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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Love these, along with the rest of your recipes! What do you think about adding vanilla protein powder to something like this? I like to make every meal count towards my overall protein goal for the day. Thanks for all the great recipes.
I bet it would work, just add little by little!
Uh-MAZ-ING!!! These got better and better the more time they spent in the fridge (don’t get me wrong, we ATE THEM UP, but I didn’t mess around and went ahead and doubled the recipe right off the bat…my whole family was VERY gracious.) THANK YOU for your persistence w/ these wonderful recipes!
YAY! Glad you liked them Erin, I agree, it gets even better over time!
AAARGH, I have figs in the cupboard instead of dates and I NEED THESE NOW. Think I can substitute? Or will the caramel be weird?
I think the caramel will be weird…
This looks AH-MAZING!! I think I”ll be making it as an end of Open celebration treat…can’t wait! BTW – I stumbled across your blog a few weeks ago and you are hilarious. love it!
Thanks so much Jane!
Hey there! I’m a starving (quite literally after this recipe, mouth-watering and starving!) college student who doesn’t have a food processor. I do have a blender. Is there anything else I can do to make the “pecan meal”, or am I screwed? Amazing recipe regardless, as always!
you might be able to use your blender the same way as a food processor…i haven’t tried!
these are amazing. especially following your enchilada chicken stew.
nice job on the open…the only reason i’m hoping to go to regionals this year is to stalk you (like i did last year)
i love, love your food and your rando rants. keep doing what you’re doing!!
Ok.. so i just made the “crust” and i’m sitting here thinking… I really want some chocolate.. soooooo, anywho…… I have decided that when the crust cools, I am going to take some dark chocolate chips and line the crust with a layer of chocolate before I put on the caramel top… OMG… I am so bad, but it sounds sinful and delicous, eh? hehe.. will let u know how they are… I am sure they are going to suck :0…. NOT!!!!!
HOW DID THEY TURN OUT?! TELL ME EVERYTHING
So I had the same thought…but I didn’t have chips, so I just shaved some dark chocolate on the crust as it was cooling. Pretty damn delicious, but wishing I had used more chocolate. I am wondering what might happen if I put cocoa powder in with the topping?? would it just mess it up, or make it more chocolatey and delicious?
I have no idea Carrie but it’s totally worth trying!
sprinkled a bit of cocoa powder on top, added some coconut flakes and walnuts, and, voila! German chocolate cake.
AMAZING!!! for REAL. i said to my boyfriend, i want to eat the whole pan until i throw up!!!! and i didn’t bring any to work then decided to do a lunch wod and now i’m CRAVING!!!! as soon as i get home it’s in the mouth!!! thanks girl! you and your food rock my world!
Lol I adore you for that comment
I am making thse right now, but my caramel is like liquid. Do I just need to keep processing?
You might have used a bit too much coconut milk depending on the size of your dates…did it turn out?
Yes! Just had it after the Pumpkin Cashew Coconut Curry. They were both delicious. I don’t what the the deal was with the caramel. I let them sey up in the fridge for like 3 hours and they were perfect.
These may top the banana bread of yours that I made last week. I need to cut it on your treats! Soooo good!
That’s awesome! Glad you liked the recipes Lindsay!