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Healthy Twix Bars

copycat Twix bars!

Lately, things have gotten entirely too healthy around here. Roasted vegetables? Lentil stew? Baked oatmeal? If it is true that this is the Healthy Dessert Blog, where are all the desserts?

Where is all the CHOCOLATE?

Homemade Copycat Twix Bars!

Oh there it is.

When I compiled my candy recipes into the Healthy Chocolates & Candy page, many of you lamented the absence of a healthier copycat Twix bar. I put it on the to-do list, but the list keeps growing longer and longer… Luckily, my incredibly-talented friend Leanne agreed to take on this healthy-Twix-bar challenge, for the benefit of all of us!

Please welcome Leanne and her allergy-friendly, gluten-free Twix bars:

Hi Everyone! My name is Leanne Vogel. I’m a holistic nutritionist and the lady behind Healthful Pursuit – a space where I share my pursuit of self-discovery through allergy-free recipes, travel, and a whole lot of yoga.

I’m super stoked to be here with you guys today. I’ve had to pinch myself multiple times as I prepared this post. Katie is one of my favorite bloggers so to be here sharing a recipe with you is a bit too exciting for words!

vegan twix bars

The food we surround ourselves with has a dramatic impact on the way that we live out our lives. If we feel good about what we’re eating, if food makes us feel like we can accomplish anything and gives us a sense of balance, we’ll be so much more open to the experiences life has for us. And ya, this includes finding a replacement to our favorite candy bars.

What’s more indulgent than creating your very own a vegan and gluten-free homemade Twix bar?

I couldn’t think of anything else either.

healthy twix bars

Healthy Twix Bars

(makes 12 bars)

  • 1/2 cup white rice flour or buckwheat flour or sorghum flour
  • 1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca
  • 2 tbsp evaporated cane juice or regular sugar or coconut sugar
  • 3 tbsp sunflower seed butter (or another nut or seed butter)
  • 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp freshly ground flax mixed with 2 tbsp water (Allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.)
  • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Caramel:

  • 100g pitted dates (approximately 6 dates)
  • 3 tablespoons sunflower seed butter (or another nut butter of choice)
  • 1 tsp water
  • pinch salt

Chocolate Coating:

  • 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Begin by preparing shortbread. Add first three ingredients to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk to combine. Then add sunflower seed butter, coconut oil, flax mixture and extract. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer until fully combined. The dough should stick together well.

Shape dough into twelve 3-inch cookies. To do this, scoop out about 1 1/2 tablespoons at a time into your hand and roll into a ball. Slowly shape into a long tube by rolling back and forth between the palm of your hands until it’s about 3-inches long. Set down on prepared cookie sheet and flatten with fingers. You can make the cookie even straighter by using the side of a knife to press up against the edges. Place cookies in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until tops are slightly cracked and sides are golden. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, place caramel ingredients in the bowl of your food processor. Process until smooth. If the mixture will not get smooth, just add a touch more water.

Once cookies are cooled, top with caramel and place on a second cookie sheet that’s lined with parchment paper. To do so, roll caramel like you did the cookies; into 3-inch tubes, and place over top of cookies. Place in the freezer and allow to set for at least 10 minutes. This will make the cookies easier to dip in the chocolate. Melt chocolate chips by dropping into a metal bowl and place over top of a sauce pan filled with water. Bring water to a boil and stir chips until melted. Remove from heat.

Remove the cookie sheet from the freezer and; one by one, coat the bars in chocolate. To do this, drop the bar into the chocolate and coat it with your fingers. Remove excess with your fingers and place back on the parchment. Repeat with remaining cookies. Place back in the freezer and allow to set for 15 minutes.

View Nutrition Facts

homemade twix bars

vegan-gluten-free-twix-4

Leanne’s question of the day: How do you create balance in your life?

Link of the Day:

healthy mounds bars
……….Copycat Mounds Bars

Published on January 11, 2013

Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been 
featured on The 
Today Show, CNN, 
Fox, The 
Huffington Post, and 
ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

Learn more about Katie

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179 Comments

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  1. Joy @ Caspara says

    Actually I’ve really been enjoying the healthy recipes! I made the lentil stew last night, and it was so good, I was just thinking I should look to see if I have enough ingredients to make it again today for lunch!!
    But I’m happy to see the chocolate return, too. 😉

  2. sailorwind says

    These look amazing! My one question – could I throw some chia seeds in a food processor and use those instead of the ground flax seeds?

    • Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says

      Heck yes you could, great question. Just use 2 teaspoons of ground chia instead of 1 tablespoon of ground flax. Mix with the same amount of water and you’re good to go! I’d love to know how you like them when you give the recipe a shot!

