Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars (Vegan)

GFGluten Free

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These Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars taste like eating dessert for breakfast…but they’re good for you too! Vegan, Gluten Free, & Refined Sugar Free

 

We all know we shouldn’t eat dessert for breakfast…

But what if I told you I’ve found a loophole? Meet the Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bar.

Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars - Easy Vegan Meal Prep #vegan #plantbased

These fluffy, flavorful bars taste indulgent, but are also a perfect way to start your day. They’re loaded with healthy fiber from Oats, natural sweetener from Apples and Dates, and some healthy fats from Chia Seeds and Tahini. Long story short, they’re good FOR you, and will keep you feeling full and satiated until lunch rolls around.

I asked you all on Instagram if you’d like to see Apple Pie or Salted Caramel Bars on the blog…and one brilliant reader said, “Why not both?!” This is why I like you guys 😉 Medjool Dates already have a natural caramel flavor, but something magical happens when you blend them with Tahini. Add in some grated Apple, and you have yourself a match made in heaven.

These Breakfast Bars are perfect for Meal Prep, or just an on-the-go Breakfast. As they are also Nut Free, they would be perfect to give to your little ones to take to school! (If you have little ones, that is.)

Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars - Easy Vegan Meal Prep #vegan #plantbased

I will not that these are not dense and chewy like a granola bar — they are more of a fluffy “cake”, or perhaps like a banana bread. But who wouldn’t want to eat cake for breakfast?!

A Few Final Thoughts:
  • Make sure you use an apple that bakes well for this recipe – I used Pink Lady. Some other great baking varieties include Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp.
  • I used Maca Powder to give this recipe a boost of caramel flavor; I purchase mine through Thrive Market and saved a ton of money by doing so!
  • This recipe is perfect for an on the go breakfast, but would also work well as a lunchbox snack or evening treat as well! I love mine heated up in the toaster oven and topped with an extra drizzle of tahini.

If you’re looking for more healthy breakfast recipes, you’ll also love my Creamy Zucchini Oatmeal or Chunky Monkey Muffins!

Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂

Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars - Easy Vegan Meal Prep #vegan #plantbased

Print

Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars

These Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars taste like eating dessert for breakfast…but they’re good for you too! Vegan, Gluten Free, & Refined Sugar Free

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 10 bars 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup Oat Flour
  • 1 cup Instant or Rolled Oats (I used a mix)
  • 2 Apples, Grated
  • 1 tbsp Maca Powder (optional)
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 3/4 cup Medjool Dates, pitted
  • 2/3 cup Tahini
  • 3 tbsp Chia Seeds
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Unsweetened Plant Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

  1. First, preheat your oven to 350F. Combine the Oat Flour, Oats, Maca Powder, Baking Powder, and Salt together in a large bowl. Stir until all ingredients are evenly distributed. 
  2. Grate 2 Apples into a small bowl. You can choose to peel them if you’d like, but I kept the skin on. Keep any “juice” that comes out of the apples while you are grating them as well.
  3. Add the Dates, Tahini, Chia Seeds, Plant Milk, and Vanilla Extract to a In a food processor or high speed blender. Process until smooth, scraping the sides of the machine if necessary.
  4. Next, add the Grated Apple and Date Mixtures to the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir until everything is well incorporated.
  5. Place the batter into a lined or greased 9×9″ pan, then bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
  6. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers in a loosely sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to 8.

Notes

To make Oat Flour, add 1 cup of Instant or Rolled oats into a high speed blender and process for 45-60 seconds, until finely ground.

Tahini may be substituted for another nut or seed butter of choice, but keep in mind that this will affect the final flavor.

Chia Seeds may be substituted for Ground Flax

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Salted Caramel Apple Breakfast Bars - Easy Vegan Meal Prep #vegan #plantbased

About the Author

Hey there, I’m Caitlin! I make easy-to-follow, wholesome, and budget-friendly vegan recipes that are mostly gluten-free and refined sugar-free. I’m also an avid yogi, love the great outdoors, am chocolate-obsessed, and enjoy eating almond butter straight off of the spoon.

