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
Yield
18 bites
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
40
Total time
Ingredients
For the caramel
- 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
For the chocolate coating
- scant 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp coconut oil
For the garnish
- chia seeds (optional)
Directions
- [Note: You want to use very soft Medjool dates. If yours are firm, soak in water to soften before using. Be sure to drain well.] Process pitted dates in food processor until a sticky paste forms. Now, add in the nut or seed butter along with a pinch of fine grain sea salt. Process until combined. The mixture will be SUPER sticky, but this is a good thing!
- Scoop out the sticky mixture into a bowl and freeze for about 10 minutes. Chilling it makes the caramel easier to shape into balls. After chilling, lightly wet your fingers and shape caramel into small balls to make about 18 balls total.
- Place balls back into the freezer for another 10 minutes on a parchment lined plate. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips along with 1 teaspoon coconut oil on the stove top over low heat. When 2/3 of the chips are melted, remove from heat and stir until everything is melted.
- Remove balls from freezer and dunk each ball into the melted chocolate, one at a time. Roll around to coat. Tap off excess chocolate and place back onto parchment-lined plate. Sprinkle with chia seeds (optional) and stick a toothpick into each. Repeat for the rest.
- Freeze again for at least 20 minutes until set. Bites taste best straight from the freezer and will soften (but will not melt) at room temperature.
Tip:
The chia seeds were added for a Halloween 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.
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?
I’ve already made these twice! All of my friends love them. I love this blog it makes being vegan so easy and fun!
awesome, thanks for letting me know!
Hi Angela , I love your website have told so many people about it and the awesome recipes. Made these today and instead of putting melted chocolate I mixed in cacao nibs. Really great also. I have a friend who doesn’t eat sugar so they were perfect. Love them with the chocolate also. This one is another keeper. Thanks!
Made these tonight for my sons Halloween Themed birthday party tomorrow. YOU are the best!!!! these taste just like a store bought candy bar. I’m making the Apple Bites tomorrow. Thank You Thank You Thank You :-)
These are awesome and SO easy!!! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Oof. My food processor burned out while trying to make this date caramel.
This is a dumb question…but I am out of chia seeds. Should I wait until I have them or can these be made without? (I have NO IDEA how I missed these the first time aroound!!)
These were pretty awesome. The first time I made them, though, I soaked my dates way too long so they wouldn’t freeze. It was just like a frosting texture that was smooth but refused to set up enough to ever make a ball out of it. However, thanks to that mistake, I think I am going to do the same thing over again and use this “caramel” base for my own vegan spin on German Chocolate Frosting! My plan is to use
-200g of soaked dates (I soaked mine overnight)
-1/2 tbsp peanut butter
-2 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
-1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
-1 tsp of vanilla
The best part is that there will be no added sugar or any of the other awful things you find in German Chocolate frosting. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. :)
Just made my frosting. I ended up using:
• 400 grams dates (about 30 medium dates)
• 1 cup water, divided
• 1 tbsp cashew butter (or any other nut butter, but cashew has the most mild taste that doesn’t interfere with the frosting)
• 2 ½ cups unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 ½ cups pecan pieces
• 2 tsp gluten free vanilla
The date mixture with cashew butter and vanilla tasted even more like caramel than the date/peanut butter mixture for the rolos.This made enough to frost an entire 2 layer 8 inch round cake, and I’m betting any leftover would make great little truffles.
This looks delish and I plan on making them this week! I assume the pinch of salt goes in with the date mixture? Thank you! :)
OMG. Rolos are my fav! I love anything that combines chocolate and caramel. It’s midnight now, and I’m going to fall asleep dreaming about these. I will absolutely be making these in the morning.
These were great! I used almond butter and did not use toothpicks, but they are so delicious! I will definitely keep this “caramel” recipe in mind for slathering in the middle of a chocolate layer cake!
Cant believe it has taken me this long to comment on these little beauties! I made them when you first posted this, and have pretty much been making them fortnightly since. Being pregnant I feel Im getting such a treat, yet still relatively healthy. Today I made them using Macadamia nut butter, which is great for something different. But the original is still my favorite, thanks Angela!
