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Lynds
Dec 19, 20204 min read

Salted Caramel Apple Crisp Shortbread Bar

This is the #homecookbattle entry for December!


This post contains affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission if you purchase through them.



Once a month I join a friendly competition with some amazing home cooks. Each month has a special ingredient and this months was salted caramel. Sounds delicious right? but its usually full of heavy cream! What's a girl to do but make it vegan! This is a unique spin to the usual and also makes it low glycemic.....


I base this bar on the recipe from soberjulie.com It looked so good I had to try it but with some obvious dairy free modifications.



For the short bread base, I melted 1 cup of dairy free butter alternative.

In a separate bowl I placed 2 cups of all purpose organic flour with 1/2 tsp pf salt 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of date sugar. Did I say date sugar? I sure did, it is a healthier sugar with a lower glycemic index so it is less likely to spike your blood sugar.


I poured the melted butter over top and formed my wet dough for the shortbread layer.


This dough requires you to pat it down and spread across the bottom of the pan. I did spray this with avocado oil first!




There all done.... You need to pre4-heat your oven to 300 degrees and bake just this shortbread layer for 15 minutes at this point.... moving on to the apple layer.




I thinly sliced up 4 gala apples and tossed them with 2 Tbsp of organic flour, 2 Tbps of date sugar and 1 Tsp of cinnamon. Place this layer directly on top of the shortbread layer.




The crumble topping is just as easy.... I placed 1/2 cup of organic flour with 1/2 cup of organic rolled oats, and 3/4 cup of date sugar, and mixed together.

From here I melted 1/4 cup of butter alternative and 1/4 cup of coconut oil and mixed into the oats until I got a mealy consistency



Spread this out on top and into the oven it goes... now at 350 degrees to bake for 30 minutes.





Now for what is arguably my favourite part the salted caramel sauce! But before I do, I wanted to share the date sugar product I used.... Liva! It's organic non gmo and its quite impressive. It's a very fine white power, that tastes sweet with no strange after taste like you can find with stevia's etc. I wasn't sure how it would hold up to baking but I placed it in three distinct layers of baking and it performed well both in flavour and consistency. I found this one at Save on Foods.



So typically you need a heavy cream for a caramel sauce, in this instance I used 1/2 cup of condensed coconut milk and 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk and placed them in a pot on the stove. I let it warm up before adding in 1/2 cup of Liva date sugar and 1 tsp of salt. It started to bubble and thicken instantly so watch it and turn it down, whisking constantly. It certainly creates the lovely caramel colour once cooked.



I cut myself a generous wedge of the apple bar and while the caramel was still warm, created a drizzle!




Add a few sprinkles of coarse salt for flavour and affect and serve! This was extremely delicious and I truly loved using the date sugar as a healthier organic alternative to either regular or coconut sugar!



The Recipe:


Short bread


1 cup of dairy free butter alternative.

In a separate bowl place 2 cups of all purpose organic flour with 1/2 tsp pf salt 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of date sugar. add in the melted butter and form a dough. Press into your pan to create the bottom layer.


Cook this layer in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes



Apples:


thinly slice up 4 gala apples and tossed them with 2 Tbsp of organic flour, 2 Tbps of date sugar and 1 Tsp of cinnamon. Place this layer directly on top of the shortbread layer.


Crumble topping


1/2 cup of organic flour with 1/2 cup of organic rolled oats, and 3/4 cup of date sugar, and mixed together.

From here I melted 1/4 cup of butter alternative and 1/4 cup of coconut oil and mixed into the oats until I got a mealy consistency. Add to the top in an even layer.


Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.


Salted caramel sauce (Dairy Free)


1/2 cup of condensed coconut milk

1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup of Liva date sugar.

1 tsp salt


warm the milks on the stove and add the date sugar once it begins to warm, whisk constantly until thickened. Top with more course salt once served.


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