Salted Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars (Secret Recipe Club)

Happy Memorial Day! I hope y’all are enjoying your holiday so far It’s been cold and rainy for most of the weekend yet these decadent shortbread bars kept a smile on my face…

I can’t believe another month has flown by and reveal day is here again…this month’s Secret Recipe Club assignment was Lucy and Shannon’s spunky Double the Sugar blog. These two ladies are friends “from across the pond” who share a love for sugar and carb-filled goodies…you can’t go wrong there, right?

Once I spotted their Millionaire Shortbread Bars, I was sold. I knew I had to make them…no question, hands-down, I was on a mission to create a healthier and gluten-free version of these sinful treats. While these are a tad healthier, I wouldn’t call these “healthy” by any means

Since I basically eat my goodies all by myself, I decided to halve the recipe to start with. To make these gluten free, I made an almond flour shortbread crust in lieu of the gluten-filled original and reduced the sugar by replacing the white sugar with xylitol.

The salted caramel filling was made from scratch with coconut palm sugar, coconut milk, honey/agave and nut butter for a refined sugar-free treat. I opted for unsweetened carob chips that were melted with a touch of coconut oil and a couple tablespoons of nut butter for the topping…though your favorite milk or dark chocolate could easily be used if carob isn’t your favorite.

Sinful squares of delicious goodness with a chewy caramel center, crumbly grain-free crust and a salted topping…need I say more?

Salted Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars (inspired from Double the Sugar)
gluten free, grain-free with vegan option 

Ingredients

Crust
1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/3 cup granulated xylitol (or coconut palm sugar or other granulated sugar)
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 Tbsp butter, ghee or vegan Earth Balance

Caramel Filling
3/4 cup coconut milk fat (could probably use whipping cream as well but this is not dairy-free)
2 Tbsp honey, agave or brown rice syrup (do not use honey for vegan)
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar (I pulsed mine in a blender to help dissolve more quickly)
2 Tbsp cashew butter (or other nut butter)
1 Tbsp coconut oil, butter, ghee or Earth Balance (use oil or Earth Balance for vegan)
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Top Layer
1 1/4 cups unsweetened carob chips (or use your favorite chocolate chips or dairy-free chips for vegan)
2-3 tsp coconut oil, butter, ghee or Earth Balance (use oil or Earth Balance for vegan)
2 Tbsp cashew butter (almond butter or peanut butter can be substituted for a different flavor)

For garnish, optional
fleur de sel (I used grey finishing salt, this adds that extra wow factor…)

Directions.

To prepare the Crust
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease one 8-inch square pan (or a large loaf pan for thicker bars) and coat with a sprinkle of almond flour.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, add almond flour, sweetener and salt and pulse once. Add butter/Earth  Balance and pulse until mixture resembles peas. Press the shortbread mixture into prepared pan and bake until golden brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

To prepare caramel filling 
1. Refrigerate one can of full-fat coconut milk overnight and scoop the fat off of the top to measure 1 cup.
2. Add coconut milk and honey/agave to a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until smooth, about 1 minute.
3. Place the coconut milk fat into a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until liquid. Add the palm sugar and whisk until combined. Boil mixture for about 15-20 minutes, whisking well every few minutes.
4. Add nut butter, butter/oil, vanilla and salt, let bubble and continue to let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.
5. Remove from heat and pour over prepared crust. Refrigerate or let cool to room temperature.

To prepare the top layer 

1.  In a double broiler or a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chips and oil/butter. Stir in the nut butter until smooth.
2. Pour mixture over the cooled caramel layer. Cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, sprinkle with fleur de sel (if desired, makes the bars really pop in my opinion) and then place in the refrigerator to cool completely, allowing chocolate to slightly harden, it’ll get a more matte look to the topping when firm.
3. Cut into 2-inch squares and enjoy *Tip: run hot water over the blade of a sharp knife, wipe dry and slice for cleaner cuts.

To store, put it in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

For other Secret Recipe Club reveal recipes:

Bite-Size Peanut Butter Layer Cups (No-Bake, Grain-Free)

Happy Friday! Here’s a sweet treat to kick off the weekend

I’ve been a little lazy lately with turning on my oven. I have a toaster oven and a typical stove + oven but these warmer Spring days have me craving chilled dishes and fuss-free snacks and desserts.

