homemade sweet. Most of the time, we are either taste testing one of my new creations, or my dad makes my almond butter brownies (always with a scoop of Coconut Bliss). Over the past month, we have also baked and joyfully indulged in two chocolate birthday cakes (one for my mom and dad’s birthdays, another for my sister in law’s). Enjoying meals together as a family is a gift under any circumstances, but during the pandemic, it’s become a ritual that we take even less for granted. I think that life’s simple pleasures have become so much more cherished in recent months, and that includes enjoying desserts, made with love, with people you love.

which brings me to these vegan double chocolate caramel sandwich cookies!

These cookies are a hybrid of two of my favourite dessert recipes on the blog: Vegan Peanut Butter S’mores Cookies and Vegan Almond Butter Brownies with Salted Date Caramel! For the cookies, I’ve replaced the peanut butter with tahini, omitted the vegan marshmallows, and added cocoa for a double chocolate twist. They’re oil-free and gluten-free, but you’d never know it given how decadent they look and taste. The caramel layer is the exact same recipe as the date caramel icing from the brownies, except that instead of almond butter, you’ll use tahini. If you’ve made the brownies, you know the drill: You just toss dates, tahini, coconut oil, lemon juice, almond milk, and a pinch of salt into a food processor and blend until smooth.

ingredients you need

For the cookies:

• Flax, tahini, coconut sugar, maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla extract, oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, and chocolate chips

For the date caramel:

• Soft Medjool dates, tahini, coconut oil, lemon juice, almond milk, and sea salt

step by step instructions

1. In a large bowl, prepare a flax egg by combining ground flax with water. Set aside for a couple of minutes to thicken. Then, add tahini, coconut sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, and vanilla to the bowl and whisk to combine.
2. In a smaller bowl, stir together the oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Lastly, add the chocolate chips.
3. Because the dough is very sticky, you’ll want to wet your hands to roll them into 16 balls. Transfer to two parchment paper-lined baking sheets and lightly flatten with your fingers. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. The cookies spread out during baking and form irresistible crinkly exteriors.
4. To make the date caramel, process the dates, tahini, coconut oil, lemon juice, almond milk, and salt in a food processor until smooth. Spread desired amount of icing over 8 of the cookies and top wit the remaining 8 cookies.

These cookies are very, very good. My dad loved them so much that he made them again as soon as we polished off the first batch. Unfortunately, he forgot to add the sugar, which I wouldn’t recommend doing. We still ate them, but I don’t try it. Just add the recommended amount of sugar and the cookies will turn out perfectly!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! If you make these vegan double chocolate caramel sandwich cookies, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below. And if you post a photo to Instagram, tag me @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can feature it in my stories!

ENJOY!! 🙂