  3. Alanna says

    Wow, these look SO yummy, and I love the step-by-step photos on the nutrition page! Twix are definitely one of my favorite candy bars. I’m hoping someone will try this with regular flour and have success, since I’m unfamiliar with the types of GF flours listed!

  4. Carissa says

    I cannot wait to make this!!! I absolutely looove twix, and I bet these taste so much better than the original 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  5. Anna @ The Guiltless Life says

    This is AWESOME! I can see myself tripling or quadrupling the recipe, making a whole batch and then putting in the freezer – it’s probably not something I want to make all the time but that’s the same with any homemade candy bar. When you realize the effort that goes into it, you eat less! Haha. They look amazing!

  6. Kristen says

    num num num 😉 So just wondering though, can other flours be subbed here? Is the sorghum/rice/buckwheat + arrowroot/tapioca starch combo so it’s gluten free? (So then you could just use 1 cup of other type of flour? Or is a least a little starch needed?) I’m wondering if I could use some spelt or whole wheat flour instead since I don’t have the flours listed and I already have like 5 types of flour!

  7. anonymous says

    These look wonderful! Katie, thank you for highlighting a gluten-free blogger. I’m always interested in new gluten-free recipes, and I like what I see so far from her site. Leanne, you have a new fan in me.

    • Christi says

      don’t use oat flour: oats get either mooshy or spongy when you cook them (think oatmeal) rice and sorghum are much more grainy substances and tend to be crispy and or crumbly like the cookie part of a twix bar. if you have a flour mill or food processor you can make your own rice flour by grinding up uncooked rice. hope this helps!

      • trajayjay says

        thanks for saving me from ruining a recipe, I hate when I sub something in for an ingredient because i don’t have the listed ingredient on hand, then the recipe doesn’t come out right.

      • Laura says

        By uncooked rice… Do you think instant rice would work? I got a food processor for my birthday and did not know this!

        • Christi says

          I don’t know: the liquids added might make the instant rice cook spongy
          unlike whole uncooked rice (density difference). I wouldn’t try it: but if
          you are the adventurous type, go for it! You might discover something
          awesome! You could always google it: Google knows all! 😉

    • Karen says

      I actually like when Katie does guest posts. I’m interested to see what blogs and recipes from others that SHE likes :).

    • Harsha says

      What a mean thing to say…..the recipe looks great and I am sure it will come out really well. Leanne has put so much of effort into making something fabulous for us and you could at least give it a try before making such comments.

  8. Alyx says

    Wow these are amazing! What a unique set of ingredients. I’m not a huge fan of caramel, so I’m excited to try Leanne’s substitution! Can’t wait! 🙂

  9. Jennifer @ Peanut Butter and Peppers says

    I think I’m going to leave work early so I can go to Whole Foods and get arrowroot powder, or do you think cornstarch would wokr? This is a fantstic recipe!!!!!!

  10. Angela says

    This is so brilliant! I know everyone starts the new year trying to get healthy, and I am no exception. I can’t wait to try these!

  11. Grace says

    Hi there! I am a huge fan of Twix and you don’t even know how excited I was when I saw the work “TWIX” in the headlines!! I was wondering though, are the nutrition facts based on the entire recipe of 12 bars? Or is it per serving? And if so, what is the serving and how many bars is the nutrition info based on?

    And I totally agree, more candy bar recipes are needed!! We need more! Kit-kat, snickers, milky way, and cookies’n’creme chocolate are my main thing besides twix! haha 🙂 will you be posting any of those recipes?

    Thanks!
    -Grace 🙂

    P.S. ChocolateCoveredKatie! You are a lifesaver! Love your blog 🙂

    • Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says

      Hi Grace – so glad that the headline got you all excited! To answer your questions, the recipe makes 12 bars, the nutrition facts are for 1 of those bars.

      I used to love that cookies n’ creme chocolate bar. Oh the memories!

      • Grace says

        Thanks! I will definitely be making these soon! This definitely seems healthier since it uses all natural ingredients!

        Do you think you or Katie will ever make a recipe for cookies’n’creme chocolate? You would be my hero if you did!! 😛

        -Grace 🙂

  12. Bernice says

    Yay!!!!!! Twix are totally my guilty pleasure (and one of my stress comfort foods)!
    I am going to make these right away!!

