Fitness / September 15, 2023

Caramel Apple Peanut Kettle Corn Bars

These healthy Date Caramel Apple Peanut Kettle Corn Bars are a vegan friendly and gluten free, no-bake treat that are addictingly salty and sweet!

Salty Sweet Caramel Apple Kettle Corn Bars - Made with date caramel, dried apples and a punch of salty kettle corn, these easy, CHEWY, no-bake bars are addictingly salty-sweet! Vegan friendly and gluten and sugar free, but you would never know they're better for you! | #Foodfaithfitness | #Glutenfree #Vegan #Healthy #Sugarfree #Dairyfree

Sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy, holy moly batman, these bars are checking ALL THE boxes

If you thought that dates were either for making no bake energy balls or for your grandpa to add to his morning bowl of cereal, then prepare to have your taste buds BLOWN right off your head.

Uhhhh mixing their sticky-natural-sweet goodness with SALTY, crispy KETTLE corn with extra crunchy peanut OOMPH?

Heads up: your snackin’ mouth is going to be going back for more.

There are not even enough words in the English language to truly describe just how addicting this SUPER S-I-M-P-L-E and equally wholesome bites of fall-flavored BLISS are.

The beauty of this recipe is, well, so many things.

For one, it’s pretty much all made in a food processor. I told you about my love for this kitchen gadget in the chewy chai apple bars and it just won’t stop.

Yep, the hardest part of making these is having the patience to stop and scrape down the food processor A LOT as the dates and apples mish-mash together into a big ol’ bowl of stickiness that makes your food processor very mad.

As tedious and annoying as it is to stop-scrape-stop-scrape every few seconds, I know that you’re an adult who can put on patient pants to TOUGH THROUGH IT. You got this.

Side note: DO NOT attempt to double this recipe to make more bars. NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOU THINK YOUR FOOD PROCESSOR IS.

I thought mine was TOUGH STUFF. So, I tried to double it.

RIP FOOD PROCESSOR. <– For real. Not lying. Had to buy a new one.

Anyway. Let’s not talk about sad things like kitchen equipment death. I’m still in mourning.

The second beauty of peanut apple bites with kettle corn is that the perfect combo of dates, dried apples and a little bit of kettle corn carry ALL the natural sweetness that these thick and CHEWY, crave-able treats need. No need to add any other sugar. We are talking REAL FOOD here folks.

Real food, easy-peasy, food-processor kinda magic, internet friends. That is the GOOD STUFF.

If you haven’t tried peanut butter with apples yet, what have you been doing with your life? I’m over here spreading peanut butter on apples for all my snacking needs, wondering if there could ever be a more YUMMY of flavor marriages.

And then, just like in the pumpkin edible cookie dough cups, kettle corn popped on the scene, just hangin’ out in it’s obscenely perfect, salty-sweet flavors and OH you could honestly almost cry over how good everything tastes inside your hungry mouth.

Spoiler ALERT: we’re NOT STOPPING there. Yes. These caramel apple peanut kettle corn bars get EVEN BETTER.

2 words for you:

Date. Caramel.

Like the stupid-easy-3-ingredient-sticky-sweet-no-cooking-required kinda caramel that we spread on homemade paleo twix bars and then wondered if it would be wrong to spread it all over our faces because it’s SO SIMPLE AND GOOD.

Maybe I was the only one that wondered it. Whatever. Moving on.

T-H-A-T is what is crowning the top of the current bar situation that we are in, with a few crunchy, toasty peanut pops that are BASCIALLY the crown JEWELS.

They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

But in this case? It’s peanuts.

Annnnd dates and caramel and kettle corn because we’re greedy and, most importantly, HUNGRY.

Caramel Apple Peanut Kettle Corn Bars Recipe

Caramel Apple Peanut Kettle Corn Bars have lots of good stuff. These no-bake bars are completely irrestistible and good for you too!

Course Healthy Eating

Prep Time 20

Total Time 2 20

Servings

Calories 191kcal

Author FoodFaithFitness

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Deglet Noor Dates halved and firmly packed (240g)
1 cup Dried Apples roughly chopped and firmly packed (85g)
2 cups Vegan Kettle Corn
2 tablespoons Vegan Butter melted

For the Caramel:

1 cup Dates halved (140g)
1 tablespoon Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1/2 tablespoon Vegan Butter melted
2 tablespoons Dry Roasted Salted Peanuts

Instructions

Line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Add the dates and dried apples into a large food processor. Blend until broken down and they come together in a ball.
Add in the kettle corn and process until the kettle corn is broken down and the mixture is crumbly and combined. With the food processor running, add in the melted butter process until combined.
Transfer to the baking pan and press out so only half the pan is filled. What I find is easiest is to press the mixture out all the way, to fill the whole pan. Then, use the parchment paper to fold it back over itself in half and press so that the sides stick together. Place into the freezer while you make the caramel.
Place the dates in a small, microwave-safe bowl and warm for 10-15 seconds, just until soft and warm. Place them in a SMALL food processor (mine is 3 cups) and blend until smooth.
Heat the almond milk for 10 seconds in a small bowl and, with the food processor running, stream it into the date mixture, followed by the melted butter. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as necessary.
Spread over the base (I find it’s easiest to use LIGHTLY damp fingers to spread!) and then sprinkle with the peanuts, pressing them in lightly.
Freeze until the caramel is firm, about 2 hours.
DEVOUR