These oatmeal fudge bars feature just 8 perfectly molten bars with a layer of rich dairy free chocolate fudge sandwiched between two layers of browned ‘butter’ soft & chewy oatmeal cookie. No eggs and dairy free for the perfect small batch treat!!

Small Batch 'Brown Butter' Oatmeal Fudge Bars - VEGAN! stacked

Now before we begin, I wanted to share with you a bit about how this recipe was developed and why it works, as well as my testing process for perfecting these bars. If you don’t want to read any of that or just want to skip to the parts that you’re interested in reading- or just skip to the recipe! – please use the Table of Contents below, or the “Jump to Recipe” button above! 🙂

Table of contents

Your new go-to small batch baking treat:

You all have been LOVING the small batch series I’ve been doing lately on Instagram (we have small batch vegan brownies, vegan lemon poppy seed cupcakes, vegan brown butter cookies, vegan brown butter blondies, and more!).

SO I thought I’d turn one of our favorite cookie recipes into another bar- but this time as oatmeal fudge bars!

bitten oatmeal fudge bar on parchment paper

The iconic Starbucks treat that got discontinued in 2019 is back again, and it’s even better than ever. I used my ‘browned butter’ best vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with a few tweaks to yield the fudgiest, soft, and chewy, buttery-rich fudge bars that you’ll never believe are dairy free and vegan.

Yep, if you’re new here, this is an entirely vegan blog- no eggs, no dairy, no animal products whatsoever. And all unbelievably so.

Simple ingredients:

  • Rolled oats: I really recommend using rolled oats over quick oats or steel cut oats. Both won’t work here. If you need gluten-free, feel free to use gluten-free certified, and I’ll discuss the gluten-free flour next!
  • Flour: I bake consistently with all-purpose flour. But for my gluten-free bakers, I’ve got you! So if you follow me on Instagram, then you know I talk a lot about when testing recipes, I will also test a gluten-free version where it allows. And my go-to flour for that is always King Arthur measure-for-measure gluten free baking flour. It’s the most consistent flour blend I’ve found that truly is cup-for-cup. Meaning that 1 cup of this flour is equivalent to 1 cup of all purpose flour- in both US measurements and metric! Any other blend, I cannot attest for how it will work. That being said, please note that you absolutely need a gluten-free blend that contains xanthan gum.
  • Dairy free chocolate: I really love Valrhona’s Oriado chocolate, which is accidentally vegan, but their vegan milk chocolate is also incredible. I also like Enjoy Life and Pascha Chocolate! Tollhouse’s dairy free chocolate chips don’t really melt that well, but Guittard also has a really nice chocolate.
  • Light brown sugar & sugar: Make sure you’re using organic or vegan certified here.
  • Dairy free sweetened condensed milk: I really like either Edward & Sons coconut sweetened condensed milk or Nature’s Charm oat sweetened condensed milk. Either will work here.
  • Vegan butter: I go over which specific butters are best to brown vegan in the next post! Coconut oil will NOT work if you’re using the browning method. However, you can use it if you don’t want to make “brown butter” oatmeal fudge bars.
  • Dairy free yogurt: This is our vegan egg replacement– it’s the best for cookies!
  • Baking soda: Over a few tests (which I go over below!), I discovered we just need baking soda- and not baking powder!
  • Sea salt: To balance the sweetness 🙂
stacked vegan oatmeal fudge bars on parchment paper

Which vegan butter browns best?

This is by far the biggest question. To save anyone from a ruined batch of oatmeal fudge bars, I have a few recommendations.

My go-to is Miyoko’s, which is both cashew and coconut based. I’m nearly done on my vegan butter, which is oat and coconut based, so stay tuned. But Miyoko’s browns really well and tastes like traditional butter.

Next up for nut free, I like Plant Crock or Country Crock’s vegan butter (sometimes it’s “Plant Crock” sometimes the label says “Country Crock” – just make sure it’s dairy free!). Their vegan butter is nut-free and browns pretty well.

The butter I DON’T recommend here is Earth Balance. When it browns it tastes and smells way too processed, and leaves your bake super greasy.

sliced vegan oatmeal fudge bar on parchment paper

One of my favorite parts about developing recipes is taking you inside my kitchen so that you start to understand the process of recipe development- and hopefully begin to gain confidence transforming some of your own favorite family recipes vegan!

So let’s begin with these oatmeal fudge bars because oh my goodness, have they been on my to-do list for forever.

I’ve been researching a bunch about what creates that gooey fudge consistency in the middle. For this, many traditional bakers use sweetened condensed milk. So I thought that’s where I’ll start.

I also liked the idea of using my browned butter vegan oatmeal cookies recipe, because those cookies are jaw-droppingly good.

Test #1

Now with the fudge layer, I know that some vegan ingredients can be different than their dairy counterparts, but I thought let’s start with a simple 1:1 conversion and see where that gets us. Well…the result was a mess 😅

The fudge layer never set no matter how long I chilled the bars post cooling, and the cookies were severely underbaked. I love a good molten center, but this was dough lol. So I scrapped that batch.

first test of oatmeal fudge bars
Test #1 of Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Test #2

Next batch, I’m coming in more confident because I have a few ideas. I thought let’s try to bake the base layer first while we prep the fudge sauce. With the fudge sauce, I’m going to add more vegan butter and vegan chocolate, while reducing the ratio of dairy free sweetened condensed milk.

