A no-bake vegan oatmeal fudge bar that uses dates, cocoa powder, and coconut oil in place of chocolate chips and condensed milk! Rich, chocolatey, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
You can thank my fellow pumpkin-obsessed Edmontonians for the fact that I’m not bombarding you guys with another pumpkin recipe today. Thank them or call them mean and nasty names depending on which side of the pumpkin love/hate spectrum you fall on.
I think it’s pretty obvious which side I gravitate towards, which is why I almost had a [small] fit when I was in the store the other day only to discover that they were completely sold out of my favourite brand of canned pumpkin. I even combed through the rows and rows (and rows!) of pumpkin pie filling hoping to find one stuffed away somewhere, but no such luck. No pumpkin in sight.
This was problematic for a couple of reasons. First, it meant that I can no longer play nice and have to start greedily hoarding pumpkin like it’s my job (sorry!). But more importantly, it meant that I could no longer make the pumpkin bars that I had in mind. I mean, I guess I could have bought one of the pumpkins that was taunting me from a few feet away and roasted/pureed it myself, but that felt a little too much like work, and I wasn’t that desperate… especially since I remembered that I had a 2 lb. bag of dates waiting for me at home.
Or at least what used to be a 2 lb. bag of dates… Somewhere within the last two weeks, my 2 lb. bag of dates turned into a 1 lb. bag of dates… but losing half a pound a week is a perfectly healthy rate of weight loss 😉 Aaaaand that’s the story of how these No-Bake Vegan Oatmeal Fudge Bars were born #coolstorybro…
These aren’t your typical oatmeal fudge bars, though… Rather than being loaded with chocolate and condensed milk, the fudge in these bars is made up of dates and cocoa. Yup, you heard me right — dates and cocoa. I was originally planning on making a plain oatmeal date bar, but when the chocolate craving strikes, you don’t mess around. And if you have a hard time believing that dates and cocoa combined can make a rich, chocolatey, irresistible fudge, I’ll have you know that not one person that I shared these with had any idea… not one. And I may or may not have had to whip up extra fudge because I couldn’t help myself and did a little too much taste testing before I actually managed to get it from the food processor to the pan. It’s that good.
As for the crust, it tastes incredibly buttery without actually containing any butter. In fact, these bars are vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar free. They melt in your mouth and are ridiculously addictive, but full of wholesome ingredients so you don’t have to feel bad about enjoying an extra square or two!
- For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. brown rice syrup*
- 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- For the filling:
- 1 cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 – 4 Tbsp. water**
- Line an 8×8 baking pan with a sheet of aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of overhang on the sides to allow for easy removal. Set aside.
- In a food processor, process oats, almond flour, almonds, and salt until the oats and almonds have broken down and the mixture resembles a rough crumble. Add brown rice syrup and coconut oil, and continue processing until all the ingredients are well incorporated and the dough begins to stick together.
- Reserving 1/2 cup of the oat mixture, transfer the remaining dough into your prepared baking pan, using your fingers or a spatula to ensure that it is pressed down firmly and evenly.
- To make the filling, add the dates, cocoa powder, and water to the now empty food processor, and process until the dates have broken down into a paste. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, and add a splash of water if the mixture is being stubborn. You don’t want to add too much, though, since you want the paste to be quite thick.
- When you’re happy with the consistency, transfer the date fudge to the baking pan and use a spatula that’s been sprayed with cooking spray to spread it evenly over the oat mixture. Sprinkle the reserved dough over the top and gently press it down with your fingers. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into bars. Store bars in an airtight container in the fridge.
Looking for more no-bake recipes? Try one of these!
No-Bake Double Chocolate Fudge Protein Bites
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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Dates and cocoa combined is simply a BRILLIANT idea Amanda! I love dates and love chocolate but,leaping lizards, I never thought to combine them – BRILLIANT!!! And that crust with its almonds and almond flour sounds like it balances off the topping so well! I need these bars in my life! Hope your week is off to a great start!
The picture with one bite out of it has my nose.
Holy wow. I am all over this.
Ahhhh I want these!! I’m all about the dates lately… and even though its getting cooler, no bake bars are the bestttt. You don’t have to be late to your nail appt because you forget you have something in the oven (what I did yesterday…)
Oh my I actually have hearts in my eyes. I like that you use dates here too. Not so sinful right? 🙂
Confession: I’m glad your grocery store ran out of pumpkin.
I also have a lot of dates in pantry right now too, although I don’t have any almond flour. Suppose I could make some in the food processor? I love fudge (the real deal) so I feel like it’s my duty to make these and see how they stack up.
You could definitely make some, or even just toss in some extra almonds and call it good. Since it’s no bake, the dough isn’t finicky and you can do whatever your heart desires with it.
I think I just instantly started salivating. These look seriously incredible!
Also isn’t it the worst when the grocery store is sold out of something you really want? That always happens with the tofu at my local grocery store. Actually, I’m starting to think they may have stopped carrying it lol.
It is so frustrating when the grocery store is out of something you have to have!! Looks like this time it was a win-win… what a great recipe!!
All your recipes always look so amazing! I also am a little sad that I didn’t see your healthy bite recipes before I made some of my own today, as I’m sure I could have learned a thing or two from your recipes, guess I will have to peek today and take some notes! Hope all is well lady!
I’ve got to get me some almond meal! my sister is all about that stuff, but I know its expensive so I wanted to make sure there were enough recipes for me to use it with. you know how sometimes you buy something and use it once and then it just sits on the shelf? but now that I have THIS recipe, I guess I can make the purchase 😉
These remind me so much of the muffins you made with the date fudge–which I adore by the way which is why I know I’m going to love these! One of the things I love about your recipes is that in addition to being healthy, they’re really easy to make so even after working and going to school all day and then working out, I can still whip up something tasty!
