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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I made these today – my carmel was running did I not process long enough?
It was runny?
add more dates
Thanks a lot, Juli. My pancreas just secreted (that word is gross) 20 gallons of insulin simply from looking at Joy the Baker’s site. YUM.
Your caramel pecan bars are on the list! Thanks!
all i can see in these two sentences are secrete
Yes runny – but still good ???
Did you taste it!? I’m sure it’s still delicious
Well in Atlanta I see wonderful looking men with nice butts running around every morning on my drive home….just sayin. And I’m not even making that up because I want you to live here so I can be friends with you. Even though I do. And I mean that in the least creepy way possible.
But the issue is I’m guessing 99% of those men arent single. its just math. and science
Can I make this in something other than a bread pan? Maybe a smaller square or circular dish?
I’m sure that would still work Stef!
I made them in an 8×8 pan and it was a perfect fit.
Awesome, thanks for telling us!!
These are utterly ridiculous. My husband and I just ate the whole pan like it was nothing. Best Paleo treat – hands down! Can’t wait to have all the Paleo-haters in my life to shove one of these in their mouths…it’ll keep ’em quiet AND convert them. 🙂
Soooo true! Glad you guys liked it Meghan!
i made these yesterday. the same day you posted it? not sure … time zone. but i think i deserve a prize. oh wait. THEY ARE the prize. RIDICULOUSLY delicious. amazing recipe thanks 🙂
Glad you liked it Amy!
These are so good! I’m doing as you said. I made them for St Patty’s day along with Health-Bent’s whoopie pies. You can still do desserts paleo for sure!
That’s awesome Amber!! Health-Bent is the best website around!
Is the caramel supposed to get harder once it’s in the fridge? Mine is really soft still.
No it doesn’t really get harder, it just sets more so it’s not as runny when you cut and serve them
Hi 🙂 made these this afternoon (didn’t make in time for a Paleo meetup group). They’re in fridge now, minus one. All went well? I didn’t soak for an hour (no patience). I think I may have overdone the crust. Caramel is great tho!! And just for appearance I did an extremely light drizzle of a Paleo chocolate sauce, the a light sprinkle of coconut slivers. Very pretty. I’m thinking of a re-do with some butter and more vanilla in crust. Thanks for recipe!! Fun to make too 🙂 (licking the bowls)
oooo I bet that was pretty!! glad you like them!
Wrote all that stuff yesterday. TODAY, I went into the fridge for a little morning pre-breakfast snack and ate one of these. WOW! They really pulled together with some fridge time. World’s pickiest grandson even ate one!
That’s great Laura!! Glad you liked them!
That’s awesome Laura!!