OH MY GOODNESS. These bars. No seriously, theeeeeseeeee bars. I first made these back in 2015 and recently baked them up again after I had an intense craving for fig newtons.
While I realize that Fig Newtons contains actual figs, I couldn’t find any at the store so I settled with dates, another favorite dried fruit. Good old dates — cheap, addicting and always there to save the day.
My favorite way to enjoy dates lately has been by spreading almond or peanut butter all over them. Can you say YUMMMMM?
Vegan and gluten free date bars
Anyway, moving away from my date obsession and onto these ridiculously delicious ooey-gooey date bars.
This time I wanted to create something unique and different that you can bring to your friends and family with delightful surprise. That would leave them guessing what were in the bars, but also leave them begging for seconds. These will live up to your expectations and then some. PROMISE.
Another perk to these date bars? They’re gluten free and vegan. Because that’s what everyone always asks me for when it comes to recipes these days so let me just say that I know win at desserts for everyone. WINK.
Ingredients in date bars
My favorite part of these bars is how wholesome they are. The ingredients themselves are whole grain, gluten free, full of healthy fats and packed with nutrition.
The base and top of the bars: made up of oat flour, oats, organic brown sugar, coconut oil (or regular or vegan butter), vanilla and a little salt. The bars are wonderfully crunchy on the bottom for a solid base that doesn’t fall apart. Just made sure you pack and press the bar base into the bottom of the pan tightly; this will ensure that the crust bakes evenly.
The filling: Made up of dates and espresso powder (or instant coffee!); you’ll make a spread in your blender. After you spread it all over the bars, you’ll sprinkle the top with dark chocolate (chips or chunks) and cover again with the remaining oat mixture on top. That’s it!
The result is a gluten free date oat bar with a thick, gooey chocolate and caramel flavored date filling. They’re sweet, scrumptious and everything you want this time of year.
How to make your own oat flour
You can easily make your own gluten free oat flour by simply placing oats into a blender and blending or pulsing until they’re smooth and resemble a fine flour. This is probably the cheapest option! Check out my tutorial with all of my best tips & tricks.
How to store these date oat bars
- In the fridge: Store these bars covered in the fridge for up to 1 week. When you’re ready to eat them, just let them come to room temp for about 5 minutes so that they soften a bit.
- In the freezer: yes, you can freeze these gluten free date bars! Place them in the freezer for up to 2 months in an airtight container. I’d recommend separating the bars with parchment wax paper as well. When you’re ready to eat them, let the bars thaw in the fridge and then bring them to room temp as described above.
If you like these bars, you might also like
Healthy Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
Blueberry Pie Bars with Oatmeal Crumble (vegan & gluten free)
Vegan No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
I hope you LOVE these as much as I did. Be sure to tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram if you make these!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Ooey-Gooey Dark Chocolate Espresso Date Oat Bars
Ingredients
- For the filling:
- 1 1/2 cups packed pitted Medjool dates
- 1 1/4 cup hot water
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder or instant coffee granules (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the base:
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free oat flour
- 1 cup gluten free oats
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil (or sub melted vegan butter or regular butter)
- 3 oz your favorite dark chocolate bar (at least 70%), coarsely chopped (dairy free/vegan, if desired) OR sub 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper so that you're able to easily remove the bars after. This is important! Grease the parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare the filling first: Add dates, hot water, espresso powder and vanilla to a high-powered blender and blend until mostly smooth, about 2 minutes. It's okay if there are a few chunky pieces of dates. Allow date mixture to cool and thicken up a bit for 5 minutes while you make the base.
- To make the oat base and crumble: in a large bowl, combine oat flour, oats, brown sugar baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in melted coconut oil until the mixture is crumbly. Measure out 1 cup of the mixture and set aside in a small bowl (this will be for the topping). Press the remaining mixture into the prepared pan; you'll need to press hard to ensure that all of the mixture will stick together well.
- Gently spread date mixture evenly on top of the base crust. Sprinkle on chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate chips) then sprinkle the reserved oat topping over the top.
- Bake bars for 30-35 minutes or until top is set and slightly golden brown. If you'd like you can also sprinkle the chocolate with a tiny bit of coarse sea salt for a salty and sweet combo. Transfer to wire rack to cool for at least an hour to help set the base, then remove from pan to cool completely. Makes 16 bars. Bars are best kept covered in the fridge and are delicious when served chilled as well as at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Sarah Fennel // Broma Bakery
Recipe originally published December 2, 2015 and republished on February 2nd, 2020
The espresso powder adds such a delicious touch to these bars – don’t skip it!! My whole book club loved them!
Agreed! So glad they were a hit!
Has anyone tried this with wheat flour?
I wouldn’t recommend swapping the flours here!
I have a large quantity of date paste ready to be used. If I were to make this recipe using the date paste instead of the dates, could I get away with the weight of the whole dates and water as the weight of the date paste?
Hmm I’m not 100% sure if the texture will be the same or thick enough but let me know if you give it a try!
I want to use date spread as well – did you have any luck with this?
How would you substitute all-purpose flour in place of the oat flour in this recipe? I want to keep the rolled oats, just replace the oat flour with AP. Thanks!
Hi! I’ve only tested these using oat flour, which is more absorbent than all purpose flour, so I’m not 100% sure how it’ll turn out.
Delicious recipe! I had dried figs on hand so I did a direct sub for the dates and they worked out great. Pairs perfectly with Avalon Vanilla Bean ice cream!
YUM! Sounds so amazing, I am so glad you’re loving this recipe and the figs sound like the perfect sub!
Can I sub the oat flour with almond or gluten free flour?
Oof. Pretty much followed this recipe to a T with the exception of the espresso powder, so I was disappointed when I didn’t really work out for me. I would increase the dates significantly, Maybe I didn’t pack them down enough when measuring? The date middle part is too liquidy.