  13. Michele says

    They look good but I just viewed the nutrition facts and I don’t know how many bars they are for but they don’t look that “healthy” to me. Not trying to be mean or snarky because I love a good healthy recipe. I am trying to imagine the dates as “caramel” but am having a hard time doing so. Lastly, I have exactly 3 of the ingredients in the house to make these – water, vanilla and salt so I will not be trying these. I really hope that someone who makes them will report back because I would love to hear how they turned out!

    • Alanna says

      Have you tried the caramel apple milkshake (older recipe) or samoas fudge babies? I was skeptical at first, too, but they really do taste caramel-y! And healthy can be a bit of a subjective term, but in this case I think it’s a healthier recipe because the ingredients list is shorter and/or less processed than a regular Twix bar, even if it doesn’t work out to be low-calorie. 🙂

    • Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says

      Hi Michele – I appreciate your honest comment and totally understand where you’re coming from. The nutrition facts are for 1 bar, the recipe makes 12. Something that I write about a lot of on my blog is the difference between whole foods based recipes and store-bought gunk. The nutrition facts may look very similar, in some case a “healthy” recipe made with whole foods will look worse. But, when you look at the ingredients and see how much better they are as a whole, it all starts to come together. Also, if you don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of new things, you could try to make the cookie base out of the cookies you already have at home (arrowroot or digestive would work well) that, or Katie’s recipe for sugar cookies would work as a good base: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/12/18/grain-free-sugar-cookies/ Hope that helps 🙂

      • Michele says

        Thank you for responding but I have to apologize. When I looked at the NI, I was looking more for low-cal than “healthy.” I realize these are more about healthy ingredients rather than a bunch of processed junk like the regular Twix bars. I was in a crabby mood last night and I shouldn’t have even said anything because I don’t think I sounded very nice in my comment. I’m sure these are delicious. Again, thanks and sorry.

  14. Stacy K says

    Seeing this recipe is so ironic…my husband and I are trying to avoid wheat- not b/c we’re allergic, just b/c we want to, and tonight he said he was craving a candy bar. I follow Katie and Leanne’s blog and have tried several recipes already so I gave it a shot and tried these tonight. They turned out really good! I did think the chocolate got too thick on the outside, so the last few I only put some over the top. I really liked the caramel, used cashew & peanut butter- also put in a squeeze of honey & couple drops of stevia.

    • Alanna says

      I don’t know why, but certain brands / types of chocolate seem to melt (and stay melted) much better than others. In my limited experience, regular chocolate chips melt okay but solidify too quickly if you’re trying to make a larger batch of something! If you can find Bakers brand chocolate (it comes in 1 oz blocks), that melts really evenly in the microwave (no stove required) and doesn’t set back up as fast as some of the other brands. They all taste pretty good, though… Bakers is just a little easier to work with. 🙂

      • ~Nilu~ says

        Thanks Alanna for the tip abt Bakers choc. While melting choc chips i always wondered if one brand melts better than others but never got around to experimenting. Now i know which one to try next time!

  15. Lizzie says

    I’m looking forward to making them! 🙂
    PLEASE more copycat candy recipes, like KitKat and Ferrero Rocher!

    BTW: Katie, you should do a series of dessert recipes from all around the world (since you say in your FAQ that you lived in Japan, China,..), like a chocolate covered trip around the world. 🙂

  16. Willow says

    Sobbing with joy. Blubbering like a baby. And (not) worried (at all) because my tastebuds have an addictive personality and I’m positive this is going to be a new fix. A fix of the very best kind.

    A healthy fix…for vegan Twix. *BOOM*

    Thanks to Leanne and Katie alike!

  17. Willow says

    PS: Now if you can ever muster up a vegan nougat recipe to make a vegan milky-way bar…well, I can’t even express the joy that would bring me.

    • Grace says

      Yes!! I agree! A milkyway bar would be amazing. I love my caramel! Haha and chocolate of course! If you make a milky way recipe, please let me know!

      Thanks!
      -Grace 🙂

  18. Bek @ Crave says

    I create balance in my life by making sure I slow down and enjoy life- stay happy and whilst I enjoy the healthier substitutes like you have before me, I also indulge in a non healthy substitute every now and again 🙂

  19. Amber @ Slim Pickin's Kitchen says

    Aaaaah…the amazing date caramel again! I love that idea. I *CAN’T WAIT* to try this recipe!

  20. Lena says

    I want to try this so bad, but I don’t think any of those flours are even sold in my country… I’ll just wait to see how it turned out for people who tried with something else. This looks so tasty! Thank you for the recipe 🙂

  21. Emily says

    Hi Katie! I was just wondering when your cookbook will be published? And if it’ll be on amazon? I have two gift cards for amazon and I want to make sure I save one for you’re book! You been so inspirational and when I’m having a bad day your site always cheers me up. And you’ve also made my eating disorder a little easier to handle with how you think, this site makes me trust food again.