Plus, dessert isn’t an option for me. I LOVE SWEETS. I eat dessert every night in some form or fashion which gives me the extra push to health-ify my treats so I can enjoy them without the guilt.

These cute little cups fit the bill. 

I’ve professed my love for nut butters over and over again and here’s another tribute to my all-time favorite food. These grain-free peanut butter cups are little bites of heaven…the perfect ending to my day (or anytime you need a little sweet pick-me-up)!

Bite-Size Peanut Butter Layer Cups (No-Bake)

Ingredients

Crust Layer:
3 Tbsp coconut flour
3 Tbsp peanut flour* (OR almond flour or almond meal)
1 Tbsp flaxseed meal
2 tsp coconut oil, melted
1 Tbsp honey, agave,coconut nectar or maple syrup (do not use honey if vegan)

Peanut Butter Filling Layer:
7 Tbsp unsweetened, all natural creamy or crunchy peanut butter*
dash of pure vanilla extract
2-3 tsp honey (agave, coconut nectar or maple syrup could be subbed) + a pinch of stevia if you wanter a sweeter filling
2 Tbsp peanut flour or almond flour (or more if needed to hold together, depends on how runny your nut butter is)
pinch of sea salt

Chocolate Layer:
2 Tbsp raw cacoa powder, cocoa powder or carob powder
2 Tbsp peanut butter (I used all natural, unsalted crunchy but creamy works too)
2 tsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp honey, agave, coconut nectar or maple syrup (add a pinch of stevia if you want a sweeter topping)
pinch of sea salt (omit if using salted nut butter)

For garnish, optional
unsalted or salted peanut halves

Directions

1. For crust: Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until well incorporated and mixture sticks together. (I used a fork).

Divide evenly into 11-12 mini silicone cupcakes molds and press evenly to create firm mini crusts. If you do not have a silicone pan, line a mini muffin tin with plastic wrap for easy removal. Set pan aside while you create the filling.

2. For the peanut butter filling:  In the small mixing bowl (you don’t have to rinse the bowl out), add all of the ingredients and stir to combine. If the mixture isn’t holding together and is too runny, add more peanut/coconut flour a little at a time (this will depending on the consistency of your nut butter, I used a fairly thick peanut butter).

Divide evenly onto the crusts and press firmly to form a flat layer, repeat with remaining cups. Freeze the cups for a few minutes while you prepare the chocolate topping (optional but helps harden the topping more quickly).

3. For the chocolate topping: In a small bowl, stir all ingredients together until smooth and uniform. Spoon on top of the filling and garnish with peanut halves if desired. Refrigerate the cups until chocolate layer is hardened and enjoy!

Makes about 12 mini cups (can be doubled or tripled). Store in the refrigerator.

*If you looking for a nut-free option, substitute sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter, and use pulsed sunflower seeds to make a seed meal (or buckwheat flour or even finely shredded coconut) for the peanut flour. You may need to increase the sweetener slightly unless you are using sweetened sunflower seed butter; I find sunflower seed butter to be a bit more bitter than other nut butters but it’s completely up to you!

PS. Get ready! I am dedicating next week to pizza, another one of my all-time favorite foods…
Have an awesome weekend

Flourless Tangelo Cake aka “The Fruit Loop Cake”

Over Easter weekend, my step mother-in-law and I baked this cake as an experiment. We were aiming for a flourless dessert, free of leavening and sugar and wound up tweaking a recipe for Flourless Orange Almond Cake she encountered while watching Laura Calder on the Cooking Channel.

This is not a traditional fluffy cake. I repeat, this cake does not have resemble a traditional cake with a tender crumb and texture but it’s delicious in it’s own right. The rest of the family dubbed this recipe “The Fruit Loop Cake” as it sort of tasted like the cereal in dessert form!

We made a few changes to the recipe but basically stood by the original this time around. On my own, I can go overboard tweaking recipes but I didn’t have full reins on this one (thanks B for keeping me under control!). Instead of the usual white sugar, we substituted erythritol* (see recipes notes for details). In place of regular oranges, we used tangelo’s (citrus fruit hybrid of tangerine and pomelo or grapefruit) which gave the cake a lovely distinctive flavor. The soaking syrup is simple; it includes Grand Marnier, a bit of delicious local honey, erythritol and juice from the fruit.