Sorry to hear that! Hmm possibly. Did you use dried Medjool dates?
Would date syrup work instead of dates?
I wouldn’t recommend as it would be too liquid-like.
I have made this countless times – one of my faves!
These bars are sooooo yummy! Just wondering if you think it would work with dried apricots?
So glad you love them! I’m not sure that I’d recommend as apricots don’t have the same consistency/texture as dates.
These are by far the most incredible squares I’ve ever had!!
Wow! I could of literally consumed the entire pan in a day. SO GOOD!
So glad you loved them!
The bars had a bit of a strange aftertaste from the base/topping. I recently had a similar experience after making raspberry oat bars from this site. I added extra chocolate, which made them still enjoyable. I found that the chocolate didn’t really melt and spread while baking, so I’m glad I added more. If I were to use this recipe again, I would probably figure out a different base.
That’s strange, the base is very simple and doesn’t have any weird ingredients. It definitely depends on which chocolate brand you use in regards to melting!
Made these last night, SO yummy!!! A nice change from the traditional date square!
I found my top crumble didn’t stick well so I’d recommend pressing it down a bit into the dates before baking!
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
Super yummy!
Glad you liked them!
These are honestly stupidly delicious – there’s no other way to say it! I can never wait for them to cool and always eat them warm which means I eat them with a fork cause they’re so delightfully gooey. Cooled from the fridge though is really the ultimate! Such a creative recipe, thank you!
In regards to another commentator’s question about dates – I didn’t have medjool dates either (don’t know what type they were, but definitely not medjool) and the filling was plenty liquid enough. One time I even just used a bag of chopped dates I had on hand and just used a bit scant of a cup of those and less water to start until it looked roughly goopy and thick enough. Both times have been awesome!
Perfect! I’m glad those both worked out well! Such a great dessert 🙂
First time making date bars and this was a solid start. Overall i would try again and enjoy the use of espresso powder, dark chocolate, and crumble. The recioe seems to have a bit of confusion on where to add the vanilla (not stated in the recipe but once in the description it says in the filling, and once in the description it says the base)- i added to the base. My only true issue was that the filling was too liquidy/ wouldnt set even though i let it sit for about 10 minutes, baked for an extra 5 minutes, and left in the fridge for 30 mins after letting it cool at room temp for more than an hour. It was alao much too sweet overall, which I know is hard to control because its just dates. When i try again, i’ll consider reducing the water i blend the dates with (starting with 1/2 cup and adding 1/4 cup at a a time), or possibly reducing the amount of date mixture by 1/2 or 3/4. I would also consider mixing flour to the date mixture to cut the sweetness and thicken it up or reduce the sugar in the oat layer to see if that balances, but i don’t want to make the daye layer gummy and the oat layer as-is was soooo delicious. Thanks for a good start for me, and I look forward to trying again experimenting with a few mods.
*sorry, added the vanilla to the filling.
Oh shoot, your dates could have already been pretty moist, perhaps?! Sorry you had an issue!
I have made these a few times. One variation I like is adding orange rind to the date mixture and a bit to the crust. Super energy boost for my mountain bike rides. Slightly messy , not a dry square but not too wet either 😋
Love that idea! Such a great treat!
These are so so delicious!! The date/chocolate filling is perfectly indulgent without being too heavy and a serving was so satisfying, I wasn’t hankering for something else after I had a square!
I was able to easily half the recipe and baked it in a standard loaf tin. I made 2 minor chances with keeping the same chocolate amount of the original (3oz) and doubling the espresso powder even though everything else was halved.
Perfect! So happy you enjoyed!
These are so good! I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar so they’re a little more crumbly then I think they’re intended to be but so delicious!
Glad you enjoyed!
These are awesome! I had to make a few modifications, because, you know, quarantine. I used AP flour instead of oat flour and canola oil instead of coconut oil. My dates were a little on the dryer side, so I soaked them for about 10 minutes in the hot water before blending them. I added a splash of bourbon to the date caramel (because quarantine) and I cut the instant coffee back to 1 tsp. It still came through nice and strong, but if you’re a coffee fan, I’m sure 2 tsp would not be too much. I used regular chocolate chips, but will try nicer chopped chocolate next time. The flavor is sooo lovely and the base is nice and sturdy and crisp. Highly recommend!
I’m glad those little swaps worked out well! Such a great treat!
Woah, these are delicious! I will have to try next time with coconut sugar, but I loved the flavor of brown sugar in these bars. My kids loved it too -we all had seconds! Thank you for the great recipe
Don’t usually leave reviews but had to with these… AMAZING!! Huge hit with my husband and I. I didn’t quite perfect the filling on the first go, but they were DELICIOUS nonetheless and will be making again this weekend! Also didn’t have parchment paper on hand, but greasing the Pyrex dish with butter seemed to work as I didn’t have an issue removing the bars (it was actually too easy to remove these and they didn’t last long).
Perfect! So glad you both enjoyed!
What can you use instead of coconut oil? My husband can not have it.
Thanks!
Butter will work!
Looks so good! How easily do these bars slice and do they stay together if I wanted to stack and package them up for Valentine’s Day?
They should slice and stay together well! I would recommend separating them with wax or parchment paper if you’re stacking them 🙂
How do I access other reader’s reviews? This looks amazing!
Click the “Show Comments” button underneath where you would leave your own comment 🙂
These sound absolutely lovely, Monique! I love that you used dates in here 🙂 These are my boyfriend’s mom’s favorite!
I made these a few weeks ago. OH MY WORD. They are amazing! The only things I changed was I put coconut sugar in the oat part instead of the brown sugar and used less water in the date part. Now I want to make them EVERY WEEK!
Amazing!! So glad you loved them 🙂