These Vegan Millionaire Bars are a healthier version of the classic millionaire shortbread, a no-bake vegan dessert bar 100% gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
You will love the buttery coconut flour shortbread base, and soft peanut butter caramel topped with a crunchy chocolate layer. Keep reading to learn more!
What Are Vegan Millionaire Shortbread Bars?
A classic millionaire shortbread bar is a rich dessert bar made of three layers: a crumbly shortbread crust, sticky soft caramel, and a crunchy chocolate top layer.
Usually, they are made with lots of sugar, dairy, and processed ingredients like sweetened condensed milk, white sugar, white flour, and butter.
Here I am sharing healthy millionaire bars, the vegan version of this classic dessert 100% refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and no-bake to preserve all the nutrients.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make these healthy no-bake vegan dessert bars are:
- Coconut Flour – or almond flour. Coconut flour contains 4 times more fiber than almond flour, it is also sweeter in flavor, and therefore you can’t swap one flour for the other with the same ratio. That’s why I am providing 2 different recipes for the bottom layer of these no-bake millionaire bars. One recipe is using coconut flour, and one uses almond flour. Of course, you are free to choose the one you prefer based on your diet requirement. But I personally prefer coconut flour. The shortbread texture is way more intense. If you are concerned about eating raw flour, read my article about the raw flours that are safe to eat.
- Maple Syrup – or any liquid sweetener you like. You can also use agave syrup or brown rice syrup – it has a lower GI or, if you watch sugar closely, use Monk fruit syrup. It is a great sugar-free keto option.
- Coconut Oil – You can use refined coconut oil to avoid coconut flavor.
- Peanut Butter or almond butter – make sure you choose pure peanut butter with no added oil, no added sugar. Feel free to use salted peanut butter if you want to make healthy salted caramel bars.
- Vanilla – for flavor.
- Dark Chocolate – I recommend 85% cocoa chocolate simply because the other layers are already sweet, and strong dark chocolate balances the sweetness better.
How To Make Vegan Millionaire Shortbread
Call these as you like, caramel bars, millionaire bars, or chocolate caramel bars! They are simply delicious no-bake shortbread bars with a soft peanut butter caramel and dark chocolate layer.
- Line a 9-inch x 5-inch rectangle baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour (or almond flour, ensuring proper ingredient ratios if using almond flour), maple syrup, and melted coconut oil.
- Initially, use a spatula and then knead the dough by hand until it transforms from a soft, wet consistency to a dry one, becoming easier to shape into a ball.
- Place the ball in the center of the prepared dish, pressing it with your fingers to evenly cover the bottom. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to smooth the top. Freeze for 10 minutes while preparing the soft caramel.
- In a small bowl, mix fresh runny peanut butter, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla until a consistent, smooth caramel forms.
- Pour the caramel over the shortbread layer, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Return the dish to the freezer for 10-12 minutes or until firm.
- Meanwhile, melt chocolate and coconut oil in a saucepan over medium heat or microwave them in a bowl in 30-second bursts, stirring between, until fully melted. Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel layer, spreading it with a spatula. Return to the freezer for 2-5 minutes or until the chocolate sets.
- Remove from the freezer, use parchment paper to lift the bar from the dish, and slice into 16 squares with a sharp knife. To ease cutting, you can slightly warm the blade under hot water.
Step-by-Step Video
Frequently Asked Questions
A classic millionaire shortbread bar has a crumbly baked shortbread crust.
If you are looking for a similar sensation and texture, you can definitely bake the crust on it is own before adding the raw caramel.
I recommend baking the crust at 350°F (180°C) for 15 minutes and cooling the crust for 15 minutes before adding the caramel layer.
Millionaire bars are no-bake vegan desserts so these bars are dairy-free and egg-free, and therefore they can be stored easily in the fridge for up to 5 days.
It is better if you store these in an airtight container to prevent the caramel from drying.
If you want to freeze them, I recommend you place a piece of parchment paper between each bar.
It makes it easier to defrost the bars one by one. You can then keep them for up to 3 months.
Thaw them in the fridge or eat frozen!
More No-Bake Vegan Desserts
If you love no-bake vegan desserts, I recommend you also try:
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No-bake Vegan Millionaire Shortbread
Ingredients
Option 1: Coconut Flour Shortbread crust – gluten-free + nut-free
- 1 ⅓ cup Coconut Flour
- ½ cup Coconut Oil - melted
- ½ cup Maple Syrup - or sugar-free monk fruit syrup if keto
Option 2: almond flour shortbread crust – gluten-free + grain-free + keto
- 1 ½ cup Almond Flour - fine, blanched
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Oil - melted
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup - or sugar-free monk fruit syrup if keto
Caramel layer
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - or sugar-free monk fruit syrup if keto
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Oil - melted
- ½ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - or almond butter, fresh jar, no added sugar, no added oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Chocolate layer
- 4.2 oz Dark Chocolate - 85% cocoa or 70% cocoa
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil - melted
Instructions
- Cover a 9-inch x 5-inch rectangle baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add coconut flour (or almond flour; if so, make sure you respect the correct ratio of ingredients based on the flour you choose), maple syrup, and melted coconut oil.
