I am so excited to bring you this fabulous salted caramel slice, as adapted by the effervescent Angie Ching:
I met Angie at one of my uncooking classes in 2011, and we’ve been sharing foodly adventures ever since. Angie’s recipe post arrives in perfect timing for the festive season [thanks, Angie!].
As well as being my friend, Angie is Founder/Holistic Lifestyle Advisor at Infinite Health & Wellness — which basically means that she helps others to create great food, make better food choices, and add more fun to life.
I should preface this almost-raw recipe with a warning: you may need to make it when you’re home alone, to prevent others from tasting as you go. We had three very willing tasters lined up at the kitchen entrance when the caramel was in the make.
Have a wonderful festive season,
H 🙂
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Salted Caramel Slice
Words & photos by Angie Ching
A couple of months ago, Bruce and I attended a local primary school’s quiz night with Hannah, her lovely husband Justin and a few other friends. I decided to make some ‘After Dinner Mint’ Balls for the quiz night. Whilst at the quiz night, we pigged out on cheese and more cheese (I love cheese, it’s my favourite food group :P), as well as answered some questions while under the influence of wine and more wine! 😀
Later on, we decided to bring out the After Dinner Mint Balls for dessert. Hannah liked my balls so much, she asked if I could do a guest blog post about them. Then this baby came along…
This recipe was inspired by Secret Squirrel’s Raw Caramel Slice with Almond Crunch Topping. I tasted the original at the last Perth Health & Being Facebook group book swap and it was delicious…but it was a bit too sweet (for my delicate tastebuds) and I felt like something was missing.
Let’s wind back to AFL Grand Final Footy 2012. I made this delicious raw caramel slice. It was good, however, the original recipe (I don’t remember the author or where I found it) said to add in a caramel flavour. I had some LorAnn oils from back in the day (before I went clean — ahh, I sound like some addict!) which I used in the raw caramel slice. This caramel used dates and cashews, so I decided to use this same recipe minus the fake caramel flavour — and this time I added some salt to it to make it SALTED CARAMEL. Because I am obsessed with EVERYTHING that is salted caramel!!! Whoever decided to add salt to caramel is a GENIUS! 😀
Alrighty, let’s go back to the first time I made this bad boy, when I called it ‘Burnt and Salted Almond Crunch’. Why was it Burnt and Salted Almond Crunch? I forgot that I had the almonds in the oven. Need I say more? It did lend a coffee-like flavour, according to some taste-testers.
Winding forward to the present day, I just wrapped up a day of making this delicious salted caramel slice at Hannah’s – Thermomix Stylez! That’s right.
Without further ado, I hereby present the Raw Salted Caramel Slice with Not Really Raw but Burnt & Salted Almond Crunch!
Recipe #149: Raw Salted Caramel Slice with Salted Almond Crunch. There are four layers to this recipe. You will need a Thermomix, decent blender or food processor to make this recipe.
