During my late teens and early twenties, my top 5 favourite chocolate bars were the following (in no particular order):
Chunky Kit Kat, Wunderbar, Coffee Crisp, Rolo/Caramilk, and Twix.
What about you?
For the next Halloween recipe in my Treat-a-thon series, I made a healthier version of Rolo caramels. Instead of making a traditional caramel, I processed Medjool dates into a caramel with a touch of nut butter. I really had no idea how close I could get the flavour, but I figured it was worth a shot.
Well let me tell you, we couldn’t believe how much these taste like Rolo caramels (only better of course because they are homemade). They don’t call dates “nature’s candy” for no reason!
Homemade “Rolo” Knock-offs
To email, text, or print this recipe, click here.
Yield: 18 bites
Ingredients:
- 200 grams pitted soft Medjool dates (about 11 large)
- 1/2 tbsp peanut butter (or other nut or seed butter)
- pinch of fine grain sea salt
- scant 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- chia seeds (optional)
The chia seeds were added for a spooky bug-like appearance and for some sneaky nutrition!
You’ll need soft Medjool dates for this recipe. My favourite brand is by Bard Valley. If you are starting with firm/hard dates, you’ll need to soak them in water until soft. Make sure to drain the water off before proceeding.
How to make:
1. Process dates with nut/seed butter until a sticky paste forms.
2. Chill date mixture in freezer for 10 minutes, then shape into about 18 small balls.
3. Freeze balls again for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt chocolate with coconut oil.
4. Dunk each chilled ball into chocolate. Tap off excess. Sprinkle with chia and stick with toothpick.
5. Place bites back into the freezer for at least 20 minutes to set. Bites taste best when they are firm and cold, straight from the freezer. They soften at room temp, but do not melt.
6. Enjoy!
Try them for yourself – I think you’ll be surprised by how much they taste like the real thing.
Next on my Halloween recipe list might have to be the Kit Kat bar…
In other Halloween news, I’m thinking about going as an 80’s girl this year. My inspiration came from these hot pink mesh gloves I found at Dollarama yesterday. Hot!
My mom was visiting on Monday and we were talking about my love for 80’s fashion as a child. Neon colours, side pony, teased curled bangs, spandex (neon of course), high top sneaks, leg warmers, stone-washed tapered jeans, slap bracelets, sweater clips, scrunchies….I rocked it all. There was no mistake that I was an 80’s child.
Anyone else have their costume idea decided yet?
OMG…I love Rolo’s! One of my all time favorite candy! I will definitely have to make these, think I can use carob chips instead of the chocolate?
Sure, why not! Let me know how it goes. :)
My grocery store was out of dates! How does that happen? Also, saw a great homemade recipe for Twix yesterday; http://www.manifestvegan.com/2011/01/vegan-gluten-free-twixx/
I haven’t had a Rolo in ages. Well done, Angela! I think my favorite chocolate bars were a toss up between Twix, Mars and Skor.
I too was a crazy 80’s child. I rocked the side pony like no other. And the tights under large neon sweaters? Ya, I did that too. Can’t wait to see the costume!
How Cute! I love those little pumpkins!
Also, I just noticed how dates give a caramel flavor to smoothies. So making a date caramel is just awesome!
That filling looks ridiculously good. Have you noticed how 80’s fashion is making a raging comeback?
Yes it totally is. My inner 80’s child is loving the neon colours, hah.
These look delicious!!! Dates are so versatile for remaking desserts!
Yes!! Love that these are sweetened with dates—what a simple, easy treat idea! Thanks Angela :)
I cant control my excitement!! Rolos and Caramello Bars were my all time faves, closely follow by a good Kit Kat bar…. I think MUST try to make these asap to re-live my love for the rollo. I havent had them in ages. Thanks for sharing !
These look so cute with the little pumpkins on top. I used to love Rolos so I’m excited to try this recipe. I also LOVE the Apple Bites, they are sooooo cool!
I can’t wait to try these – I’ve been tempted to buy Rolos ever since the Halloween candy came out, but have been good and RAN the other way!! Have any healthy recipes for mallow pumpkins?!
I love the little pumpkin toothpicks–what a nice touch!
I don’t know what I’m going to be this year. I’m going to be taking all my 4 kids this year, so I’m thinking something that will coordinate well with their costumes…
And 80’s. Oh dear. I loved my crimping iron!
These sound amazing! I used to love Rolos but I haven’t had any since I went vegan of course. I’ll have to make these! But I don’t have any coconut oil, and my small town grocery store doesn’t sell it. Would it work to just use vegetable oil in melting the chocolate, or does it have to be coconut oil because of its property of being solid at room temp?
Hey Melissa, you can probably get away with omitting the coconut oil. Just be sure to melt the choc at a very low heat.
Wow! These look delicious!! Thank you for sharing your cute and creative ideas.
*I think you forgot to mention to add the coconut oil to the melted chocolate in your picture descriptions.