- Combine with a spatula at first, then knead the dough with your hands. The dough is soft and wet at first and dry as you go, becoming easier to shape into a ball.
- Gather the dough into a ball and place it in the center of the prepared dish.
- Press the ball with your fingers to evenly cover the bottom of the dish. You can smooth the top of the layer using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Freeze for 10 minutes while making the soft caramel.
- In a small bowl, add fresh runny peanut butter, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Combine with a spatula until it forms a consistent, smooth caramel.
- Remove the dish from the freezer and pour the caramel on top of the shortbread layer.
- Spread the caramel evenly with the spatula and return the dish into the freezer for 10-12 minutes or until firm.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and melted coconut oil in a saucepan under medium heat. Otherwise, you can microwave chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl, by 30 seconds burst, stirring between, until smooth and fully melted.
- Remove the dish from the freezer and pour the melted chocolate on top of the caramel layer.
- Spread with a spatula and return to the freezer for 2-5 minutes or until the chocolate layer is set.
- Remove from the freezer, use the pieces of parchment paper to lift out the bar from the dish.
- Slice with a sharp knife into 16 squares. You can slightly warm the blade under hot water before cutting to make this easier.
Storage
- Store the bars into an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze and defrost 2-3 hours before. It can be eaten half-frozen as well.
I don’t have maple syrup but I have honey, will that work for the Carmel layer?
Yes, if it’s runny enough it should be fine
Hello Carine,
If maple syrup & monkfruit syrup are unavailable can we use agave syrup or an equivalent liquid sweetener instead? Adding a little bit more almond flour to keep the texture if needed so it doesn’t fall apart
Absolutely!
Can we leave out the maple syrup? I prefer pure Stevia to sweeten. But from where sould I then het the moist/liquid to bind?
You can use sugar-free maple syrup if you prefer.
I’ve made this twice already this week it is so unbelievably good. So addicting with healthy, nutritious ingredients and so easy to make, plus no baking!! Awesome for hot summer days!
My grandson is gluten and dairy free and I use your recipes frequently for him. He loves them but so do the rest of the family now, so the time in the kitchen is increasing daily! Love your raw desserts and bars they are a success every time and no need to heat up the kitchen.
Thank you for all your research and healthy recipes they are appreciated.
Hi ! i love also coco flour ! but haven’t yet found recipe that would suit my diet requirements. Do you think i could replace coconut oil with sth to make it lower in fat?
i was thinking dates or some sort of liquid as i know they this one is also quite dry
much thanks for your advice !:)
I didn’t try something else and coconut flour is high fiber so it need fat to bind or the mouth feeling is super dry and texture crumble apart.
So incredibly easy!
Can you make the caramel layer with honey instead of maple syrup?
Sure
Thank you Carine for this amazing recipe and for your website! Everything is so delicious and I realize I don’t miss the “usual” ingredients for my previous sweet treats. I was gluten free for a long time and now I’m dairy free and corn free. All of your recipes are so well organized by diet type and ingredients so it’s been really fun trying all of options available.
This recipe is an absolute knockout and my husband and mother in law who are not gluten, dairy, nor corn free love it too. I did not find the coconut taste to be overpowering at all, I used the almond crust option but for my liquid sweetener I did use coconut nectar and it tastes great.
I use Crazy Richard’s 100% peanuts peanut butter, it is runny and only one ingredient. I used the crunchy type and it came out amazing.
I did double the amount of chocolate to have a heavier chocolate layer. I used the enjoy life chocolate chips and melted them down. They’re allergen friendly and the taste is divine.
I did have a little trouble not having the caramel layer and chocolate layer not run together too much. I put the caramel layer in the freezer for 12 minutes per the recipe, but does it need to be in there longer than that to achieve the separation in your photos?
Thanks again for all of the amazing recipes for my family including baby!
I’d never heard of these before, but saw someone make them on a cooking show. I don’t ever use wheat flours or refined sugars so was so excited to find this recipe. It did not disappoint. Shared it with my kids and grandkids and they LOVED it! Even my granddaughter, who hates anything coconut and immediately could taste the coconut oil in them, later texted me telling me “they were insanely good!” and asked for the recipe.
PS: I used the almond flour since I prefer the taste of that to coconut flour. So thanks for including that option.