These easy, 4-ingredient chocolate peanut butter vegan date bars are a delightful plant-based treat. They make for an amazing addition to your breakfast or a healthy on-the-go snack! These vegan date bars are made with dates (obviously), so they are super creamy and sweet as can be! Dates are an amazing source of fiber that helps everything move as freely and smoothly through your gorgeous bod as it should.
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The Fabulous 4… Ingredients For Vegan Date Bars
Pitted dates
Medjool dates work best in this chocolate date bars recipe due to their chewy, soft texture and almost caramel-like taste.
Other dates will also work in this recipe. For optimum results, soak your dates (the edible kind not anyone you’re dating, haha) in warm water for a few hours, then rinse and pat dry to soften them before blending.
Peanut butter
Try and look out for simple peanut butter with minimal ingredients. PB with lots of added sugar, salt, or oil won’t have the same fresh, wholesome taste that 100% natural peanut butter will provide to this recipe.
You could also use different nut butter, such as cashew, hazelnut, or almond butter if you are not a fan of peanuts.
Raw Cacao
Raw cacao is an ingredient all my fellow self confessed chocoholics will adore. Cacao is the raw dried paste from the cacao nibs and offers a super-rich dark chocolate flavor to your date bar. Cacao powder also helps keep the ingredients together without using flour.
Pecans
Dry roasted pecans are superior, due to the protein changes the nuts go through when roasted that enhance the flavor.
If you struggle to find pecans in your local store… then find a new place to shop. Just kidding! You can use other nuts to replace the pecans, such as walnuts, almonds, cashews, brazil nuts. You could even use a mixed bag of nuts for a wider variety of flavors in your date bars.
Additional Topping Ideas
If you want to get a little more creative, you can top your vegan date bars with other dried fruits, including dried apricot and cranberries or cacao nibs for some extra crunch.
Drizzle on some melted dark chocolate or runny nut butter to add a homemade touch to the tops of the squares.
Although, in theory, coconut shavings would taste incredible with the cacao and peanut butter in this recipe, they tend to go a bit soggy with the moisture from the date bars.
FAQ
Of course! Freezing is beneficial if you like to have your chocolate peanut butter date bars on hand at all times. Pop the date squares into a freezer bag or airtight container before freezing. Defrost as many date bars as you need for the day for about 1-2 hours before eating for the best texture. And make sure you don’t underestimate your appetite as there is nothing worse than defrosting one square to have to wait another hour to go back for seconds!
This recipe uses just four ingredients, it is pretty easy to troubleshoot when the mix isn’t looking as you had hoped. The general rule is, if the mixture isn’t sticking together, you need to use more dates, and if the mix is too sticky, you need to use fewer dates and extra cacao.
More Vegan Snack Ideas
I hope you LOVE this vegan date bar recipe. It’s:
Sweet
Smooth
Nutritious
Crunchy
& Energizing!
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and remember to take a pic and tag it #raepublic on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Cheers, lovely!
Recipe
Peanut Butter Date Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups [semi-packed] Medjool dates, pitted (roughly 30 dates)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup raw cacao
- 2 tablespoons dry-roasted pecans, or whatever nut you like
Instructions
- Process: Place all ingredients in food processor and blend away.
- Combine: The mixture should be well combined and a bit loose.
- Prep: Line a cookie sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper.
- Firm up: Transfer mixture to cookie sheet, spread out smoothly to about one inch thickness, and place in fridge for minimum of 30 minutes.
- Store: When firm, cut to desired size and store in sealed container.
Notes
Nutrition
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These are so freakin’ incredible!!
Yay! Glad you enjoyed this recipe.