7 October, 2015
5 Ingredient Homemade Twix Bars (Vegan, Paleo)
October calls for cleaning up more classic candy bars. I created healthy versions of Snickers, Three Musketeers, and Milky Way candy bars already, and loved all of the amazing feedback from those of you who made them at home.
Today calls for another one of my former guilty pleasures: Twix bars. But these homemade twix bars are made The Organic Dietitian way. I was able to do it with only five real food ingredients.
I experience a lot of joy recreating highly-processed foods with real foods. For these homemade Twix bars the biggest challenge was creating a shortbread cookie for the base. I wanted to make one that was vegan, gluten free, and grain free so everyone can enjoy them. Enter: coconut flour. Coconut flour has been one of my favorite flours to work with lately. Not only is it acceptable for many lifestyles, but it is a nutritional powerhouse in the flour world. Coconut flour is full of fiber, protein, and healthy fats. I love it!
The caramel element was a no brainer for me. When I think of caramel my thoughts go straight to dates. The flavor of dates remind me a lot of caramel packaged as natures perfect little fruit. I can get down with one ingredient caramel.
The caramel element was a no-brainer for me. When I think of caramel my thoughts go straight to dates. The flavor of dates reminds me a lot of caramel packaged as natures perfect little fruit. I can get down with one-ingredient caramel.
If you wanted to, you could even use candy molds to create your candy bars, but when I make something homemade, I want them to look homemade. You can see the love that way. (But those candy molds are pretty cool, right?)
What are some of your other favorite candies? I may try to recreate them with real ingredients. For now, enjoy these healthy, homemade Twix!
5 Ingredient Homemade Twix Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookie
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup raw honey or pure maple syrup
Caramel
- 20-24 large soft dates seed removed
Chocolate
- 9 ounces chocolate chips melted
- **NOTE: Due to feedback recipe amounts were updated on 10/26/2017
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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In a small bowl mix together the shortbread cookie ingredients to form a dough (it will look like wet sand).
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Press the dough into an 8x4 rectangle on a lined baking sheet. Dough should be about 1/2 inch thick.
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Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes. Put in the refrigerator to help set the crust.
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For the caramel, add the dates to a food processor and process until a paste is formed, scraping down the sides as needed.
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Spread the date caramel evenly over the cooled shortbread cookie with an offset spatula and store in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
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Cut into 12 bars and coat with melted chocolate (I melted mine in a bowl over a pot of boiling water).
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To coat with chocolate, place the individual bar into a fork. Hold the fork over the chocolate bowl. Use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the top and gently tap the fork on the edge of the chocolate bowl to remove excess chocolate.
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Allow to set on a lined baking sheet in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
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Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
Recipe Notes
Choose organic ingredients when possible.
48 Comments
Holy yum! I love that these only have a few ingredients, all of which are healthy! These are perfect for the upcoming season!
I appreciate few ingredients in recipes as well and try to do it whenever possible.. I hope you enjoy these!!
YUM!! But I don’t really get how to do the “caramel”.. It’s only dates? You rehydrate them before or cook them a little bit?
As long as they are nice and moist just blend them in a food processor. If the are a bit dry you can rehydrate them in a little water, drain, and then blend.
Great! Thank you 🙂
I am making this now and I can’t get the dough to not be liquid when I melt the coconut oil. In the oven now and it looks watery not cookie type what am I doing wrong ?
You could trying adding some more coconut flour. Sometimes the brands of coconut flour different and many we had different brands. I don’t think you did anything wrong!
Hello. A coworker made this and it was great! She gave me your website and I just made the dough and it was so runny 🙁 I added an additional 2 tbsp. of coconut flour and it looked a lot better. But I think the 8×4 dimensions left the cookie a little thin. Can you maybe post pictures of what the dough texture should look like? And how think did you roll out the dough? Thanks!
Sorry I just saw the 1/2 in thick instructions. So my question would be with the amount of ingredients would not be able to roll out an 8×4 in cookie and have it be 1/2in thick. Is it all really only in tbps?
Yes it is in tablespoons. Feel free to double the cookie recipe if that works better for the pan you are using.
Next time I make these I will definitely take some pictures of the batter. But you were right to add some additional coconut flour as it shouldn’t be too runny. Different brands of coconut flour act differently. It should be fairly thick in order to hold its shape. The cookie can be as thin as 1/4 inch and still work well. If you desire a thicker cookie you can also use a smaller pan or form the cookie on a lined sheet pan and form into the cookie and bake that way.
Thank you so much! I am going to try and re-make the recipe today 🙂 I have never used coconut products before so that could be why I was having difficulty. Thank you for your fast response!
Sure…it can take some getting used to.
These look delicious, did you top the ones in the pictures with peanuts?
I actually used a dark chocolate that had pieces of almonds in it but you could top them with nuts if you wanted. That was just what I had on hand at the time.
How did you spread the dates on the shortbread w/o the bread breaking? My crumbled. Very disappointed. I followed the instructions to a “T. What a mess.
Did you allow the cookie to cool completely before putting the date paste on? Making sure the date paste is nice and spreadable may help as well. I hope you give it another go!
Also sometimes different brands of coconut flour can have different results from what I have heard. That is a possibility too maybe.