This time, we were nearly there. However, the cookie on the bottom just wasn’t holding up, causing the fudge to never really set (however, it did set MUCH better than before!). Stay with me because the next test, we’ve finally figured it out.

Test #2 of Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Test #3

Alright, I’m feeling ready to just crush these bars at this point. I realized the dough was a bit too wet, so we increased the flour just slightly (also making it much easier for those who use US cup measurements), reduced the amount of dairy free yogurt, and this time reduced the sweetened condensed milk even more.

I also decided let’s nix the baking powder and just leave in the baking soda. My instinct tells me that the baking powder was creating too much airiness and not allowing everything to bake and set in the very short 30-33 minutes they need to bake.

Well, my friends, we had a winner. This was it. After I allowed the bars to cool at room temperature (our house is pretty cold, like 70-72F because we live in Florida and it’s so hot outside), they were perfectly fudgy while still being sliceable. A masterpiece.

bowl of fudge
cookie dough in a bowl
assembling the oatmeal fudge bars
baked oatmeal fudge bars

And the browned vegan butter is truly NEXT level in these bars!!

The key to fudge bars: allowing the bars to set post-bake

To get that iconic oatmeal fudge bar look, you really need to let these bars set out and cool completely before slicing in. I know. It’s annoying to wait (because let me tell you, these warm, which is what I’ve done- SO GOOD).

But it’s worth the wait. Once the fudge layer sets in the middle, your oatmeal fudge bars will slice and review three beautiful layers of cookie, fudge, and cookie again. Worth it, in my opinion.

bitten vegan oatmeal fudge bar

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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Small Batch 'Brown Butter' Oatmeal Fudge Bars - VEGAN! stacked

Small Batch ‘Brown Butter’ Oatmeal Fudge Bars – VEGAN!

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  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cooling Time: 120
  • Cook Time: 33
  • Total Time: 2 hours 43 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

These oatmeal fudge bars feature just 8 perfectly molten bars with a layer of rich dairy free chocolate fudge sandwiched between two layers of browned ‘butter’ soft & chewy oatmeal cookie. No eggs and dairy free for the perfect small batch treat!!

Ingredients

Scale

Fudge Center:

  • 1 cup (220 g) dairy free chocolate chips
  • 1 tbsp vegan butter
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 5 ounces (144 g) oat milk sweetened condensed milk
  •  

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bar:

  •  1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted* (see notes for non browned butter option)
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) dairy free yogurt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour* (see notes for gluten free)
  • 1/3 cup (75 g) rolled oats, gluten free certified if needed
  • 1 cup (220 g) mini vegan chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9×4 baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Brown the vegan butter: In a small saucepan, heat the 1/2 cup of vegan butter on medium heat until the fat solids begin to caramelize in color. The vegan butter usually bubbles a lot, so stir frequently to ensure you don’t burn the butter. The butter should reduce down to about 1/3 cup (80 g). Once browned, set aside to cool.
  3. Make the fudge sauce: Heat the vegan chocolate in the fudge section in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between each interval. On the last interval, once the chocolate is nearly melted, don’t heat it again, and instead just stir until the remaining chips are melted. Add in the vegan butter and salt, and whisk until the vegan butter is melted and incorporated. Then add in the vegan sweetened condensed milk, and stir until incorporated. Set aside.
  4. Make the oatmeal cookie bar dough: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the browned vegan butter, light brown sugar, sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla extract. Then add in the baking soda and sea salt, and whisk again until combined. Next, switch to a silicone spatula and add in the flour and oats. Fold just until the dry is incorporated into the wet ingredients. Then fold in the vegan chocolate chips from the cookie bar section.
  5. Assemble the fudge bars: Spoon half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, and press the dough into the bottom of the pan until it reaches the edges. Then spoon in the fudge sauce, which will have thickened. Spread it to the corners of the pan on top of the cookie dough below. Then crumble the remaining cookie dough on top, gently pressing it to the edges of the pan.
  6. Bake: Place the oatmeal fudge bars into the oven to bake for 30-33 minutes, or until the top of the bars have lightly browned. Remove from the oven.
  7. Cool: You will need at least 2 hours to cool at room temperature before slicing. The fudge sauce needs to come down in heat and solidify, which will take some time. You can pop the bars into the fridge to speed up the time if you’d like.
  8. Slice and serve: Slice the bars into 8 individual squares and serve immediately. Enjoy!!

Notes

Browned vegan butter: I recommend using Miyoko’s for vegan butter. If you can’t consume Miyoko’s you can also use Plant Crock. Earth Balance does NOT brown so well. If you want to skip the browning process, simply use only 1/3 cup of vegan butter (80 g).

Gluten free: I use King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour for my gluten free flour. Ensure that your blend contains xanthan gum if you use a different blend. Also ensure that you use certified gluten-free oats. Enjoy!