And yes, I fully intend to create a different version of this cake with my crazy ideas down the road

It was delicious the first night we made it, but I thought it may have needed some added texture in the form of chopped nuts or something. Turns out, refridgerating the leftover cake made the erythritol slightly granular again (I assume it was the sweetener in the soaking syrup since it didn’t cook long) and that’s what added a slight crunch. We thought it was YUM!

Flourless Tangelo Cake aka “The Fruit Loop Cake” (adapted from this recipe)

Cake Ingredients: 

6 eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated erythritol* (or other granulated sugar, I bet coconut sugar would work well)
Zest of 3 organic tangelos
1 1/2 cups almond flour
pinch of sea salt

For the soaking syrup:

Juice from the 3 tangelos
3 Tbsp erythritol (or 2 Tbsp more honey)
2-3 Tbsp honey (we used delicious local honey!)
1 Tbsp orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier, optional

Optional: Whipped cream (we didn’t have this, would have loved to have served it with this!). Toasted chopped almonds for serving would add a lovely texture too.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Grease (with coconut oil, butter or ghee) and line a 9-to-10-inch springform cake pan (or tube pan) with parchment paper and set aside.
2. To prepare the cake batter, separate the eggs into two bowls. Beat the yolks with the sugar and zest until ribbony, then stir in the almond flour and salt. Beat the whites to peaks. Stir a spoonful of whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the rest, gently (do this carefully since no leavening is used and the egg whites help create height). Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until set, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly, then unmold onto a serving platter.
3. For the syrup: Heat the orange juice, erythritol and honey together in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the liqueur if using. Spoon the syrup evenly over the warm cake, letting the syrup soak in as you go (it will absorb most of it).
4. Slice and serve with whipped cream and/or toasted almonds (or refrigerate overnight if you want a slight crunch if using erythritol).

*What is erythritol?
Erythritol is a naturally-occuring sugar alcohol (polyol) found in fruits and fermented foods. It can be manufactured by fermenting glucose and is considered to be 60-70% as sweet as sugar. It is absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine and then excreted almost unchanged in the urine, so it does not affect blood sugar the way regular sugar and some other sugar alcohols do. Since it is absorbed before it enters the large intestine, it also does not cause as much of the gastric distress considered to be a side effect of most sugar alcohols such as xylitol and maltitol.

Erythritol can have a mouth-cooling feel when eaten in concentrated forms, but in many baked goods, it is diluted enough for this effect to be unnoticeable. Erythritol is sold under the brand names such as ZSweet and Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Zero as well as several others. It can be found at some grocery stores and health food stores (such as Natural Grocers and Whole Foods) but is more affordable when purchased online.

Speedy Sweets N’ Snacks

For some reason or another, some of routine recipes never get posted. Maybe they seem too simple for me to share? Instead of just assuming that you didn’t want to see some of my favorite go-to munchies, I thought I’d share a few with you in this post.

1. Super Secret Cookie Dough- variations of this recipe have been posted at many blogs so I hadn’t bothered sharing my version until now…I’ve been making this “cookie dough” for over a year now and have made several variations (list below).

Healthified cookie dough that takes about 7-8 minutes to pull together. Plus, it’s packed with fiber, protein and healthy fats from the nut butter – this stuff is seriously addicting! I’ve even sandwiched two cookies together with this as the “filling”. Usually it doesn’t last that long and I wind up eating it with a spoon I bet it would even be yummy as frosting on a cupcake!

What is so super secret? There are chickpeas in this dessert! It sounds ridiculous and even yucky to some but I LOVEEEEEEEE this stuff! Give it a try before you judge me, ok?

