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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These are amazing!!! I don’t even like caramel – the topping is too die for! I made these for my husband & I think they will be gone before he gets home! Thanks for a great, super easy treat!
YAY! glad you liked them amanda!
OH MAN THESE ARE GOOD and I am a paleo-dessert convert. I’ve been paleo for 3 months or so but haven’t ventured outside the basic meat veggies fruit yet, so this was a real treat, and makes me feel like I can show up to a regular party promoting the paleo lifestyle!! Okay, but I had an ASS of a time blending my date caramel, everything just got stuck to the side the second I turned the bloody blender on, and it was thick, so it didn’t drip back down. Maybe my blender was too big, I dunno, I almost gave up until I LICKED THE SPATULA and hello, I was in love. I don’t even really LIKE dates. So, a request: MAKE MORE THINGS WITH DATE CARAMEL IN THEM. I’m feeling inspired to go into my kitchen and make data caramel (despite the fact it was a pain in the arse the first time) but desire a caramel muffin, brownie, waffle, etc. recipe to put it on. Thanks, and you are AWESOME. From a random fan. 🙂
More caramel desserts are in my plans! Don’t u worry!
My dates didn’t make enough caramel and I burned the crust a little…and they were STILL amazing. Great recipe; just a couple operator errors to work out. I’m obsessed with your blog now. In a good way.
Haha that sucks, but glad it still turned out!!
Hi I am going to try these with almond milk instead of coconut cuz thats what I have and have been dreaming about them for a couple days now! I will let you know if it works
DONT DO IT!!! it was good but deffinately would have been a lot better with coconut milk… will do again but get the coconut milk for sure… Thanks for the recipe
Thanks for writing back about the almond milk Amber!
I ended up re-doing the carmel. glad i did!! YUMYUMYUM!!! I am having some very non-paleo friends over and this is what i am serving them…. did I say YUM!!! wish there were more stars to give!
Thanks so much Amber!
These were AMAZING!!! I made them for Sunday dinner for the people in the family who are doing Paleo. This was the first paleo dessert that I truly fell in love with. PS: Your swearing always makes me laugh ;D
I feel the same exact way!! Glad you like my swearing, most people dont lol
Ok, I made my own bars….a variation if you will. I topped with apples and then made the carmel, but used half the dates to make a thinner carmel….so Cramel Apple Pecan bars. They turned out gooooood! Thanks for the inspiration!
Wow those sound amazing!!! Bravo!
Hi, where can you buy medjool dates??
Most all grocery stores will have them. Often in the bulk section or located somewhere with the fresh fruit.
These were amazing!
Glad you liked them Carrie!