These gluten-free vegan oat fudge bars are so ridiculously delicious, you’d never know that they’re made with good for you ingredients like oats, almond butter, and dates. They’re both oil-free and refined sugar-free, too!
Oat fudge bars were always my favourite Starbucks treat. While I haven’t had one in a few years, I’ve thought about them often. It was only a matter of time before I created an inspired plant-based version without all of the refined sugar and oil found in the original!
These treats are made with an oat, almond butter, and coconut base and a date fudge filling that’s a riff on the date caramel icing from these almond butter brownies. Together, they form an oat fudge bar so good, the entire batch of nine bars just might disappear in one day.
Ingredients you’ll need
- For the base: Ground flax, coconut sugar, maple syrup, almond butter, almond milk, vanilla extract, baking soda, sea salt, oat flour, and rolled oats.
- For the date fudge filling: Medjool dates, almond butter, cocoa powder, almond milk, chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate, and sea salt.
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Step by Step Instructions
- Line a 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together the ground flax with water in a large bowl and wait for it to thicken. To the bowl, add coconut sugar, maple syrup, almond butter, almond milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Next, add the dry ingredients one by one, stirring after each addition. The dough will be quite sticky.
- Make the date fudge: Place the soft pitted dates, almond butter, cocoa powder, almond milk, and sea salt in a food processor. Blend until super smooth. This will take a few minutes: Initially, you will wonder if it will ever get smooth, but be patient and it will happen! Add the chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate and pulse just until incorporated.
- Wet you hands and press three quarters of the dough into the prepared baking pan. Top with the date fudge and crumble the remaining dough evenly over top.
- Bake for 20 minutes and allow the bar to cool completely before slicing. If you want a firmer bar, refrigerate before slicing.
- Store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for optimal freshness. They’ll keep for a week or more in the fridge, or for a couple of months in the freezer.
More Healthy Vegan Dessert Recipes
I hope you love these vegan oat fudge bars! If you make them, leave a comment and rating below to let me know how you enjoyed them! And if you post a photo to Instagram, tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen.
Enjoy!
Vegan Oat Fudge Bars
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 9 bars 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These gluten-free vegan oat fudge bars are so ridiculously delicious, you’d never know that they’re made with good for you ingredients like oats, almond butter, and dates. They’re both oil-free and refined sugar-free, too!
Ingredients
Base
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax plus 2.5 tbsp water)
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- ½ cup almond butter
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp real vanilla extract
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
Date Fudge Layer
- 12 SOFT pitted Medjool dates
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup almond milk
- Pinch fine sea salt
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
- Line a 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together the ground flax with water in a large bowl and wait for it to thicken. To the bowl, add coconut sugar, maple syrup, almond butter, almond milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Next, add the dry ingredients one by one, stirring after each addition. The dough will be quite sticky.
- Make the date fudge: Place the soft pitted dates, almond butter, cocoa powder, almond milk, and sea salt in a food processor. Blend until super smooth. This will take a few minutes: Initially, you will wonder if it will ever get smooth, but be patient and it will happen! Add the chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate and pulse just until incorporated.
- Wet you hands and press three quarters of the dough into the prepared baking pan. Spread the date fudge in an even layer over the base, and crumble the remaining dough evenly over top.
- Bake for 20 minutes and allow the bar to cool completely before slicing into 9 bars. If you want a firmer bar, refrigerate before slicing.
Notes
The date fudge turns out best when the dates are very, very soft and gooey. If your dates are not very soft, I recommend soaking them in warm water until they are.
For a nut-free bar, use sunflower seed butter or tahini in place of almond butter.
This recipe was inspired by Sweet Like Cocoa‘s oat fudge bars.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Snack, Gluten-Free
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Jessica says
These are the tastiest oat bars I have ever eaten! Very healthy, but tastes so naughty!! I love the photos and the way you illustrate your recipe. Very easy to follow.
Allison says
I’m so glad to hear that! I’m actually making them for dessert tonight!