Yep. That just happened.
I LOVE these bars. Pure joy in a bit. Or 18. Whichever route your mouth takes you. These would be perfect for a Saint Patty’s Day celebration! Why? Because I said so. And I was too lazy to create a paleo corned beef and cabbage recipe. Mainly because I didn’t want to eat it. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I’d rather eat caramel bars all day, every day. And I can do all that because it’s my blog. Winning!
I saw a full camouflage truck today. Complete camo. Yeah. That was a good idea.
The other day, my friend Missy gave me the idea of making vanilla chai almond butter. And I did it. And ate it all in one day. I wish I were lying. Thankfully I didn’t make a ton of it because I knew I would be alone in the house with it later that night, but it still stared at me for a good 30 minutes, until I consumed all of it.
I totes have a new crush. Not a man, sadly. I have come to terms with the fact that I will never meet the man of my dreams in Colorado. It’s just fact. I will have to go somewhere far from here to find a normal, attractive, incredibly fantastic man. Who is single. That’s a must…as you’ve heard from my past rants.
Holy balls, tangent, my new crush. Back on it. Her name is Joy, Joy the Baker. My other friend Joy introduced me to Joy the Baker’s blog and I was instantly hooked. All because she’s hilarious, and has some awesome photography. How are all these blog people so good at photography and I suck ass? Probably because I don’t have a crazy amazing camera. Yeah, that’s it, it’s the cameras fault.
Sometimes, when I cook a lot of food, I can smell myself when I workout. Then I want to throw up, mid workout. Like today, while I am doing the Open wod 12.4. 150 wall balls smelling like bacon is sure to make anyone uncomfortable. So excited.
Oh and btw, I will be putting together a post of everything I eat in a day to post on Saturday. Had a few questions about what my daily food intake looks like. It really is different every day so hopefully this helps. You can also look back at my first post about what my day usually looks like! It’s pretty boring. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Caramel Pecan Bars
- Yield: 5-6 1x
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1.5 cups pecans
- 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
For the caramel
- 12–14 medjool dates, pitted and soaked in water for an hour
- 5–6 tablespoons canned coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Add your pecans to a food processor and blend until you get more of a meal or flour, then add your melted coconut oil, raw honey and vanilla until you get a very delicious pecan butter.
- Add that pecan butter to a large bowl then add your almond flour/meal, baking soda and powder and salt, then add your egg and whisk all ingredients together.
- Grease a bread loaf pan with coconut oil and then add your crust ingredients to the pan and use a spoon to spread out evenly.
- Put in oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until middle is cooked completely through. Use the toothpick method to test it.
- While the crust bakes, lightly clean out your food processor (I licked it clean so I didn’t have an issue having to use any dish soap. wow.) then add your dates.
- Turn on until dates have broken down (less than a minute) then add your coconut milk tablespoon by tablespoon to the dates while the food processor is still running. Then add your water as well.
- And add your vanilla extract and pinch of salt.
- Process until you get a caramel. BOOM.
- Once your crust is done baking, let cool for about 10-15 minutes.
- Top caramel over crust using a spoon to smooth out.
- Put in fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to set. Or consume right then really.
- Keep in fridge if you have leftovers!
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More Layered Caramel:
Salted Caramel Cookie Ice Cream Cups
Holiday Raspberry Caramel Tart
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Does it make a difference if you use canned coconut milk vs coconut milk from a box?
Yes use canned
I had the same problem as a few others with them cooking way quicker, by 20 mins they were turning black. I wonder if the difference in altitude would make the difference?? Anyway they look amazing, mine are cooling right now!
made these last night and it took every ounce of willpower this morning not to devour the remainder for breakfast. Walk away from the fridge….
How many calories do you think is in a piece of this delicious slice?! It will be hard to judge because I’m sure I’ve had more than a ‘single serve’ in one sitting. I can’t stop eating it!!!!!
no clue!!
Emma, I was curious too so I calculated it on sparkpeople.com- If you cut the pan into little squares (I got 24 total out of the pan) it comes out to about 120 calories each, 9.6g total fat, 8.5g carbs, 1.7g fiber, 5.5g sugar, 2.1g protein. I don’t track these things I just eat as much “real” whole food as I can! But it’s interesting.
If these work you have just saved my Paleo diet…haha 🙂 x
Ok- official favorite dessert status. The crust is like a chewy thick cookie cake. The topping is sweet & tastes like pecan pie! Thank you so much.
What are some substitutes you can use in place of the dates?
nothing. i’m sorry
Amaze balls… Pecans are my favorite nut ever! This recipe is awesome. I had to make to batches of pecan butter because once I tasted it I didn’t have enough left for the bars…. Whoops.. Oh well. Thank you
Hi Juli! These look amazing, but I can’t eat baking powder. Can I omit it or add extra baking soda? (And would you think I could also do this for your other recipes that call for baking powder, like pancakes).? Thanks!!
check out my comment I left you on the pancakes 🙂
I am going to try this one on Sunday. Can these be frozen? Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas and recipes!
not sure that it would freeze well