Vegan Chocolate-Almond Cookie Bars
This isn’t the recipe I expected to be posting today, but the other recipe I was testing just wasn’t cooperating. So here we are. And honestly, things worked out pretty freakin’ well because these are real good. Like, damn good. Ooey gooey vegan chocolate-almond cookie bars with tahini, oats and topped with sea salt.
No resting the dough (unless you want to), no portioning into balls and no worrying about spreading or lack thereof. It’s all made by hand and in the oven in no time. And it results in soft, chewy and decadent vegan cookie bars with crispy edges. Basically delicious cookies in bar form. Specifically these cookies, just slightly modified.
Ingredients in these vegan cookie bars
Instead of the almond powder I used tahini and I also upped the flour just enough to help the bars set. I am all for doughy cookies but we don’t want a raw mess in the centre, ya know.
If you don’t like or don’t have tahini, it can be replaced with nut butter or nut-free butter. Or you could stick to the original chocolate chip cookie recipe and use almond powder. They’re all great options.
The other changes are to the add-ons and can be modified to suit your preference. So rather than stirring in chocolate chips to the dough, I added oats for some extra chewiness. And opted to top the whole thing with pieces of chopped dark chocolate and almonds. Plus flaky or coarse salt, obviously. It’s optional, but highly recommended. For any cookie.
But you can top it with whatever you’d like! Pecans, walnuts, peanuts, pretzels, coconut, vegan marshmallows…the possibilities are endless. It’s a great base recipe to make any vegan cookie bar, not just vegan chocolate-almond cookies bars.
If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!
Vegan Chocolate-Almond Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 110 g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 50 g neutral oil, (grapeseed, canola, vegetable…)
- 50 g brown sugar, I used dark brown
- 40 g white granulated sugar, make sure it’s vegan
- 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 10 g tahini
- 45 g plant based milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 10 g old fashioned rolled oats
- 15 g almonds, roughly chopped
- 25 g dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips
- flaky salt or coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang for easy release.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugars, cornstarch, tahini, milk, vanilla, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the flour mixture and stir until a smooth dough forms, then stir in the oats.
- Transfer the dough to your lined loaf pan and even it out with your spatula or hands. Sprinkle the chocolate and almonds on top and lightly press them in, then sprinkle with the flaky salt.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes then let cool a few minutes in the pan before pulling it out using the parchment paper overhang and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
- It’s easier to cut if it has completely cooled, refrigerated is even better if you want clean cuts.
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- The tahini can be replaced with nut butter or nut-free butter.
- You can top it with whatever you like, doesn’t have to be chocolate and almonds.
- The oats are optional but they add a nice chewiness.
- They can be kept in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week.