  22. Sarah says

    Leanne, you are SO lucky! Katie, it would be a dream to be a guest poster on your site. I know you must get a lot of requests, but if you ever need any help I would be happy to step in sometime :).

  23. Leah says

    No offense, and I am the odd one out here, but there is no possible way that a date- paste “caramel” could possibly taste nearly as good as real caramel. Sure, it might be healthier, but I just can’ t imagine eating it unless I had a dairy allergy. To me, it’ s ok to occasionally indulge in the real thing! Everything in moderation- eating normal caramel a couple times a year never killed anyone or made them suddenly get fat/heart problems!

    • Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says

      I totally agree with you Leah, there is a time and a place for indulging mindfully. If I could have dairy and gluten, I’d treat myself to a Twix bar every once in awhile. These types of recipes are great for those with allergies, or those that want to find that balance but know that if they go out and buy that Twix bar it’s a slippery slope to buying another, and another and forming a habit around it. The real thing; in this case caramel, will always taste different than the healthy version but this stuff combined with the cookie and chocolate… it’s really, really the next best thing. I totally appreciate your honesty, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

      • Leah says

        Thanks for your reply! If I ever someday am trying really hard to get super-healthy, maybe this recipe will be used (or if I am part of a family with a kid/husband who has allergies).

        • trajayjay says

          I’ve tried Katie’s date recipes before, the dates really do give them a caramel flavor. To me, dates taste kind of like 30% prune, 60% brown sugar.

  24. kimmythevegan says

    Wow – Leanne, these look *amazing*!
    Sadly, I’m on a chocolate cleanse for the month of January, but I can’t wait to make these in February =)
    I’m missing a couple of ingredients, but am strictly gluten-free so am looking to expand my pantry and these look super fun.
    mmmm caramel-y goodness

  25. Randa says

    Hi Leanne! I actually saw the “No Bake Vegan Twix Bars” recipe you posted on your own blog back in October, and that recipe had less ingredients. Do you have a preference between the two recipes? (Is this an “upgrade,” in other words?)

    Thanks!

    • Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says

      Oh that’s a tough one. I’ve since gone grain-free so for me, I liked the first version (the one from October). The first version is great too because it’s no bake. But for authenticity, these ones I’ve shared here are definitely as close to the real thing as you can get. Hope that helps!

      • Randa says

        Great answer, thanks! I’m mostly grain-free myself (except I do some amaranth, millet, and quinoa per my nutritionist’s input), so I’ll try the first one for our home. But I’ll probably have to try the second at some point too, to serve to others. 🙂 Thanks for the quick feedback!

  26. dee m says

    oooohmygoodnessgoshness!! I was just looking for a recipe sub for Twix!
    YOU are it… 🙂 I am so enjoying your recipes… YOU ROCK!!

  27. innerspacegirl says

    Sounds great, but I think I’ll skip the “remove excess chocolate” step ’cause I’m not sure it’s possible to have excess chocolate!

  28. Lisa says

    These are great! I am wondering if you’ve tried them with coconut flour instead of buckwheat flour (or white rice/sorghum flour). I use buckwheat flour all the time and had it on hand so I used that. I’m going to try them with coconut flour per my husband’s request. Is the arrowroot flour used for a specific purpose or can I substitute there as well? I also used Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate chips. Yum!

  29. Aubrey says

    Made these tonight. Reeeally yummy, but I wouldn’t say they taste like Twix bars – the seed butter overpowered the other flavors for me. Excited to play around with the recipe though. Thanks for sharing!

  30. Brooke says

    Wondering if you think brown rice flour will be ok? I accidentally bought that. Also do you just pour the tapioca balls in there? You don’t have to soak them or anything right?

  31. Courtney says

    These are seriously SOOOO SOOOO GOOD. Did the version with Katie’s sugar cookie recipe as the base. No one will believe you that theses are actually a whole food, delicious and nutritious. The use of the sunflower seed butter with the dates is superb!
    Takes a little bit of prep time in the kitchen but couldn’t be any more worth it! I would definitely recommend doing 2 batches because they are that good (I’m leaving mine in the freezer for longer life expentancy) and will make it more worth the prep time.
    Did I mention they are delicious?

  32. Valerie says

    OH thank you so much! I’m addicted to Twix bars and I always tell myself to stop eating them. [Since they are so unhealthy] Now I’m going to try this recipe! THANK YOU SO MUCH KATIE AND LEANNE!!!!

