Our Vegan Guru in residence, Lulu Gibbons, is no saint when it comes to chowing down on a great snack. Here, she shows us how to have our cake and eat it.
INGREDIENTS:
BASE:
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup nuts
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 10-15 dates
- ½ cup maple syrup
CARAMEL:
- 1 ½ cup soaked dates
- 2 tbsp nut butter
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp date water
CHOCOLATE:
- 300g good quality dark chocolate
METHOD:
- Place dates for the caramel in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
- Place all the ingredients for the base in a food processor and blend until the nuts and oats come to a crumble like consistency. It won’t come together as a ball but if you pinch some together it should hold. If it doesn’t come together add a few more dates.
- Line a baking tray (a brownie tray) with cling film or baking paper, then add the base mixture and press it down into a solid layer. Make sure to really compact the mixture flat well then put into the freezer to chill.
- Spoon out the dates in the food processor, then add the rest of the caramel ingredients. If the mixture is too thick then add more of the water that the dates were soaking in. You want a sort of thick peanut butter consistency.
- Blend until smooth then spoon out on to the base from the freezer. To smooth out the caramel into an even layer I find it really helpful to have a spoon/knife to use in a mug of boiling water before spreading the caramel as it can be quite sticky.
- Return this to the freezer for 4-6 hours or overnight to firm up.
- Finally melt the chocolate.
- Whilst the chocolate is melting slice the base and caramel into bars. Using a fork and spoon, drop each bar into the chocolate and quickly turn it so that all sides are covered and return it to a lined flat tray. Once all the bars are chocolate coated return them to the freezer for the chocolate to solidify.
These bars are delicious cold, so they’re best kept in the fridge or freezer so that they stay crunchy!
