Samoa Bars (No-Bake, Vegan, Gluten-Free)
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These Samoa bars are easy, no-bake vegan desserts made of a shortbread crust and topped with a caramel coconut layer.
They are gluten-free, dairy-free, and paleo-friendly.
What Are Samoa Bars?
These no-bake Samoas bars or girl-scout cookie bars are healthier raw versions of your favorite Samoa bars. They are derived from the Samoas cookies that girl scouts sell.
It’s a no-bake vegan dessert, 100% refined-sugar-free and gluten-free.
A crumbly coconut shortbread cookie bar topped with a chewy caramel coconut layer.
How To Make Samoa Bars
All you need to bake no bake Samoa bars are a few basic pantry ingredients.
Ingredients
Let’s look at them below and at the easy swap ideas if you are missing some ingredients to make this recipe.
- Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut – Desiccated coconut is the base ingredient for Samoa bars and gives them a delicious texture and flavor.
- Almond Flour – Almond flour is a great healthy flour, but you can also use oat flour or sesame flour for a nut-free option. If you are concerned about eating raw flour, read my article about the raw flours that are safe to eat.
- Maple Syrup – You can use any liquid sweetener such as maple syrup, rice malt syrup, or coconut nectar.
- Coconut Oil – Coconut oil is essential for no-bake desserts as it remains solid in the fridge but melts in your mouth.
- Unsweetened Shredded Coconut or coconut chips – toasted is the best!
- Dark Chocolate Chips – Or a dark chocolate bar. Learn how to find accidentally-vegan dark chocolate.
- Peanut Butter – You can use any natural butter such as peanut butter, almond butter, tahini, or sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option.
Toasting Coconut
If you love coconut and caramel, this vegan Samoa bar recipe is for you! You will love the moist shortbread bottom layer with sweet chewy caramel.
My tip is to toast the shredded coconut before you add it to the middle layer! This will enhance the coconut flavor of these bars.
To toast shredded coconut, lay a baking tray with parchment paper and spread the unsweetened coconut evenly all over the tray.
Make sure the coconut doesn’t overlay to ensure it toasts evenly.
Bake the coconut at 320°F (160°C) for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes until the coconut is golden and fragrant.
You can also toast coconut in a frying pan, under medium heat, with no oil added.
Stir the coconut and stop cooking when the color is lightly golden brown.
Storage Instructions
You can store the Vegan Samoa Bars in an airtight box in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost each square individually at room temperature for 1 hour before eating.
They can also be eaten half frozen.
More Healthy Bar Recipes
If you love healthy vegan bars, I have other delicious vegan bar recipes to try.
Made this Samoa bar recipe yet? Share a picture of your creation with me on Instagram!
Samoa Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread crust
- 1 cup Desiccated Coconut
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup - or agave syrup or coconut nectar or rice syrup
- ⅓ cup Coconut Oil - melted
Caramel layer
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - or agave syrup or coconut nectar or rice syrup
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Oil - melted
- 1 ¼ cup Desiccated Coconut
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - no added sugar, no added oil
Chocolate drizzle
- 3 oz Dark Chocolate
- 1 teaspoon Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Cover a 9-inch x 5-inch rectangle baking with parchment paper and let enough paper hanging out on the side of the pan so you can easily pull out the bar from the pan later. Set aside.
- In a medium-size bowl, add the shortbread crust ingredients in this order: desiccated coconut, almond flour, maple syrup, and melted coconut oil.
- Stir with a spatula first, then squeeze with your hand to make sure all the ingredients come together and stick together. It can be slightly crumbly, but that's ok. If it's very dry, add an extra tablespoon of coconut oil.
- Press the shortbread crumble tightly onto the prepared baking dish.
- Freeze 10 minutes while you are making the caramel layer.
- In a small bowl, add fresh runny peanut butter, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Then, combine with a spatula until it forms thick, smooth caramel.
- Stir in the shredded coconut.
- Remove the baking dish from the freezer and spread the coconut caramel layer evenly on top.
- Press the coconut layer firmly with the back of a spoon or spatula.
- Return to the freezer for 10 minutes while you melt the chocolate.
- Melt the dark chocolate with coconut oil, under 'bain-marie' or in the microwave, by 30 seconds burst, stirring between to prevent the chocolate from burning.
- Drizzle the melted chocolate all over the bar and return to the freezer for 2 minutes to set the chocolate.
- Remove the baking tray from the freezer, pull out the bar from the tray using the piece of parchment paper to lift out the bar.
- Cut into 16 squares and enjoy!
Storage
- Store the bars in an airtight box, in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost each square individually at room temperature for 1 hour before eating. It can be eaten half frozen.
These were delicious! I’m waiting on another batch to chill right now. My kids also loved these. The combo of peanut butter and coconut is just sooo good.
Thank you so much!
Have you tried adding any protein powder to any of your bar recipes, if so how much?
No, but if you do, the mixture will dry out consequently and won’t hold well together, without changing the ratio of liquid ingredients
Happy Easter to you!
Are you sure the pan size is 9”X5”?
Just seems so small.
Yes,it’s called a slice pan in New Zealand
Thanks for this recipe. I clicked on the link to Dessicated coconut you have in your ingredient list, and purchased thru Amazon as you recommended. Unfortunately I now realize the link is to unsweetened coconut. I’ll need to find a way to sweeten the coconut if you have any suggestions.
I always use unsweetened coconut in my recipes to avoid added sugar. That’s the one you need for this recipe, no need to change anything ! You are good with unsweetened coconut for this samoa bars
Is there any other flour sub I can use? Regular flour, spelt flour, chickpea?
All the flour you listed are unfortunately not safe to be eaten raw. Oat flour is ok as a swap to almond flour if this helps
Hi there!
Will be making those tonight! I have oat flour on hand. Would it be equal ratios?
Thanks!
Not always, oat flour is a bit higher in fiber than almond flour and as a result it dry out recipes quickly. You can try and if too dry, don’t stick together when squeezed in your hand, add a bit of water 1 tablespoon or an extra tablespoon maple syrup or even melted coconut oil. Enjoy!
10/10. Taste JUST like the Girl Scout cookies. So easy to make and to follow the directions. Will 100% be making again. I’m hooked.
Can I use unsweetened coconut flakes instead of desiccated coconut?
Coconut flakes are thicker and dryer so it can make the bar difficult to set and dry too. I highly recommend a shredded or desiccated version for best results.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Many praise and thanks.
Can coconut flour be used
No sorry it’s 4 time smore liquid absorbent and the bar will be super dry with it.
Can you use another “butter” like cashew or almond in place of the peanut butter?
Sure, as soon as your nut butter jar is fresh and drippy, not hard and dry it will work well
What a great recipe.
I did Samoa in a slightly modified version. Instead of maple syrup, I added a thick and dark strawberry jam. You can see the effect on my Instagram Van Groch – vegan bistro.
Thank you for the recipe and of course for inspiration