When I made the shortbread cookie, I used softened coconut oil (like you said) NOT melted… and made the mistake of pressing it into a mold that was too big. The dough was thick, but when it cooked it melted and spread out across the whole mold, making it a lot thinner. Not sure if I’m being clear or not… anyway, it ended up a lot thinner than I’d planned and super watery, but I stuck in the freezer anyway (even though I thought I’d have to throw it out). Ended up tasting great.
But it did crumble when I tried to spread the date paste over it.
Also, how did you coat them in chocolate?
The cookie does really need to be 1/2 inch thick so that it doesn’t fall apart when you put the date paste on it. To coat in chocolate I put the cut bar onto a fork and drizzled the chocolate over the top with a spoon and let the chocolate run over the top and down the sides. I hope this helps.
Hi , You and other functional dieticians have used coconut oil for recipes and I have been too.But there us a nutritional chef who told me it is inflammatory.I have used it in some occasions but it scared me when.they told me this.Is this true?I trust dieticians who.have credentials like you and.others.I have only used a small.amount.Thanks Sara.I hope you can clarify.:)
I am guessing they said that because the old way of thinking was that saturated fat is bad and can cause health issues. Coconut flour (and oil) is one of the best out there. If anything it is grain flours that can cause inflammation with the anti-nutrients they contain (especially when not sprouted), because people are over using them, and some people don’t tolerate grains in general very well. Coconut contains healthy saturated fat that doesn’t get stored as fat and has medium chain fats that are great for the immune system. Hope this clarifies.
Sorry, I meant coconut flour not oil.
Yes. I thinking going with credentialed experience is always better. Thanks,Sara. So it seems as if coconut flour is not inflammatory, correct ? The person said it had Omega 6’s?
Coconut flour is not inflammatory. It does contain some omega 6 but in much lower quantities to nuts or vegetable oils. We still need both omega 3 and omega 6 as they are essential fats but it gets inflammatory when omega 6 is in much larger quantities in the diet. We need more of a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. Getting some omega 6 from natural sources is needed. Vegetable oils are very un-natural.
I added 2 tbsp extra coconut flour to make nice dough ball!
They are yummi came out perfect!
So glad it worked out for you and that you enjoyed these~! Thanks for sharing.
My first time using coconut flour and dates in a recipe. I had everything on hand. They came out great! Next time I may double the recipe for the crust but it’s fantastic just the way it came out! Thanks!
I am so glad that you had great success with this recipe! Thank you for sharing!!
These are so good! I love how I can enjoy them as a Halloween treat and quiet my candy craving. I did have a bit a problem with the crust cracking when trying to spread the date paste, but I will try letting it cool completely next time. Also, mine were pretty thin compared to yours so I will be playing around with the crust. Yes, I will definitely be making these again since they are better than the originals!
I am so glad that you enjoyed these! I have had readers say that they double the crust recipe for a thicker crust.
Sara,
You are a genius! I was thinking of a healthier alternative to actual candy bars for my Trick-or-Treaters this year and your recipe is perfect. I will be doubling the crust recipe because… who doesn’t love shortbread cookies! 10 batches to go… Thanks for sharing! Jack
Happy to help! I hope you enjoy!
These sound yum! Would they be suitable to freeze?
Thanks in advance
I haven’t tried it but I bet you could! You could probably even eat them right out of the freezer!
Love this recipe and love how simple it is and how fun they were make.
I just made these last night and they turned out great and look great, but haven’t tried the completed product yet. I made sure to keep the shortbread cookie base a bit thicker, after having read the comments. And I used Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips melted with about 1 tsp of coconut oil for the chocolate coating, which worked out really well. For melted chocolate, it had a nice, smooth consistency.
Have you made any other versions? I’m curious to experiment by making a healthy “snickers”!
And side note – I would love to share pictures with you that I took of the recipe. Is this a feature on your blog/ or can it be a feature within the comments section? Or… I could send them via email if you’re interested in seeing them!
I am so glad that you loved this recipe. I actually have a healthy snickers recipe on my website. https://theorganicdietitian.com/healthy-homemade-snickers-bar/ You can absolutely send pictures via email I would love to see! Or you can share on Instagram and tag me @theorganicdietitian in your post!
Can I use date SYRUP for this???
I don’t think date syrup would be thick enough.
Yes, you can. I used a good quality date syrup from Bateel along with some honey to moisten the dates. You could also use it in the shortbread but it would be much darker.
Is using a different flour an option?
I haven’t tested these with a different flour. But if you try it and it works let me know.
This is a terrific recipe. Thanks. Had to make a few adjustments to the date mixture. Added 1/4 cup warmed honey and 2 Tbs date syrup. Dates are very specific in terms of moisture. Adjust as needed and it will spread. My partner and I were wicked happy with the final product. Quite decadent.
I am so happy you enjoyed these! Thanks for sharing.
Can you replace coconut flour with almond flour or gluten free all purpose flour?
I haven’t tested other flours but coconut flour generally needs a lot more liquid so you may need to play with the ratios for the crust with other flours.
I like lily’s chocloate chips because they taste amazing and don’t rev up my carbs. They use stevia and are a delicious dairy free choicee.
Yes a great idea!