Gluten-free Chewy Date Bars
What I love about Gluten-free Chewy Date Bars
These Gluten-Free Chewy Date Bars are absolutely delicious and well worth the wait! I had been meaning to try this recipe for months, and I finally got around to it. And it turns out, the results are better than expected!
Even better, the recipe is super simple, requiring just a handful of wholesome ingredients. Which means that these bars are the perfect dessert squares to bring and share at all your autumn and winter gatherings this season. You can even make them ahead of time.
What’s more, these sweet and chewy bars are completely gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free. They’re made entirely with natural ingredients, making them a healthier treat that you can actually feel good about. And that was part of my goal; to create a healthier version of the classic date bar—without compromising on taste or texture.
To achieve that, the crumb base and topping are made using a blend of whole-grain sprouted oats, almond flour, tapioca flour, maple syrup, and cold, hardened coconut oil (or butter). This combination creates a rich, satisfying bite with just the right amount of sweetness.
For ease and consistency, I found that a food processor worked best to evenly combine the ingredients. However, if you don’t have one available, a pastry cutter—or even your hands—will work just fine.
Recipe Notes
A few things to keep in mind:
- Oats – I love the addition of rolled oats to the crumb portion of the recipe. Rolled, old-fashioned or large flake oats work for this recipe. Quick oats are really the only ones that I don’t recommend as they are more flour-like.
- Flours – We are using a mix of two gluten-free flours that I love: almond flour and tapioca flour. Both of these are naturally gluten-free and grain-free and can be found at your local health food store.
- Maple syrup – Maple syrup is the only sweetener we are using in this recipe other than the dates themselves. I recommend pure maple syrup, as natural as possible.
- Coconut oil – We are using cold, hardened coconut oil in place of cold butter for our crumb mixture. It works great and is the perfect substitution! However, if you’d like to use cold, unsalted butter that works as well.
- Dates – Make sure your dates are pitted to make your life so much easier! You can use Medjool or Deglet Noor dates for this recipe.
FAQ:
I recommend using rolled or old-fashioned oats for the best texture. Quick oats would work, however they are much finer in texture and so they may result in a more dry crumb.
You can store them in an air-tight container at room temperature or in the fridge. They will stay fresh at room temperature for 3-4 days or up to a week in the fridge.
Unfortunately, no. Both almond flour and tapioca flour have very unique textures. They do not measure 1:1 to regular flour or gluten-free flour blends, so I don’t recommend substituting unless you know the exact conversion.
Yes! You can certainly substitute the coconut oil for cold, unsalted butter.
Yes! The recipe can very easily be doubled. Simply double all of the ingredients and press into a greased 9″x13″ baking pan instead of an 8″x8″ baking pan.
Gluten-free Chewy Date Bars
Equipment
- 1 Medium-sized Saucepan
- 1 8"x8" Square Baking Pan
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup rolled or old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup divided
- 1/2 cup coconut oil hard, not melted
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract divided
- 2 1/2 cups pitted dates
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8"x8" pan with parchment paper.
- *Add the oats, almond flour, tapioca flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt to a food processor and pulse until combined.
- Add 1/4 cup maple syrup, the cold coconut oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract to the food processor. Process until it is fully combined and you have a moist crumb, scraping down the sides when necessary.
- Layer half of the crumb mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan and press down with your hands until it is compacted. Set aside.
- Dice the dates and add them to a medium-sized saucepan. Add the water, remaining 1/4 cup maple syrup, remaining 1 tsp vanilla extract and the lemon juice.
- Heat the saucepan over medium heat and cook the dates, stirring every few minutes until they are jam-like and all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
- Spread the date mixture on top of the bottom crumb layer in the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle the top with the remaining crumb mixture, compressing lightly and transfer to the oven to bake for 20-22 minutes or until just browning on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before cutting into squares. Enjoy!
Can I use brown sugar instead of the mape syrup
Hi Linda!
Unfortunately brown sugar won’t work as a direct substitute for maple syrup since maple syrup is liquid and brown sugar is dry. You definitely could use brown sugar, but you’d likely have to add more coconut oil to make the crumb moist enough to stick together. I suggest trying 1/4 cup brown sugar and the 1/2 cup coconut oil for the crumb and see if it’s sticks together. If not, add an additional tbsp of coconut oil at a time until it does stick together. For the dates, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 1/4 cups water. Let me know how it goes!