You will need:
1. All About That Base
► 3/4 cup (120g) of medjool dates (can substitute sultanas for some of the dates — we did)
► 1/2 cup (25g) of shredded coconut
► 1/2 cup (55g) of pecans
► 3 Tbsp (30g) of raw cacao powder
► 1 heaped Tpsp (40g) of tahini
► 1/4 tsp of vanilla powder (or the seeds scraped from 1/4 of a vanilla pod)
► 1/4 tsp of cinnamon powder
► 1 pinch of high quality salt (eg. Himalayan, Celtic sea salt)
► [optional] buckinis, for extra crunch (we left them out this time)
2. Salted Caramel Layer
► 1 cup (160g) of medjool dates (presoaked)
► 2/3 cup (100g) of cashews (presoaked)
► 1/2+ cup of water from soaked dates (start with 1/2 cup and add more as needed)
► 1/2 Tbsp (10g) of coconut oil
► 1/4 cup (55g) of tahini
► 2 Tbsp (50g) of maple syrup
► 1 tsp of mesquite powder
► seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
► 3/4+ tsp of high quality salt (eg. Himalayan, Celtic sea salt — keep tasting and adding to your taste)
3. Salted Almond Crunch Topping
► 1 cup (110g) of almonds (roasted)
► 1/4 cup of raw cacao nibs
► 1 Tbsp (20g) of maple syrup
► 1 Tbsp of caramel (saved from Layer 2 recipe above)
► 1/2 tsp of high quality salt (eg. Himalayan, Celtic sea salt)
► [optional] buckinis, for extra crunch (we left them out this time)
4. Raw Chocolate
use either 1 quantity of Hannah’s basic raw chocolate recipe, or:
► 1/2 cup (100g) of coconut oil (melted)
► 1/2 cup (60g) of raw cacao powder
► 2 Tbsp (30g) of cacao liquor paste (melted)
► 2 Tbsp (30g) of cacao butter
► 2 Tbsp (50g) of maple syrup
► 1/2 tsp of maca powder
Method [or, building the layers and what you will need or not need]:
Begin by:
- pre-heating the oven to 150-degrees celsius. When you get to the Caramel Layer, place 110g almonds into the oven.
- de-pitting all Medjool Dates;
- soaking 1 cup / 160g Medjool Dates in water; and
- soaking 2/3 cup / 100g cashews in water.
1. All About That Base
Thermomix – whiz together on speed 10 for 15 seconds.
Food processor – whiz together until it’s in a texture that sticks together.
Press into a lined baking tray or container. Freeze. Continue to the Caramel Layer.
2. Salted Caramel Layer
Thermomix – whiz together on speed 10 for 10 seconds. Scrape down bowl and repeat. Add more of the Once the mixture begins to look smooth, taste the caramel for salt content. We ended up adding about 2 teaspoons of salt because someone likes salt 😛 It really comes down to personal preferences, therefore it is important to taste as you go.
Food processor – whiz together until smooth and scrape down the bowl regularly.
Check the vanilla flecks on the caramel – amazing! And doesn’t it look sexy?!
Once the salted caramel is ready, take the base out of the freezer and spread the beautifully flecked salted caramel over the base. Make sure to leave at least 1 tablespoon of caramel for the Salted Almond Crunch Topping. Place it back into the freezer.
3. Salted Almond Crunch Topping
Take the almonds out of the oven. Place in Thermomix/blender/food processor bowl with the rest of the ingredients and pulse [on Turbo mode] until it’s at a crumbly like texture. I really loved the texture this time around.
Take the container with the base and caramel out of the freezer. Cover the caramel with the Salted Almond Crunch Topping. Place it back into the freezer.
4. Raw Chocolate
For today’s slice, we used Hannah’s basic raw chocolate recipe.
For the alternative recipe:
Thermomix – combine together for 6 minutes at 40 degrees on speed 1.5. If the time isn’t long enough, increase it by 1 minute intervals until melted.
Other – use the double boiler method. It will be ready once everything is melted and smooth. Keep stirring.
Drizzle the melted chocolate all over the first three layers.
FINAL STEP
Because we love salty and sweet so much, Hannah decided that a final sprinkling of sea salt would complete the slice! I couldn’t agree more. My darling future husband will love this so much! 😀
Hope you will make this awesome slice for Christmas. Enjoy the break, be merry and eat well.
Xx Angie
Previous guest posts. My guest posts typically get lots of clicks well after they are published — because I only choose talented & interesting people to contribute to A Very Foodly Diary! Check out previous guest posts via their links:
- Guest Post 1: The Green Smoothie – by Marion Egger
- Guest Post 2: Pure Decadence – by Aileen Sforcina
- Guest Post 3: A craving for flourless orange, coconut and almond cake – by Adrianne Barba
- Guest Post 4: Mango & Avocado Salad – by Joshua Jones
- Guest Post 5: The Hangover – by Pauline Tarrant
- Guest Post 6: How to create award winning olives – by Claire Trolio
- Guest Post 7: A mindful business, a retreat & a recipe – by Nicole van Kan
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