Toffee Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Vegan, gluten-free
By
These cookie bars are soft, delicate, and chewy in the middle with a crispy outer edge. Coconut sugar lends a wonderful toffee flavour to these bars. Try serving them with vegan ice cream for an easy dessert or just enjoy them with some homemade almond milk.
Yield
12 bars
Prep Time
20 Minutes
Cook time
20 Minutes
Total Time
40 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) ground flax
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) water
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 mL) virgin coconut oil, softened
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) natural smooth almond butter
- 3/4 cup (120 g) coconut sugar*
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (108 g) oat flour**
- 3/4 cup (75 g) gluten-free rolled oats
- 3/4 cup (75 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (60 g) non-dairy mini chocolate chips, divided
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl or mug and set aside to thicken.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the coconut oil, almond butter, and sugar with electric beaters until combined.
- Pour in the flax mixture and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and beat again.
- Finally add in the oat flour, rolled oats, almond flour, and 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (reserving the 1 tablespoon for later) and beat until combined.
- Spoon dough into prepared pan and spread out until smooth and even. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top and press down. I use a pastry roller to roll the dough out even.
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden and firm around the edges. (The edges will be high and the middle portion will be sunken a bit. This is all normal!)
- Gently place the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then, carefully lift out the bars and place directly on cooling rack for another 10 minutes or so, until mostly cool. Slice and enjoy! Note: The bars will crumble slightly if sliced warm, but they firm up nicely when cooled.
- Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in the freezer (tightly wrapped and placed in a freezer bag) for up to 3 to 4 weeks.
- * Instead of coconut sugar, you can try using unpacked light brown sugar.
- ** To make the freshly ground oat flour, add 3/4 cup rolled oats into a high speed blender. Blend on high until a very fine flour forms. This will make 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of oat flour. Or you can simply use store-bought oat flour.
- This recipe is an updated version as of May 24/16. The previous version did not contain almond butter, and it had 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil. Everything else is the same.