Most common chocolate bars are not just made with animal ingredients (often factory-farmed milk etc) but also have lots of refined sugar and plastic packaging which can’t be easily recycled. So why not make your own? Most popular chocolate bars are easy to replicate, you just take the premise (say a Twix bar is just shortbread coated in chocolate, or Snickers has peanuts etc) and you’d be surprised how easy it is! Twix is one of the easiest bars to make vegan, as it’s simply shortbread and caramel, covered in chocolate. Vegan Twix (Rainbow Nourishments) have no nuts and no coconut flavour, so you won’t stop at just one!
Keep chocolate (including fatty white chocolate) away from pets, along with these recipes as they contain other toxic ingredients like nuts (never use the sweetener xylitol near pets either, a few dropped crumbs can be lethal).
Sweet wrappers are one of the most common forms of litter and fall down storm drains where they go into the sea and end up in the stomachs of whales, dolphins and sea turtles). Communities can order a Terracycle confectionary wrapper box, to at least have a place locally to recycle, but probably most people who litter won’t help anyway.
Vegan Mars Bars (Addicted to Dates) were created by a classically-trained Irish Baker. They feature an almond nougat with sweet caramel, topped with dairy-free chocolate. No-bake recipe. Also try Christina’s Vegan Mars Ice Cream Bars.
Snickers (previously ‘Marathon’) are one of the world’s most popular chocolate bars. A mix of peanuts and chocolate with caramel, they also contain nougat. Made by Mars (one of the world’s biggest food companies that makes most profit from pet food), it’s ranked tier 5 (worst) in animal welfare standards. Salted Caramel Snickers Bars (So Vegan) are made with oat flour and medjool dates with vanilla, and sweetened with golden syrup. Add some peanut butter and dark chocolate. Snickers recently got in trouble with all of Wales, posting a tweet that some of the placenames were akin to ‘sitting on a keyboard’ (due to lack of vowels). The tweet was quickly deleted, but that has not stopped many Welsh people boycotting the brand – good news for the cows! Vegan Snickers Ice Cream Bars are for the ambitious!
Kit Kat had to ditch palm oil a few years ago, after an online ad highlighting the plight of orangutans. It recently launched a vegan version, but has discontinued it, due to ‘not being as popular as dairy ones’ (yet were launched due to the most common request on social media is for a vegan Kitkat). Vegan Kit Kat Bars (Namely Marly) are wafer cookies and cream filling, dipped in chocolate.
Bounty Bars are simply coconut in dark or mylk chocolate. 6-Ingredient Vegan Bounty Bars (Addicted to Dates) take less than an hour to make. The coconut is topped with thick dairy-free chocolate.
Crunchie bars are simply honeycomb, covered in milk chocolate. These Vegan Crunchie Bars (Addicted to Dates) only need 5 ingredients, featuring cider toffee and dairy-free chocolate.
If a classic bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is your favourite, try this Vegan Milk Chocolate (Addicted to Dates) for a ‘snappy bar’ made with real cacao butter.
Homemade Vegan Toffee Crisp (Addicted to Dates) is made with crispy rice cereal that’s covered in toffee caramel and vegan chocolate.
Vegan Milky Way (Minimalist Baker) features a natural sweet date caramel in chocolate topping.
These don’t look like M & Ms but are the most similar we could find, and worth listing as it’s one of the world’s most popular chocolate snacks. Peanut Butter M & Ms (Minimalist Baker) use organic peanut butter, to avoid palm oil.
These Nut Butter Cups (Addicted to Dates) have just 4 ingredients. Or to go proper American, try Christina’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Cups (Elvis would be proud).
Vegan Wagon Wheels with Jam (Addicted to Dates) are ideal for anyone who misses these popular childhood treats. These plant-based versions combine jam and coconut cream layers, between homemade oaty biscuits. Then are topped with chocolate. The real versions are made with marshmallow (animal bones).
Vegan Fudge that tastes like ferrero rocher (Rainbow Plant Life) is very simple to make. Despite its ‘posh reputation’ (you spoil us, Ambassador!), this Italian chocolate is actually not up to much, containing milk, glucose syrup, sugar and palm oil. And so much packaging that Terracycle has its own box to reclaim all the plastic waste it creates.
Often served with coffee, authentic versions were made with chopped dates, pistachios, walnuts or hazelnuts. Make your own Vegan Turkish Delight ice-cream (Wallflower Kitchen).
Kinder eggs are an environmentalist’s nightmare, as they have plastic toys inside that are banned as choking hazards and ‘non-nutritive embedded objects’ in the US. One Danish container ship lost thousands of the little blighters in the sea, which washed up on a German island after a storm. Something similar happened in Cornwall, when the coast turned pink, after Vanish detergent bottles washed up on local beaches. Healthier Chocolate Candy Bars (Full of Plants) are a mix of a Twix and Kinder egg, with crunchy shortbread and hazelnut cream.
Vegan Creme Eggs (Addicted to Dates) need just 5 ingredients. They taste just like Creme Eggs yet unlike the real thing, do not include half your daily recommended intake of sugar. If you feel greedy, try the big vegan creme egg (Addicted to Dates).
