Let’s travel back in time for a moment. Imagine you’re 12, and it’s a hot summer day. You walk into town with your friends with a few dollars in your pocket, and find yourself staring down the ice cream case at a convenience store. Better yet, maybe you’re at the beach or a public park and an ice cream truck rolls in. What’s your choice?
I know it’s hard to choose; there’s choco tacos, two ball screwballs, popsicles shaped like superheros, and the dreamy, creamy chocolate-dipped ice cream cone known as the drumstick. Or maybe you just get a pushpop, because, duh. They’re creamy cylinders of ice cream that push up, people. What’s not to love?
If faced with all those choices AND there was a snickers ice cream bar as an option too, my pre-teen self always went straight for the snickers. And the elusive king sized ones? Fuuuhgetaboutit. 
Flash forward a decade or two, and here I am, making homemade snickers-esque bars with ingredients like coconut milk, dates, and salted peanuts because there’s still something so right about creamy ice cream + sweet caramel + crunchy peanuts.
I’ve been thinking about trying to create real-food-based homemade snickers bar for a while, but never got it quite how I wanted it. Tasty, yes. Actually passable as a snickers bar? Not really.
So, when I opened the freezer a few weeks ago to see my husband had bough a box of snickers ice cream bars, I knew it was time to get this snickers show on the road. I wasn’t about to accept that we were going to be spending our hard-earned cash on a product that can easily be made at home with higher quality ingredients.
I also deeply believe in the importance of organic and authentically fair traded chocolate, where farmers own their own land, run their own businesses, are able to thrive from growing a commodity crop for the rest of the world. Supporting chocolate conglomerates who are only interested in profit, where chocolate is grown on massive plantations by farmers who have no voice, agency, or ability to improve their lives based on the work they do, doesn’t really work for me. If you’ve never given any thought to where products like chocolate, coffee, or bananas come from, I highly suggest looking into fair trade and/or organic versions of them ASAP. Our global food system is in crisis, and the small farmers of the world need us to support them!
Okay, I got a little sidetracked there. Let’s talk about these snickers bars!
To make them, you’re going to blend up coconut milk, dates, peanut butter, and plenty of vanilla into a creamy ice cream base. Then, you’ll just freeze it in a loaf pan until it’s solid. No ice cream maker needed!
Once the ice cream layer is frozen, you’ll cover it in a simple date-based caramel, load it up with salty peanuts, and slice it into bars. I cut mine into six squares, but you could cut them into longer rectangles for a more traditional snickers bar look. FYI- you can also double this recipe to make it in an 8×8 square pan, in case you need more than six!
All that’s left is dunking and/or drizzling them in melted chocolate, and waiting for them to firm up in the freezer. Despite being made of higher quality ingredients than the convenience store ice creams of my childhood, my 12-year old self would totally go crazy over these. They’re just as satisfying on a hot summer day, and are even as drippy and messy when they start to melt as the originals. No matter- we just have to eat them quickly and lick our fingers afterwards.
Quick! Go put coconut milk, dates, and peanuts on your grocery list so you can make them this weekend. It looks like it’s going to be a scorcher!
These homemade snickers bars are made with minimal ingredients, but will totally take you back in time!
Homemade Snickers Ice Cream Bars
Ingredients
Ice Cream Layer
- 1-13.5 ounce can coconut milk full fat-not 'light' or reduced fat
- 4 large pitted Medjool dates
- 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract yes, a full Tablespoon!
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Date Caramel
- 10 large pitted Medjool dates about 1 cup, packed
- 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons warm water
- 1/4 cup dry roasted salted peanuts
- 1 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate + 1 Tablespoon virgin coconut oil
Instructions
- 1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- 2. Put all ice cream ingredients into the bowl of a food processor or high-powered blender, and blend just until smooth. Pour into the loaf pan and transfer to the freezer to harden. This should take at least 3 hours, but can be left in the freezer for up to a week before making the bars, if needed.
- 3. When ready to assemble the bars, make the date caramel. Put all ingredients into a food processor or high-powered blender, and pulse until a thick, sticky caramel is formed. If needed, add up to 2 more Tablespoons of water to help it come together. It should be thick, and some small chunks of dates remaining is fine.
- 4. Spread the caramel over the frozen ice cream layer, sprinkle with peanuts, and put back into the freezer while you melt the chocolate.
- 5. Put chocolate and coconut oil into a microwave-safe bowl (or in a double-boiler on the stove over med-low heat) and microwave in 20-second intervals until just melted.
- 6. Working quickly, remove the pan from the freezer and lift the parchment out of the pan. Cut into 6 bars, and dip each one in chocolate. Transfer back onto the parchment paper, then immediately transfer the bars to the freezer to firm up. You may want to put the parchment on a plate or larger pan that fits in your freezer so you can quickly pop them back in once you dip them.
- 7. Once fully frozen, transfer them to an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. When completely frozen the ice cream layer is a little bit icy, so I recommend letting the bars sit at room temperature for a few minutes before biting into them, just like you probably would with any storebought ice cream bar.
Notes
If you love the salted caramel/salted chocolates like I do, an extra pinch of flaky salt on top of these is very much welcome.