Thanks, just added it in :)
Date caramel? Coolest idea ever. I used to love rolos – especially frozen. I’m thinking these would make a perfect homemade DQ Blizzard. Appropriate for Canada, no? ;)
Wow – you are creative!!! That caramel combo is something I would never have come up with on my own. I can’t wait to try these!!!
Last year we were in Las Vegas for a Halloween wedding. I was a pirate & my husband was a flasher {it was very funny and gross at the same time} —- we spent more than usual on our costumes for that, so I think we’ll be doing some recycling this year!!
Vegas would be the perfect place to be on Halloween!! Yes, costume recycling is never a bad thing. I usually alternate the usual suspects each year.
What a great idea! I love the idea of using dates and nuts to make the filling. I think I’d like these better than rolos whose filling I always found too sugary
When I was in High School (the period of time when I consumed a lot of chocolate bars) my favs were: Peanut Butter Cups, Wunderbar, Big Turk, Areo, and Mr. Big – now I barely eat them – but I get cravings for them every once and a while… This recipe sounds delicious – and might just solve that pop-up chocolate craving now and again!
First of all, I just want to say THANK GOODNESS FOR YOU & YOUR AMAZING BLOG!!!! You are soooooo wonderful and I love to read about and from a fellow Canadian in Toronto! I am wondering if these dates are able to be mashed without a food processor if they are soft enough, or if the texture just wouldn’t cut it, probably… I really need to get a food processor soon.
I was going to go as the “wandering womb” for Halloween, which would be a simple costume … I’d cut out a squiggly cloud-like shape and pin it on my thigh or shoulder and have little white dots (like thinking bubbles in comics) going from my abdomen to wherever the “womb” is. I am doing my Master in Library Science so I think most people would get the reference and it’d be an easy costume =P
LOVE the 80s idea though! I do have neon pink tights and neon yellow leg warmers hmmm.. I completely forgot about the side ponytail until you mentioned it! I fully support that ^__^
Hey Farah, You might be able to mash the dates with a fork if they are SUPER soft. The brand I buy is very very soft and I would think they could be mashed with a fork. goodluck!
It’s probably wrong, but I would love to have that date/nut butter spread just on a sandwich…or a spoon. Yum!
I was just thinking yesterday it could work as a spread too!
I can’t WAIT to make these! I only have half the dates on hand but that might be a good thing since I’ve got some pie weight to lose from vacation last week! HA!
I think I kept Aqua Net in the black in the 80’s. Don’t forget to overlap neon socks! ;-)
Rolos are only like my favorite childhood candy EVER. Those and milk duds. I am a gigantic sucker for caramel. I can 100% see dates working for this, especially with the stickiness. Awesome!
Oh my gosh, I was beyond excited to see your post this morning – I really love Rolos! Yesterday Katie (of CCK) asked her readers what other candy she should make over, and I suggested Rolos (and Twix, 100 Grand Bars, and peanut M&Ms, haha – I couldn’t choose!) so I was practically giddy when I saw that you had already made a healthier, homemade version of Rolos! I can’t wait to try them out!!
And I think you would make a great 80s girl – please share some pictures after Halloween :)
Oooo. I think I might try these!
I’m either going to be Zorro (a la Amelie) or a zombie. I found out last week I can’t actually watch the show “The Walking Dead” (too scary, spent too long checking under the bed, in the shower, etc., after watching one episode) so maybe I’ll just BE a zombie instead. I’ll probably do both, since I have a few Halloween events to attend.
I will be trying this recipe tonight, thanks for the great idea.
What a wonderful idea for a caramel! I need to make these ASAP. It seems when I buy dates I make a million recipes with them, these will be the next : )
These look so adorable! I love chocolate & caramel ANYTHING. I’ll have to get my hands on some more dates, asap!
I love, love, love you!! Fantastic! My faves were Coffee Crisp amd Wunderbar and Mr.Big,,,But these I will be able to have, guilt free without the yukky chocolate milk fix…Did I say love??
Looks really good. Do you think you could use regular dates instead? Perhaps if you soaked them first?
THIS. IS. AMAZING. I can’t wait to make these for Halloween.
I’m going as Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Rooney Mara version. :)
This is a must try, Angela! Such a good idea. I can’t believe how simple they are to make, and so few ingredients… can’t wait to make them!
Any tips on melting chocolate? I seem to always have trouble with it.
I find melting it on the lowest heat setting works for me. Stir it a lot and the coconut oil helps it thin out. The key is to remove the chocolate from the heat when the chips are about 2/3 melted. Remove from the burner and just stir it to melt the rest of the chips. It’s a quick and dirty method of “tempering” the chocolate. Goodluck!
lol! Your photography is adorable.
You are genius, no other word for you!!! They look incredible!
Now I’m so bummed that I put the dates back on the shelf at the grocery store yesterday. What a great idea. Can’t wait to try them!
I have all 5 of these ingredients and am totally making these today! Thanks for putting me in the holiday spirit!
I’m dressing up as Amelia Earheart! Partly because my friend wrote an amazing song about her that makes me cry, partly because I’m reading a book about her, and partly because my husband rejected my couples costume of Garfield and John.
Also, we can’t forget about those horrible leggings with the straps that went under your feet…ouch!
