OK, so I’m not making any claims that this is a healthy item of food. However, I am going to say, that I’ve tried to make it health-ier than the original recipe I used as a baseline. Which was this. Date Caramel Walnut Slice.

This isn’t technical talk, but I think I halved the sugar content, and made it more tummy friendly by replacing wheat with an almond meal and spelt combo. I doubled the base of the above recipe, so the sugary sweet caramel topping could be spread further, thus making it less sugary. I also only put in a third of the sugar content it says. And of course, added a few of my own special ingredients, and generally butchered the recipe to make it mine!

This made a massive tray 25cm x 32cm. Cut the squares whatever size you like. Or if you want a thicker slice, use a smaller tray. You know the drill, we are all grown ups, we can work things out! 😉

 

Maple Walnut Caramel Slice

Base:

250g butter
1 c dessicated coconut
1 c almond meal
2 c organic spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 c brown sugar (use less or more to your taste/health preferences)

Melt butter, mix all the dry ingredients together, and then add the butter and mix all around. Press into your tin. Cook in the oven at 180degrees celcius for around 15mins, or until it looks golden. Pull it out, let it cool a bit.

Topping:

1 tin sweetened condensed milk
1 c chopped dates
100g butter
1/4 c maple syrup
cinammon (to your liking)
vanilla (to your liking)
a bunch of chopped walnuts

While the base is cooking, put condensed milk, butter and dates in a pot, over a low heat melt, mix, and stir this concoction until it starts thickening, and turning a lovely caramel colour. Get it off the heat before it burns. Add a sprinkle of spice, and splash of vanilla, and set aside.

Once the base is cooled a bit, spread this caramel goodness over the top. Be very careful with it, it will pull on the base and crumble it if you don’t spread thickly. Once the base is covered, sprinkle with walnuts and put back in the oven for about 7 minutes. Just to set the top into the bottom.

Let this slice cool completely, and put in the fridge to harden before cutting into slices. I put it in the freezer to speed this process up, because who can wait that long to eat it?!