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Comments

  1. hey Caitlin, i didnt have maca powder (but will bloody get some if it really tastes caromelly??) so i ground up some dried white turkish mulberries into powder instead! (which i have actually always loved cos of the caromelly taste! lol) It worked well! SO DELISH! Thanx once again hun!

  2. i have made these before and they were DELICIOUS! I was wondering if you could freeze them?

  3. I’m going to make this right now! Something you should know – every time I try to pin this post, it’s getting blocked because “it may lead to spam….” Excited to explore your site further!

    1. Hi Laurie – thank you for letting me know! I have contacted Pinterest, hopefully the problem gets resolved soon!

  4. just made these and I already know I’ll be making them a lot more in the future! I made them with peanut butter because I didn’t have tahini, and they still turned out great! can’t wait to try a bunch of different variations with different dried fruits and different nut butters!
    do you think i’d be able to sub the oat flour with almond flour?

    1. Hi Elizabeth! No, I don’t think that sub would work well as Oat and Almond flours behave very differently

  5. I have been looking everywhere for dates but I can’t find them, is there anything I can substitute them for?

    1. You can use another dried fruit like Apricots, Prunes, or Figs, but this will affect the final flavor. You can also buy dates online!

      1. With no idea where this reader lives, I just wanted to add we pick up organic medjool dates at Costco. They’re great and we save a little money, I think. Love using them in smoothies when I can keep my husband from just eating them all.

  6. I tried this recipe today and my vitamix turned itself off on me. But it is working again and I just tried a bar and they are defenitely worth the pain they caused me, lol.

  7. Hi Caitlin – these bars were super yummy, but I want to leave a caveat: they are a major pain in the butt to clean up after. I literally ended up in a giant fight with my husband because of the wallpaper paste batter that we tried to clean off the bowl and the blender jug. Night. Mare. Definitely delicious, but I won’t be making them again, and will likely avoid any recipes with tahini in the future. Still scrumptious, but not worth the dish disaster or the argument that followed.

    1. Hi Lindsay! I’m sorry to hear you had problems cleaning up. If you put water in the bowl as soon as you are done with it, you shouldn’t have this problem.

    2. Lindsay, if you got in a giant fight with your husband over something as trivial as a messy blender, do you really think a recipe is the root cause of this problem?

      1. haha you’re absolutely right Anonymous! Lindsay should not blame Caitlins luscious recipe for her hubby~blue.
        & i thought anyone who’s ever washed a dish in their life….knows that….to avoid having to chisel dried food residue off bowls and cake tins & stuff, just fill them up with water til you’re ready to do the dishes. Simple.
        Plus its ALWAYS better to take the 90 seconds after using a blender, to add water & a tiny dot of dish liquid & run it for 30 seconds. Another rinse then you’re done.

  8. 5 stars
    Love this recipe! I don’t have access to buy things like power bars so I think this is a great alternative.
    I wanted to be able to pack some of these for a hiking/camping trip. Do you know how long it would last outside of the fridge?

    Thanks!

  9. Dessert for breakfast always sounds delicious! I’ve seen the most amazing-looking breakfast chocolate cakes, breakfast donuts, breakfast ice cream, breakfast cheesecakes, and breakfast brownies! But yes, anything that mixes such an indulgent flavor with a fruit or vegetable is perfect. These bars look incredible! Could I substitute the Medjool dates for Khawandi dates?

    1. Hi Britney! I would not substitute them for the oats, as they will not absorb any liquid, but I think you could add up to 1/4 of a cup of them to the recipe and it should be fine 🙂

    1. I haven’t tested this recipe with any other flour, so I can’t say for sure! You can always make your own oat flour by blending oats in a blender for 45-60 seconds, or until fine and smooth

    1. 5 stars
      I love this recipe! I just made a second batch yesterday and I’ve snacks for work and pre-workout throughout the week, I replace the tahini with peanut butter and they tour out perfect, the texture is great!

      Thank you Caitlin, cheers from Uruguay! 😀