Ok, so before you look at the post title and then what the health bars are called, and roll your eyes, indulge me! As you all know my
beloved little sister is a chef! She brought this recipe to me a said lets try it, its a health bars thing.... I then read Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bars and said 'HEALTH BARS' -you are having a laugh! But, you all know me by now.... anything to do with
CHOCOLATE and I am HeAvEn -chocolate heaven to be exact!
Off we marched to the kitchen(my favourite place), it is a relatively easy recipe, and we had most of the ingredients in my pantry cupboard, we used plain old dates (the compressed little block) and plain butter, so if you can use the proper almond butter-do so and please let me know how they turn out.(Almond butter is very dear here and really hard to get) making commenced - most of it is done in the food processor so its pretty quick and easy, when we were done, we called LSO( Iwas asked what LSO stood for by a friend a few days ago..... Long Suffering One=Husband) and he said 'they look fattening', but tried them anyway. Let me tell you, you will not stop eating these delectable little bars of yumminess, the tray was empty in a flash! I am not big on dates but yum yum yummmmmmm, these little bars are fantastic, you cannot taste the dates, but a strong taste of coffee and coconut come thru, and please put the salt on the top, it just somehow enhances the flavour! (mouth watering again)
Please remember this is not my recipe,(it was sent to my sister by a friend) but we did tweak it to suit what we had! I also really wanted to give it to you exactly as it was written because I think it is so cute and so funny. These "health bars" will be added to my recipe book and used again and again!
ENJOY!
.JPG) |
| Crust Ingredients |
 |
| Crust Done |
 |
Caramel Inside Made
Little Helping Hands
All Done
YuMmY
Tea and a Bit of Sweet Stuff! |
Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bars!
Ingredients
For the crust
12 dried figs (or dates, if you prefer), stems
removed
1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup Unsweetended Shredded Coconut
2
tablespoons Raw Honey
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon
cinnamon
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
For the
topping
1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips or dark chocolate, melted
1/4
canned coconut milk
2 teaspoons ground coffee
coarse sea salt, to
top
Instructions
First make your crust. Add all of your crust
ingredients into a food processor and mix until well combined. Add the crust
mixture to a bread pan and push down until the mixture is flat. Like a crust.
Duh.
Now add your dates and pulse 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. May take 3-5 minutes, tops.
Pour caramel over your crust and spread
evenly.
Now you will want to melt your chocolate. You could do this in a
double boiler or just the microwave. I chose the latter.
Melt chocolate and
coconut milk together in the microwave. Heating for 30 seconds then mixing well
and reheating when necessary.
Once your chocolate is completely melted, add
your ground coffee and mix well.
Pour melted chocolate over your caramel and
spread evenly.
Add coarse sea salt on top of the chocolate.
Put in freezer
to let chocolate harden. Around 10+ minutes.
Eat!!
.JPG)
Although we don't go often , I am always astounded by the beauty of the ocean, each wave is different and unique! The late afternoon sun is gorgeous and cast such beautiful shadows on the water and sand, and the warm sand is like a mini massage for your feet, men fish and children play in the water, the small waves chasing them back up the beach into the waiting arms of mommy's, who are relaxed and happy! It really is a magical place!
I am trying to teach Little madam to sew, as she always shows keen interest when I am stitching anything. I found this gorgeous little felt dolly in a shop in Lincoln and bought it. We have started it and it is very simple for her as all the holes are already punched and so all that is needed is alot of guidance-did I mention ALOT of guidance! We will persevere and I will keep you updated... watch this space.....
It was Little Madam's turn to be 'Baker Baker' at school last week and she decided after much perusing of my recipe books that Cake Pops were the order of the day, these are cute little all-in-one bite size cake balls, that only an American could have come up with! And true to American style they are soooooo easy. I cheat terribly when making these and as i was poorly -sorry no 'making them' pictures but seriously, they are dead easy - Make up a store bought cake-easy! let it cool and crumble it so that it looks like earth-easy! Add a store bought ready made frosting(icing) about 3/4 of the tub-easy! (mix with the BACK of a spoon) roll into bite size balls and put in to your fridge to set-easy! now comes the most tricky part.... melt some chocolate, add a lolly stick to your ball and dip into the chocolate(use a deep bowl and lots of chocolate -try and dip the pop all in one go,this can be tricky) add some decorations and VOILA! Cake Pops = Happy Children! there is a gorgeous book on Amazon called quite simply Cake Pops by Bakerella 