  33. Amelia says

    I am really sad because I took a lot of time to try to make these… cookies parts themselves were fine, but the caramel didn’t work AT ALL… not enough in the food processor. It just clumped up all over the sides almost instantly even after being pushed back down 10x. I eventually just gave up out of annoyance. I think this would have gone a lot better with the dates actually soaked first instead of the tsp of water.

  34. rachel says

    Just made these! They turned out great. I baked them in one rectangular slab, then put caramel over that, then cut into strips. They were more square than yours, but delish! I also made mine “fun size” (half) for even easier dipping. I was going to just frost the slab with chocolate, but figured it needed a 180 degree chocolate!

  35. sailorwind says

    I am so excited to try these and I LOVE your site, but I do have one request – is there any way to make your recipes more printable? I always have a hard time getting just the recipe and in a large enough font for easy kitchen use.

  36. Who cares? says

    OMG. I love these! My friends came over and we got bored so we decided to make these and they were a huge hit! Thanks so much!

  37. Erin says

    Just made these and they are great! I did have a little trouble getting my dates to process as completely as I would like, and think I may try soaking them next time first. Thanks for the recipe!

  38. Sherri Herring says

    Substitute questions:
    I can’t find white rice flour, buckwheat flour or sorghum flour. Is all-purpose flour alright to use?
    For arrowroot or tapioca-Is cornstarch an equal substitute?
    Please make a suggestion for the substitution of the sunflower seed butter. I could not find it in the store. I am concerned about changing the taste of bar. I would appreciate any help you can give.
    Thank you,
    Beginner Vegan,
    Sherri

  39. Meeka says

    You should be famous! You need to appear on the cooking network or something, with your own cooking show! EVERYONE would watch it. (Or, you could just consider coming to live here as our personal cook!) -Meeka from Texas

  40. Maria says

    How do you think the shortbread part would turn out with omitting the sugar? There’s enough sweetness in the other parts – caramel and chocolate..

  41. Joanne says

    Howdy!

    I made these last night and they taste great- very much like Twix bars! I used pepita (pumpkin seed) butter instead of sunflower seed butter as every shop in Canberra seemed to be out of sunflower seed butter. I had issues with the consitencies of the shortbread and the caramel. In the end, I added and extra tablespoon and a half of the pepita butter to the shortbread mixture and and extra 2 tablespoons of water to the caramel mixture. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but thought I’d mention it to you.

    All in all, a very tasty recipe!

    Cheers,
    Jo 🙂

  42. Juju says

    I’m a tad sad, I used sweet rice flour hoping it would work…but I guess it didn’t since that was the only ingredient I improvised. The batter came out very crumbly it did not stick together. D; In the end I had to throw away the batter (it was a waste). Why does sweet rice flour not work?

  43. Holly says

    Thank you for the recipe. I was all sorts of excited to try this recipe. I had gotten to the step of smearing the caramel over the biscuit when my son sneaked one. On first bite he said, “they taste like dog biscuits.” I decided to try one before coating them in chocolate and sure enough, he was right.
    I’m sorry for the bad review. The caramel is delicious, but the cookie part was not tasty.
    Thank you for the vegan & GF recipe though 🙂

  44. Nicole says

    Hey,

    Thanks for the healthy twix bar recipe. Does it have to be arrowroot or tapioca powder? The recipe does not specify and I guess Tapioca pearls are more easy to find. Can you use those?

    Thanks!

  45. Michelle says

    Ive made these before!!! (my own crappy recipe though – this one is SO much better!! – mine used oat flour as the base which made them kinda cookie-ish, but this caramel is SO good!!)

    Thank you oh so much!

  46. Sophia says

    These look delicious (like everything else on your blog)! I was wondering, though, if I could use xylitol instead of evaporated cane juice?

  47. Laurel says

    We made these and they were wonderful! My kids and husband loved them, which is a good thing because they were a little labor intensive. Worth it, though. I used rice/tapioca flour mix for the shortbread and did use an egg instead of the flax substitute. The rest was as written. I’d make the cookie part a little less next time and add a bit more date filling (I had some left over–didn’t use enough.) They didn’t look anywhere near as pretty as yours but who cares when they taste great? Thank you!

  48. Lorna D'Bore says

    Excellent recipe! Just wanted to point out the spelling errors (grammar ho here): in the last paragraph when dealing with the chocolate, it says “remove access with your fingers and place back on the parchment” when it should say “remove excess…”

    Again, simply incredible-tasting recipe! I love this blog!

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