Hi! I’ve made these once already and they were great. This time around I noticed that you list salt in the ingredients but not in the instructions. Is it supposed to go in there somewhere?
Thanks! :)
Yes, I put it into the date caramel mixture when processing. Hope this helps!
I just made these this evening, and they were absolutely delicious. I made two mods: I added chis seeds to the processor with the coconut oil (inadvertently) and it actually worked great. Also I heated the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave for a minute. The results were very well-received by the whole family. Also, since my dates were dry, I “steamed” them in a little bit of water in the microwave first, and they were good to go.
Sorry to bring a post back from the dead like this (thought it IS a Halloween-related post, so why not??), but I have a funny story: I made these a few times since you’ve posted the recipe because my husband and I both LOVE them when we’re craving sweets but not the inevitable guilt of junky food.
Usually I make a small batch like your recipe, but I figured this time I’d make a QUADRUPLE batch since they keep so well in the freezer, and since they’re kind of a pain to make/clean up (though very worth the mess!). I used the same kind of dates as you did, Ange, and did soak them first even though they’re pretty soft. Wellllll, this idea ended up being a bit of a disaster. It takes a lot of scraping and blending regardless, but I guess the massive amount of date-goo was too much for my food processor to handle. I was at the sink washing a few dishes as it was blending, and it started to make struggling sounds… which turned into death throes. Smoky, smelly, death throes. My poor food processor bit the dust and the “caramel” wasn’t even pulverized yet :( Panicked that I might have wasted 45 precious dates (they’re NOT cheap), I hesitantly used my hand blender to VERY CAREFULLY and slowly puree it as best I could. It was touch-and-go, but I’m happy to report that I only killed the one small appliance in the process and now have a “Rolo” stash to get me through ’til the next apocalypse! Ah, who am I kidding… they’ll probably still be gone in a month. My food processor was only 3 years old, and though it wasn’t all that bad, I can’t say I’m sorry that I’ll have to upgrade to a better model ASAP :) Yay for happy endings!
Thank you for this recipe they look amazing!!! I just made them and put them in the freezer for their final go.. and realized I should’ve asked this question a lot sooner… Is it okay to freeze them for hours?! I was planning on not eating them until 5 or 6 hours from now
Yes that’ll be just fine!
First I must say that I LOVE your blog and recipes!!! I just made these “rolos” but I think I must have soaked my dates too long because the date mixture was super hard to work with. I did drain off the extra water but the mixture was so sticky I ended up freezing it overnight and it was still a bit challenging! Thinking they must have absorbed too much water?
WOW! These “rolo” candies are fantastic!!! I loved Rolos as a kid and just took my first bite (okay, my first bite was when the mixture was in the VitaMix) with the chocolate covering and I can’t believe how great they are! Some vegan and gluten free snacks are good because you just don’t have a choice, but these are great for everyone! I used Naturally Nutty Cinnamon Vanilla Sunflower butter in place of peanut butter. Their stuff is amazing!
Hey Stephani, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them so much!
Hello!
First of all, me and my sister have been trying all of your recipes one by one and we love them! thank you! Also, I tried these and they actually really do taste like caramel once they set. I used sea salt instead of chia seeds to make it a sea salt caramel. Thinking of making it with lavendar or earl gray infused into the caramel? Any thoughts?
I made this recipe and the little “rolo” balls were AMAZING! Based on what I remember rolos tasting like, I’d give these an 8.5 for closeness. But for overall tastiness value, they get a 10. Thank you for the awesome recipe! They are easy to make and require simple ingredients AND take care of my now vegan sweet tooth! Plus I like that I don’t feel nearly as guilty if I eat these–heck, I know what’s in ’em! Can’t say that about rolos, the regular type!
I made these again (2nd time this week since finding this recipe; who’s counting? not me!) and they are just a scrumptious. I think you have created a monster. A vegan, fat & happy monster. ;)