Super Secret Cookie Dough 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (if you use the ones from a can, rinse thoroughly)
1/3 cup chunky OR creamy peanut butter (almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter etc can all be subbed)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt (omit if using salted nut butter)
2 Tbsp almond milk or other non-dairy milk
3-4 Tbsp coconut palm sugar, honey, agave or a combo (my favorite is 2 Tbsp powdered coconut sugar, 1 Tbsp honey and a pinch of pure stevia to round out the flavors)
2 Tbsp flaxseed meal, almond or other nut meal or oat flour (or sub your favorite flour)
chocolate chunks, chips or carob or cacao nibs (I chopped up a portion of the Lindt bar Hint of Sea Salt – my fav! )

optional: one scoop of good tasting vanilla protein powder (I use Jay Robb’s)

Directions

1. In a food processor, add chickpeas and process until finely chopped (there might still be chunks, that’s ok). Add the peanut butter, vanilla, salt and a drizzle of almond milk until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the sweetener, flax/nut meal (and protein powder if you want the extra boost – the amount of sweetener may need to be decreased if your protein is really sweet) and process until blend well. If additional sweetener is needed, add it at this time to taste. If you need another drizzle of almond milk, feel free to add a small amount at this time (I like it thick!).
3. Stir in the chocolate chips (or chopped nuts or dried fruit) and enjoy immediately or refrigerate for a couple hours. I love the flavor straight from the food processor but refrigerating the mixture helps the flavors meld and it’s even better!

2. No-Bake Coconut Macaroons - chewy coconut bites that are egg-free, grain-free and vegan! These quick yummy morsels can be whipped up in less than 5 minutes and frozen for a sweet bite-size treat. Coconutty goodness through and through

No-Bake Coconut Macaroons 

Ingredients

2/3 rounded cup coconut flakes, slightly crushed with your fingers (could also use 2/3 cup shredded coconut)
1/4 cup almond flour or almond meal (or your favorite flour if you want nut-free)
1 Tbsp maple syrup, honey or agave (date paste, raisin paste or mashed banana would do the trick too)
dash of pure vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
3 Tbsp coconut butter, melted

Optional Mix-in ideas – mini chocolate chips, chopped dried fruit chunks, lime/lemon zest, spices

Directions

1. Line a plate or small baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until well incorporated. Using a tablespoon, pack mixture firmly to form small rounds to help stick together. Plop (yes, this is a formal baking word) onto prepared plate/sheet and freeze for 30 minutes until hardened. Enjoy!

Makes about 6-7 macaroons (can be doubled or tripled). Store in freezer or refrigerator.

3. “The Comfort Snack”aka gluten free toast with spread of choice + chia seeds + fruit. Simple? Of course, but it’s one of my favorite quick snacks or light desserts – my favorite combination is cream cheese (I love the flavor of vegan Tofutii cream cheese but it’s a guilty pleasure) but coconut butter, nut butter, ghee, or goat cheese are all delicious!

This really doesn’t need instructions – but toast a slice of your favorite gluten free bread. Remove immediately and smear on your favorite spread (about 1 tbsp or so), sprinkle with a heaping 1/4 tsp chia seeds (or flax) and top with slices of fruit (bananas are the best!). Sometimes I will even use cottage cheese as the spread; scoop a spoonful and then toast to warm the mixture, then sprinkle with chia and add the fruit.

4. Veggie Nachos - okay, okay, I know this isn’t considered healthy but I have to include another guilty pleasure – I am a completely sucker for tortilla chips, add some vegetarian refried beans, homemade salsa or pico de gallo, shredded organic cheese and fresh cilantro and I have a salty snack that I cannot resist. Everyone deserves a little indulgence occassionally, right? The only thing I am missing here is homemade guacamole…

Indulgent Vegetarian Nachos 

Ingredients

About 14-15 corn tortilla chips (you could also use bean and rice chips like Beanitos if corn-free
1/2 cup BPA free black or pinto vegetarian refried beans
1/4 to 1/3 cup organic shredded cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend – use dairy free for vegan)
1/3 cup salsa of choice or pico de gallo
1-2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. 2. Spread chips on the lined baking sheet with slight overlap. 3. Drop or spread refried beans onto chips. Next, sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 4. Remove from oven, spoon salsa/pico over the chips and sprinkle with cilantro. Enjoy immediately!

Serves 1

*For a healthier approach, add some sauteed chopped vegetables (zucchini, onion, squash, peppers) on top of the beans prior to baking.

A few of my other favorite quick snacks are:

Fajita-Spiced Roasted Chickpeas
Protein Nut Butter Balls 
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Bites 
Chocolate Avocado Pudding
3-Ingredient Elvis Soft Serve Ice Cream

Happy Thursday!