Right now I’m praying that Waterloo folks aren’t huge pumpkin lovers so I can get my fix. It would seriously suck if there was none at the store…and no one wants to see me throw a tantrum 😉
But, these bars look amazing so at least something good came out of it?
Also, LOL @ losing half a pound a week is a perfectly healthy rate of weight loss <- actually made me laugh out loud haha
I’m glad you clarified, because I always assume people are staring at the screen with a blank face when they type “lol”… And as an fyi, I’m smiling as I type this comment 😉
Perfection my dear & the picture of the bar with one bite out if it has my heart!
Oh these are so gorgeous! I still haven’t used dates in my baking but I think I’m going to have to do it. I just made a version of your pumpkin bars and they are AWESOME!
Thank you lady!
I kind of really want to make these and see how many people I can fool with their vegan-ness! Date squares are my dad’s fav, too.
LOL I love your #coolstorybro hashtag. Nice, Amanda! 🙂
These look really good and, honestly, I love pumpkin but I am glad to see a non-pumpkin recipe. It gets to the point I pin SO many there is no way I’ll end up making them all. Le sigh. Or maybe I can just live off of pumpkin baked goods all the time 😀 😀
A store was already out of pumpkin??? How is that possible? It isn’t even October…Sheesh! Either way, these look fabulous…XOXO
Jumping jiminy crickets! I am going to believe you took this turn of recipes due to pitying my lack of canned pumpkin and laziness in doing my own thing too 😉 . I am very much on board with the magic that transpires on the combining of dates and cocoa…looks like I’ll need to make a turn at my neighbour/sister’s place to borrow her food processor soon. Is the choice of almond flour compulsory or do you think another flour could have potential?
I’m sure another flour would be fine!
This is toooo funny. Yesterday I made these little fudge balls and basically just threw dates, almonds, cocoa powder, and sea salt into my food processor. Totally fudge-like and delicious. There are only four left.
#whoops
Yours are 100% prettier though. And yeah, get on that cookbook.
It must be something in our crazy Canadian water 😉
i am drooling on my computer!
These look amazing and I am starving! I just need someone to whip them up for me!!! yum!
So I’m pretty sure you should just come out with your own cook book already 😉
That was clever of you to look in with the pumpkin pie filling. Every year I end up buying a can of that because they’re mixed up. So annoying.
Regardless of it being pumpkin free, this looks like a delicious snack to have on hand! I love using dates and chocolate together and adding an oatmeal crust sounds so dreamy!
I got really excited in the store for a second because I thought one of the cans was pumpkin. Now I hate pie filling even more 😆
You’ve done it again Amanda! These look so good and I love that the ingredients are so healthy! Nothing better than a guilt free indulgence 🙂
Ooh these look so good!! I almost picked up a giant container of dates at costco last week. Maybe I’ll have to go back… 🙂
Wha?? Dates and cocoa powder, who knew? I bought canned pumpkin just because. I have no plan yet for it, but I just figured I needed to have cans of pumpkin in my pantry this time of year!
Yup I stocked up on pumpkin. Hoarders 4 lyfeeee. It’s not quite winter here yet (I heard it snowed in Alberta!) so I might have been a little excessive collecting all the pumpkin and I may have ZERO space in my cupboards now, but at least I’m prepared LOL
I love the combo in these, but I especially love how they look. So pretty!!
Not that this would keep me from eating all of them….
I can’t believe that center is dates! It looks like rich chocolate fudge! What an awesome recipe Amanda – everything looks fantastic 🙂 Pinned!
Haha I’m not a huge pumpkin fan (crazy, I know) so these bars sound perfect to me!!! 🙂 I bet the texture is amazing! I can’t wait to try these!
Making these later this week! They look awesome. I’ll let you know how they turn out…although I’m pretty sure I can say now that they’re amazing:)
Can we still be friends if I admit I am on the other side of the pumpkin spectrum- I don’t get the big deal about it at all! For selfish reasons, I am glad you couldn’t get your hand on pumpkin…because look what it resulted in! These look like something I’d buy out of a bakery- so professional and delicious-looking! As you know, I’m on a roll with making snacks at home lately so bookmarking this to make soon :)!
I -guess- we can go on being friends. Only because we share a mutual love for dry cappuccinos 😛
AMAZING recipe, as always!
You are a recipe genius! Love this (like every other recipe unread of yours)! Saving to make soon. Thanks for sharing and I hope you find pumpkin soon because that’s just a shame!!
Anything no bake is my type of recipe. This looks really good and thank you for sharing. Do you have any pumpkin flavors lined up soon?
I’ve got some pumpkin recipes coming up next week, but neither of them are no-bake. Now that you mention it, though, I should probably work on one…
Oh man…talk about gooey deliciousness…you make trying to break my sweets habit verrrrry hard! lol
Awesome recipe! Pinned and making soon!!
Stop it. You are a sweets-genius. I’m trying to keep the pregnancy weight gain under control but YOU are not helping. 🙂 Seriously though, these look so good. At least they are healthy, right? Back to the grocery store I go….
But I AM helping, because they ARE healthy 😛
Yummy! Love the idea of wholesome fudge bars, not those gross, processed ones you see in the store….speaking of which, at my race the other day, one of the foods they had offered were these octagon snacks….that can best be described as twinkles with some kind of frosting and sprinkles…..not ideal post race food….KY has a lot to learn there haha! I think you need to add your pancakes to our meatless monday linkup…..brinner maybe? 🙂
Oh Yum! These remind me of the granola bars I buy from kashi that have fudge and coconut on top. They are so good.