Healthy Kit Kat Recipe (Gluten Free, Vegan) - Bake It Paleo (2024)

This healthy Kit Kat recipe is the perfect crispy, crunchy, melt in your mouth treat. It's a copycat recipe of the original Kit Kat candy bar, but much healthier. My recipe is gluten free, dairy free, vegan and paleo friendly.

Here's another amazing copycat Halloween candy for you all: homemade Kit Kat bars!

Honestly, I think these taste better than the original version. And I feel a whole lot better about eating these too.

There's no refined sugar or vegetable oils, no gluten, no dairy and no preservatives. This healthy Kit Kat recipe is the perfect substitute to the conventional candy bar.

These vegan Kit Kats consists of crunchy almond flour cookies that are sandwiched between a chocolate-peanut butter fudge (sunbutter for strict paleo) and dipped in dark chocolate.

They are rich and indulgent, but made with wholesome ingredients.

There are SO many reasons to love these homemade Kit Kats and here are a few recipe highlights worth mentioning...

Recipe Highlights

• vegan: these Kit Kats are vegan friendly, meaning dairy free and egg free and made without any animal products.
• paleo: although my recipe calls for peanut butter, you can makes these homemade kit kat bars without peanut butter by substituting with sunbutter. In addition, this recipe is grain free, dairy free and refined sugar free - perfect for a paleo dessert.
• dairy free: made without butter and uses dark chocolate, no milk chocolate
• easy to make: although this recipe does require some assembly, it is easy to make. Simply make the cookie dough, roll, cut and bake the cookies. Then sandwich them between fudge and coat in dark chocolate.

The end result is a healthy Kit Kat recipe with the perfect crunch and a mouthwatering flavor.

This recipe can even be made allergy friendly (gluten free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, soy free) by swapping the almond flour for tigernut flour and the peanut butter for sunbutter.

Ingredients

Here's a list of what you'll need to make these gluten free Kit Kat candy bars:

For the Cookies

• blanched almond flour (or tigernut flour for nut free)
• coconut sugar
• ground flax
• salt
• melted coconut oil
• water
• vanilla extract

For the Filling

• creamy peanut butter (or sunbutter)
• dark chocolate

For the Coating

• dark chocolate
• coconut oil

If you need these to be nut free Kit Kats, then substitute the almond flour for tigernut flour and swap the peanut butter for sunbutter. These are simple swaps that don't change much of the taste, texture or flavor.

Another thing to note, you can use any cut-out cookie recipe in place of the one I used. You just need to make sure the cookie dough can be rolled thin. Also, a crunchy cookie recipe is best.

For the ground flax, I always make my own by grinding whole flax seeds in a coffee grinder. This ensures a fresh, finely ground flax "flour".

How to Make Healthy Kit Kats

Like I mentioned earlier, this healthy Kit Kat bar recipe is easy to make but does require some assembly. Here's what you need to do:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the Cookies

Next, make the cookie dough. Combine all dry cookie ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. This includes the almond flour, coconut sugar, ground flax and salt. This recipe does not contain any baking soda, as you want the cookies to hold their shape - no rise needed.

Then, mix in the wet ingredients. This includes the coconut oil, water and vanilla. First mix with the dough with a spatula, then use your hands to knead it.

Once the dough is well combined, roll it between two sheets of parchment paper using a rolling pin. The parchment paper will allow you to roll the dough super thin without it sticking to the surface or the rolling pin. You want the cookies to be about ⅛" thick.

Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the cookies into rectangles about 3.5" x 0.75". Remove the excess dough and set it aside. (You'll re-roll it to make more cookies.)

Next, transfer the cookie dough on the parchment paper to a baking sheet (keeping the cookies on the parchment). Bake them at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. They will darken in color and should turn out crisp once fully cooled.

After baking the cookies, remove them from the oven and use a knife or pizza cutter to spread the cookies apart. Let them cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack.

Make the Fudge Filling

After the cookies have cooled, make the fudge filling.

Melt the dark chocolate, then stir in the peanut butter. I melted my chocolate on the stove top, over low heat. You may also use the microwave.

Cool the fudge mixture for about 10 minutes before spreading it onto the cookies (It should be thick like frosting).

Assemble Cookies

Each Kit Kat has 3 cookies. Two cookies will be topped with the fudge filling. So: cookie, fudge, cookie, fudge, cookie.

Once assembled, place the cookies on a baking sheet or large plate and pop in the freezer for 15 minutes. This allows the fudge filling to harden and will make dipping the Kit Kats in dark chocolate much easier.

Coat in Dark Chocolate

Lastly, make the dark chocolate coating. Place the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a small saucepan and melt over low heat, stirring frequently. (Another option is to melt them in the microwave.)

Once melted, grab the cookies from the freezer and dip them into the melted chocolate.

Here's how I do it: drop a cookie into the chocolate. Use a fork to rotate the cookie until it is fully coated. Using the fork, lift the cookie out of the chocolate and allow excess chocolate to drip off, back into the pan. Then, place the dipped cookie onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to set.

Drizzle any remaining chocolate over the dipped bars.

You can pop the Kit Kats in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to fully set.

Storage

These paleo Kit Kats are best kept in the fridge or freezer. Like many of my recipes, I prefer leftovers straight from the freezer. (They keep nice and crisp this way.)

Store the Kit Kats in a sealed container or baggie. They'll last up to two weeks in the fridge or up to two months in the freezer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main ingredients in a Kit Kat?

Here's what is in a conventional Kit Kat candy bar:

"Milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder, lactose, soya lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour), wheat flour, sugar, modified palm oil, cocoa, sodium bicarbonate, soya lecithin, yeast, natural flavour."

And here's what I use in my Kit Kat recipe:

Dark chocolate, almond flour, coconut sugar, ground flax, salt, coconut oil, water, vanilla extract, peanut butter.

Why are Kit Kats unhealthy?

Looking at the conventional Kit Kat ingredient list, it's easy to point out why Kit Kats aren't healthy. First off, they contain milk chocolate which uses conventional dairy, is loaded in sugar and contains emulsifiers and "natural flavour" (which could be derived from all sorts of unhealthy substances).

Kit Kats also contain non-organic wheat flour, which most likely contains glyphosate and is disruptive to the gut.

Basically, Kit Kats provide no nutritional benefit and are loaded with refined sugar, conventional dairy, emulsifiers and preservatives.

Are Kit Kats gluten free?

Kit Kats are not gluten free, but my recipe is!

How do you make this recipe nut free?

These can be nut free Kit Kats by substituting the almond flour for tigernut flour and swapping the peanut butter for sunbutter.

More Homemade Candy Bar Recipes

• Homemade Protein Snickers Bars
• Healthy Twix Bars
• Chocolate Covered Fig Bars
• Mounds Bars

Enjoy!

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