Chocolate Shortbread Caramels (Paleo, grain-free, gluten-free)

I feel like all I’ve been posting lately are dessert recipes. I can’t say for certain, but I have a pretty good idea why this is so. I have a giant desktop folder filled with attempted recipe creations and photos; some of which were successes (which are placed in the “blog” section) and others which were massive failures (which are placed in the “please, for the love of God, do not make this again” section). Every few days or so, I scroll through the photos and recipes, picking out the ones that I want to share with all of you…

And somehow the ones I’m most excited about are always the desserts.

The photos of chocolate call to me..

These shortbread cookies are the perfect combination of sweet, salty and crunchy. In addition, they are refined-sugar and grain-free, and are nice to take to parties because of how they keep.

Ingredients:

(Crust) —

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/4 coconut sugar
• 1 egg, from a pasture-raised hen
• 1/2 cup grassfed butter (use coconut oil for paleo option) – at room temp
• Pinch sea salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

(Caramel)–

• 1/2 cup grassfed butter (or coconut oil) – at room temp
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

(Chocolate) —

• 1 cup chocolate chips or cacao nibs
• 2 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Combine all crust ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer or stand mixer. Spread onto a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, then place in freezer to cool.
3. Next start on the caramel. Combine butter and maple syrup in a small saucepan and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes, until mixture thickens and a caramel color begins to develop.
4. Spread caramel layer over crust layer and place in freezer until hardened completely.
5. Next work on the chocolate layer. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil until liquified. Spread over cooled caramel layer and place in freezer to harden.

Slice and serve! Enjoy!