Vegan Twix Bars (Gluten-Free)

These Vegan Twix Bars are just as delicious as the real thing: a crunchy shortbread base topped with fudgy caramel coated in silky chocolate! They're not too sweet, much healthier than the traditional version and easy to make. They make excellent edible gifts for Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, and everything in between! They're also refined sugar free and gluten-free.

My Vegan Snickers Bars were so popular I decided to make some more vegan chocolate bars! These Homemade Twix Bars have a shortbread base inspired by my Gluten-Free Vegan Shortbread Cookies recipe with a caramel layer inspired by my Vegan Millionaire Shortbread recipe.

The shortbread

The shortbread is made using a combination of ground almonds (almond meal) and brown rice flour.

You need to use brown rice flour, not white rice flour. Using white rice flour would create a soft cookie (like my Sugar Cookies) rather than a crunchy shortbread cookie.

If you can't find brown rice flour in your local supermarket, you'll be able to find it in local health stores or online.

The vegan caramel

The vegan caramel is made using blended cashew nuts for creaminess, coconut sugar for a toffee-like flavour, and cacao butter for a fudgy texture.

You can get hold of both coconut sugar and cacao butter online, in local health stores or large supermarkets.

How to make this recipe

Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.

• Mix together the ingredients for the dough in a glass mixing bowl.

• Transfer the mixture to a one-pound loaf tin.

Tip: Line the tin with greased baking paper to make it easier to remove after.

• Use your fingers to push the mixture all the way to the edges, then use a spatula to press down on it until the surface is completely even.

• Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.

Tip: Be careful not to burn it, but you want to bake it for as long as possible for it to have a crunchy texture.

• Leave to cool as you make the caramel, although it doesn't matter if it hasn’t cooled completely before putting on the caramel.

• Place all the ingredients for the caramel into a food processor.

Tip: If your food processor isn’t very powerful, it may have trouble with the cacao butter. In this case, melt the cacao butter first using a bain-marie before adding to the food processor.

• Whizz until completely smooth - you might need to mix it around a few times.

• Transfer the caramel onto the shortbread base, pushing it all the way to the edges.
• Use a spatula to press down on it until the surface is completely even.

• Place in the freezer for about one hour until completely firmed up.

• Making sure the caramel has firmed up completely, slice into 8 bars.

• Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl with the coconut oil.

Tip: Using a wide-bottomed bowl makes it easier to dip the bars into the melted chocolate.

• Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir regularly until melted.

Tip: Make sure not to overheat it as the chocolate will ‘split’ if you heat it too much.

• Use a small fork to carefully lift the bars one at a time into the melted chocolate and spoon the melted chocolate over the bar until it has been completely covered in melted chocolate.

• Use the fork to lift the bar out of the melted chocolate and onto a rectangular baking tray lined with baking paper.

• Drizzle the remaining melted chocolate over the top of the bars to decorate, if desired.
• Place in the fridge for a couple of hours until the chocolate has hardened completely.

How long do these keep for?

They keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few days.

Substitutions you can make

• You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
• You can replace the coconut oil with coconut butter.
• The ground almonds (almond meal) can be replaced with ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds.
• You can replace the almond butter with peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter or tahini.
• For a refined sugar free version, use a refined sugar free chocolate.

Substitutions to be careful of

• The brown rice flour CANNOT be replaced with white rice flour or any other gluten-free flour - it is essential for the shortbread base to keep its shape and texture.

More vegan chocolate treats

• Healthy Snickers Ice Cream Bites
• Matcha Chocolate Truffles
• Chocolate Truffles
• Hazelnut Chocolate Truffles
• White Chocolate Truffles
• Strawberry Chocolate Truffles
• Chocolate Bars
• Snickers Bars

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

Watch how to make it

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