CHOCOLATE CARAMEL PECAN BARS



CHOCOLATE CARAMEL PECAN BARS

This is a recipe Yara Eloff, our sweet, beautiful Spanish daughter-in-law, brought to our house.  She wanted us to make this dessert, so here you are! Make these only if you have wonderful will power.  My husband and I polished off almost all of these in 3 days flat!  I don't think Yara and Jonathan got more than one or two pieces each!!  There is something so wonderful about the texture straight out of the refrigerator.  Pecans, chocolate and caramel go together so well too.  I used unsweetened carob chips and these were so good.  I can only imagine how good they would be with real sugar-free chocolate chips.  Chocolate gives me migraines, so unsweetened carob chips are better than nothing for me!  The reason for the "funny" instructions...i.e. the melted butter poured over at the end (which is what I did) is that initially the crust was too crumbly and pouring the butter over the baked dessert saved it in the most delightful way!!  It is quite possible that simply adding that melted butter to the crust alone will be fine.

The sweetener tables for all the most common scenarios are in my cookbooks for your convenience.  For example, ¾ cup sugar sweetness (not ¾ cup liquid) using my bottle of sucralose from the EZ-Sweetz brand (whether the smaller one of 0.5 oz or the bigger yellow bottle of 2 oz – Zero carbs) would be 18 or 36 drops respectively.  Here is an article and video about the sweeteners. Part 1.  There is another article and video here: Part 2.



3 cups pecans, roughly chopped (750 mL)
Crust: (alternative - use 2 cups almond flour PLUS 2 tbsp oat fiber)
1 cup Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 (click for recipe), OR  (250 mL)
  Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Bake Mix, OR Keto Bake Mix
1 cup ground almonds (250 mL)
  (sliced almonds ground in coffee-bean grinder, OR 
  less ideal...almond flour)
1/cup butter, melted (75 mL)
Liquid sweetener to equal 1/cup sugar (75 mL)
Filling:
Dulce de Leche (click for recipe)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (30 mL)
1 cup sugar-free chocolate chips (250 mL)
1/cup unsalted butter, melted (60 mL)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). 

Spread the pecans out on a baking sheet and bake about 8 minutes, or until they are fragrant.  Remove from oven and set aside in a bowl.

Grease a 13 x 9-inch (33 x 23 cm) baking dish.

In medium bowl, combine Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2, OR Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Bake Mix, OR Keto Bake Mixand ground almonds (or use the alternative mentioned in the ingredient listing).  In small bowl, combine melted butter and liquid sweetener. Stir into dry ingredients.  Press mixture into baking dish (use plastic wrap to help spread the crust evenly).  Remove plastic wrap.  Bake 12 minutes.

Prepare Dulce de Leche and add 2 tbsp (30 mL) unsalted butter.  Add to pecans in bowl and stir to coat them well.  Spread the caramel pecan mixture over the crust, and then sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and drizzle 1/4 cup (60 mL) melted unsalted butter over the entire dish.  Allow to cool, then refrigerate overnight until set.

Yield:  36 bars
1 bar
159.9 calories
2.8 g protein
15.2 g fat
0.9 g fiber
3.5 g net carbs

SEE our beautiful coil-bound books (last 5 gorgeous, Low-Carbing Among Friends' Team cookbooks,  the coil matches the books): Amongfriends.us/Findourbeautifulrecipebooks  This useful collection of cookbooks is expected to sell out and they will never be reprinted again.  Limited stocks, so get yours while you can!  KINDLE set available!

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