Gluten-Free & Vegan Salted Caramel Bars

This recipe will have you licking your lips (and fingers). The best part? There is no refined sugar or artificial “caramel” in this recipe—the flavour is made from delicious, real ingredients!  

We recently released our Holiday Nourish Magazine in stores and online for free. Haven’t had a chance to get it yet? Head on over here to get it for free right now! The magazine is chock full of baking recipes, tips and tools on how to stay healthy and avoid the battle of the bulge this holiday season, and a gift guide for gift ideas for everyone on your list. You won’t want to miss out on this issue!  

Today we’re giving you our take on Salted Caramel Bars—a much healthier, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, refined sugar free version, of course. But trust us: they taste so good, and are so satisfying, you won’t miss the old version at all. The base is made with walnuts and almonds (for lots of healthy fats and protein), coconut oil (more of those good fats and metabolism-boosting action), cocoa powder and a small amount of coconut sugar. The creamy, silky filling contains dates, coconut cream, coconut oil, and salt—no sugar at all, with a real authentic caramel flavour. All of these healthy ingredients are topped with melted chocolate and more coconut oil and coconut milk. Coconut is clearly the star in this recipe, and with benefits from boosting your metabolism, firing up your thyroid, and providing healthy fats, you’ll be happy it is!  

Try making these bars this holiday season for guests. If you don’t tell them the ingredients, they might not even know they’re healthy!  

Salted Caramel Bars  

Base  
½ cup walnuts
½ cup almond meal
¼ cup coconut oil
2 Tbsp. dark cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. coconut sugar  

Place in a food processor bowl and process until crumbly and together.  Place in parchment-lined 9x9 baking dish. Spread until evenly distributed.  Press down and freeze.  

Filling  
20 Medjool dates, pitted
½ cup coconut cream**
½ cup coconut oil
½ tsp. pink salt  

** place a can of coconut milk in fridge for a couple of days.  Open can and scoop out cream  

Throw everything in food processor bowl and process until smooth. This may take 2-3 minutes. Spread over frozen base and return to freezer.  

Topping  
1 package Enjoy Life chocolate chips
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup coconut milk
Pinch pink salt – optional  

Put all ingredients in a saucepan over low-medium heat til melted. Stir to combine well. Remove from heat and pour over frozen filling.  Sprinkle with extra salt if desired.  Return to the freezer and freeze for an hour. Remove, cut into squares to serve.  Keep refrigerated.  

We hope you enjoy this recipe and many others from our Holiday Nourish this Holiday season!