That will be a cool costume, so original too!
I just got the funniest mental picture about those leggings. I am pretty sure I had them in hot pink too.
Please make a vegan version of Twix! That’s the one non-vegan candy that I still have a weakness for.
I have a twix recipe on the blog from 2010 (Twix or treat bars) however it needs some work! The shortbread crust was crumbly. I will have to revisit it for sure. :)
WOW-definitely my favorite candy of ALL TIME!!! Can’t wait to try these!
Not sure for Halloween yet….gotta figure that out quick!
Oh my gosh! Yesterday, I was saying to my husband how much I missed Rolo! You are definitely the awesomest ever!!!
Where are snickers on this line up?? :-)
oh and– there are “chunky kit kats”?? What the! We’ve been ripped off here in the states. :-)
You don’t have Chunky Kit Kats in the US? im going to try to recreate them this week…wish me luck!
Hooray!! I was browsing your comments to see if you were going to attempt these. I LOVE(d) kit kats!
I love that you are making chunky Kit Kats, we have them in Australia too and they were definitely my favourite growing up. Good luck!
I knew someone was going to ask that!! Funny thing is, I was never big on nuts in my chocolate bars! They just get in the way of the chocolate, wafer, and caramel fillings if you ask me. hah.
Awesome idea! I love to see typical fat-boy candy being healthfully recreated by bloggers. Love the 80s idea! I remember crimping my hair before school and feeling like the coolest chick ever!
Oh my gosh I love rolos!!! If you can make caramel perhaps you’d be able to make a vegan version of Mars bars??? I was obsessed with those as a kid! Have no idea how to recreate the nougat.
I’ve been thinking about that one too….I will have to look up some non-vegan recipes to see what they use to make it.
These look spectacular. I used to love Rolos! I am so making these. Until I cut out processed foods, my all-time favourite treat was Smarties. I think they’d be really hard to re-create, though, because of the candy shell.
maybe some kind of coconut oil + food colouring shell would work? They’d have to be kept chilled though :)
Can’t wait to try these, my favorite candy then and now is still Reese’s Peanut butter cups
Best idea EVER for that sort of gloppy stage of processed dates + nut butter. Just soft enough to be exactly like caramel yet still hold together! At that stage, I usually add oats or some sort of dry ingredient to make bars with, etc. What was I thinking?! I need to keep that state and keep the caramely love alive and make these! LOVE Rolo’s & this idea!
OMG I’m not Canadian but I LOVE coffee crisp!!! I live inmichigan and get at least 10 bars every time I go over the bridge!!!
These rolos sound great :)
hah I wonder why they aren’t sold in the US? I need to find a way to make them at home.
This look cute, healthy, fun and delicious! Can’t wait to make the asap!
Can’t wait to try! I loved Rolos and am always looking for a vegan substitute.
Love this idea! That caramel looks awesome.
Because my son has behavioral issues when eating artificially colored treats, I’ve been trying to entice him to eat other goodies instead. The hard part is that to him, nothing tastes as good as the real thing. I’m excited about this recipe and will give it a whirl. Last year I made him his own pumpkin chocolate chip cake in exchange for his trick-or-treat bag (I know that sounds so mean) and it worked to a point. I think I needed a few other treats to make it more of a fair trade. Thanks Angela!!
I just felt the need to reply to your comment. As a young child (I’m now 28, though no kids of my own yet), I also suffered from behavioral issues from artificial food dyes/preservatives. This was in the ’80s, when there wasn’t a whole lot of research (particularly in the Deep South of the US, where I’ve always lived). I have much empathy for you and your son! It was tough not understanding why I couldn’t have the same treats (M&Ms, Skittles, cheese-flavored snacks, etc.) as my friends, but I’m so glad my mother did her own research and stood up for me and herself when doctors basically said she was crazy. Luckily I grew out of it, but I still try to avoid artificial dyes as much as possible because of what’s in them. Luckily for you and your son, there are so many more options today–and awesome blogs like this one that have creative AND healthy ways to recreate some of those unhealthy (but enticing) treats.
I can’t wait to try to make these myself. Seems so simple. Rolos weren’t one of my favorites–I was more of a Reese’s PB cup or peppermint patty/Junior Mints girl (love those 2 flavor combinations in ANYTHING!)–but these look too delicious to pass up.
I’m glad you commented! I’m really impressed that your Mom linked artificial colors up to some struggles you had and that she stuck to her guns! I know my son struggles with not being able to eat the candy that the other kids can so I do try to make and get stuff that will help him to not feel ‘left out.’ I just went and got some dates so I can get going on these. I laughed because Rolo’s were never my thing either – Reese’s Peanut Butter cups are STILL my favorite. The cake I made last year though (in trade for his candy) was using Angela’s Spiced Buttercream frosting on her pumkin cake – it was to DIE for. Thanks for your comment – it’s always nice to know someone out there knows what I’m talking about! Love the pic of your doggy by the way. :)
Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins!!!
My substitute is Alicia Silverstone’s vegan peanut butter cups.
Delicious!!!