These Salted Caramel Almond Bars are somewhere between a Twiz bar and dark chocolate coated almonds. Add a pinch of sea salt to the caramel and you have some seriously tasty bars on your hands.
I love to create caramel using dates. I added nut butter to the caramel for these almond bars but I typically base the caramel on dats and over-ripe bananas. The bananas create a naturally sweet and smooth caramel. The banana based caramel is a great option for when you are creating a banoffee pie.
You can obviously us Medjool dates for this recipe but the regular varieties work perfectly fine and I use them all the time. I would recommend pre-soaking these dates to help create a really thick and sticky caramel layer. Soak for at least 30 minutes by placing the dates in a heatproof bowl and covering with boiling hot water.
Makes 24 bars
- 125g digestive biscuits or 100g coconut flour
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 tbsp honey
- 150g butter or coconut oil, melted
- 50g almonds, roughly chopped
- 125g dates, de-stoned
- 4 tbsp almond butter
- 5 tbsp regular milk or almond drink
- sea-salt
- 200g dark chocolate
- Preheat an oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F. Line a large roasting tray or ovenproof dish with parchment.
- Blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs. Alternatively place the biscuits in a resealable bag and bash with a rolling pin until the same consistency is formed (my preferred option if I’m a little stressed or angry!!).
- Stir the blitzed biscuits, ground almonds, honey and melted butter in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
- Place the mixture onto the lined tray and flatten to create an even layer.
- Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little.
- Place the chopped almonds into a separate oven proof tray or frying pan and toast in the oven while the base bakes.
- While the base is baking, make the date caramel layer: drain the dates if you have pre-soaked them and place in a food processor or tall jug and blend with a stick blender. Add the almond butter and blend again. Slowly add the milk or almond drink until the dates become much looser and a caramel sauce consistency is created. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sea-salt and taste. You can add more salt if you like it really salty!
- Spread the caramel over the cooled base and place into the freezer for 30 minutes, ensure to keep the tray flat!
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove the tray from the freezer and cut into bars. Seperate the bars a little using your knife.
- Add a little sea-salt to the toasted almonds and mix together.
- Spread a tablespoon of the chocolate over the caramel of each bar. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the top. Move fast here as the chocolate sets rapidly and sprinkle over the toasted salted almonds.
- Return to the freezer to set for 30 minutes.
- Store fresh in the fridge for at least 4 days.
