Make Your Own Raw Vegan Snickers Bar

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By Aylin Erman, EcoSalon

Don’t let the commercials fool you. A Snickers bar is hardly satisfying in the most important ways. Make your own vegan recipe instead.

When it comes to Snickers, the joy is its nutty aftertaste, the contrast of its crunchy and gooey center, and the way it fills you up and gives you a bolt of energy. However, it’s no secret that Snickers could really use a nutrition makeover. Packed with sugar, artery-clogging fats and empty calories, a Snickers bar does not make for the best midday snack; instead, it makes for the worst anytime splurge.

In one Snickers bar, there are 250 calories (110 of which are from fat), 12 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 33 grams of carbohydrates (27 of which come from sugar), and only 1 gram of dietary fiber. If these stats alone aren’t convincing enough, a glance at the ingredient list seals the deal. Snickers contains the likes of sugar, lactose, milk-fat, artificial flavoring, corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Not only are these ingredients quite rich, they are difficult for your body to digest and spike your blood sugar levels.

When faced with the challenge of making a dish healthier, there are many ways to go about it. You could focus on one aspect — calories, carbohydrates, fats, etc. — and try to lower their levels, or you could focus on the nature of the ingredients. In the case of Snickers, I did not want to get rid of the treat’s decadence — its fat and calorie content. Instead, I wanted to replace the ingredients with their cleaner, natural counterparts as well as make them entirely vegan. While its calories and fats may be comparable to a regular Snickers bar, the following vegan version of Snickers contains calories and fats from whole food sources that your body can recognize and process, not struggle to digest. The result: it goes down easy! This recipe feels surprisingly light and refreshing.

Homemade Raw Snicker Bars

Makes 8-10 bars

Ingredients

For the Base

1/2 cup cashews that have soaked in water for at least 1 hour

1/4 cup almonds

2 tablespoons oats

2 tablespoons coconut oil

6 juicy dates, pitted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Caramel Filling

1 cup pitted dates that have soaked in water for at least 2 hours

2 tablespoons nut butter

1/3 cup nut milk

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dash of sea salt

Handful of peanuts

For the Chocolate Topping

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Directions

For the base, in a food processor pulse all the ingredients until evenly combined. In a dish lined with parchment paper, spread the mixture and press until firmly lining the bottom of the dish.

For the caramel center, blend all ingredients until smooth. Spread evenly atop the base mixture.

Sprinkle the peanuts over the caramel filling and press lightly with the edge of a spatula so that the nuts stay in place.

For the chocolate topping, in a small bowl, whisk together the agave and cocoa powder until smooth. Pour over the peanuts so that the surface is entirely covered. Place into the freezer for at least one hour or until the snickers have hardened.

After it has frozen, remove the dish from the freezer and pull the parchment paper so that the frozen Snickers cleanly releases from the dish. Cut into desired shapes and sizes. It’s best eaten cold. Enjoy!

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