Vegan Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Bars

These vegan chocolate chip gingerbread bars are soft, spiced, super gooey, and full of dark chocolate chips! Made with 8 healthy ingredients, gluten free, and naturally sweet.

Hey, you. Hope you like gingerbread, because it’s officially GINGERBREAD WEEK!

Each year before Christmas, I dedicate a whole week to just cookie recipes. This year’s cookie week specialties were:

• Christmas sugar cookies
• Peanut butter blossom cookies
• Candy cane cookies

After a delicious Christmas cookie week, I wanted a gingerbread week, too. I have some gingerbread recipes on the blog already, like these gooey, soft cookies. But I decided to do this gingerbread week, mostly for selfish reasons, because gingerbread is absolutely my favorite Christmas flavor. It beats hot cocoa, sugar cookie, and mint every time, and I can never have too many gingerbread recipe options this time of year.

So this week I’m sharing 3 brand new gingerbread recipes with you, starting with these vegan chocolate chip gingerbread bars. These bars are basically a Christmas themed brownie, fudgy, gooey, and full of my favorite holiday flavor.

That chocolate…hubba hubba.

Ingredients for vegan chocolate chip gingerbread bars

• Chickpeas: you’ll use drained and rinsed canned chickpeas for the base of the bars, which provides tons of nutrition and a super rich and gooey texture.
• Nondairy milk: milk brings the brownie batter together. I use unsweetened almond milk for neutral flavor, but any nondairy milk should work.
• Medjool dates: you’ll blend the dates with hot water to make a paste, which naturally sweetens the bars.
• Blackstrap molasses: molasses is essential for anything gingerbread and adds lots of rich flavor.
• Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats to flour consistency, which helps hold the bars together.
• Pumpkin pie spice + ground ginger: these warm spices bring out more gingerbread flavor.
• Vegan chocolate chips: I like the PASCHA unsweetened chips or Lily’s stevia-sweetened chips, but use any vegan chocolate chips you like.

Tips for making vegan chocolate chip gingerbread bars

• Measure the rolled oats before blending into flour. I always list the amount of oats used BEFORE they’re blended for flour. So in this case, you’ll measure out 1 1/2 cups of whole, rolled oats, then put that 1 1/2 cups into your blender to make flour.
• Use a nonstick or parchment-lined square pan. I use an 8 inch silicone pan which makes it very easy to remove the brownies after baking. I highly recommend a silicone pan or lining with parchment paper so that the brownies don’t stick.
• Let them cool completely. Make sure to let the brownies cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes after baking. They’re pretty soft, so they’ll firm up a lot as they cool. If you try to remove and cut them too soon, they may fall apart.

These vegan chocolate chip gingerbread bars are soft, super gooey, and the perfect balance of sweet and spiced. I could practically feel the Christmas spirit coming out of my ears when I sunk my teeth into one of these gems. This recipe is just more proof that gingerbread is the QUEEN of all the holiday flavors.

See you later this week with more gingerbread goodness!

Xo,

Sara