This Bar Saves Lives Apple Cashew Cream Cups

Homemade, cinnamon vanilla bean cashew cream layered with tart green apples, crumbled This Bar Saves Lives and a “salted caramel” date drizzle on top! I made this little baby to-go and tucked it safely in the passenger seat on my way to work. Precious cargo 😉

Any flavor of @thisbar will do! Wild blueberry pistachio, dark chocolate cherry & sea salt, Madagascar vanilla honey & almond or peanut butter strawberry & sea salt. I used wild blueberry pistachio + Madagascar vanilla honey & almond. All of them are fantastic!

Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Cashew Cream
1 cup raw unsalted cashews (soaked in water over night)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch of salt

Directions
Drain the cashews. Pour 1/4 cup of fresh water and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more water depending on the consistency you desire.

“Salted Caramel Sauce”
3 soft medjool dates
2 tbsp water
pinch of salt

Directions
Blend in a food possessor or mash with the back of a fork (whatever is easiest for you) until smooth. Strain sauce through a mesh sieve to remove any hard bits of date.

Crumble up your This Bars and layer it up! If you want to learn more about This Bar Saves Lives check out my post or head over to their website! Their Non-GMO, gluten free, fair trade, bee friendly snacks will make your tummy happy and also provide food for children in need all over the world. We eat together!

Vegan Vanilla Caramel Slice

The most AMAZING vanilla caramel slices! They taste like caramelly cookie dough heaven! Vegan and refined sugar free. Made from wholesome ingredients with healthy benefits! I like to keep these in the freezer and have one for dessert…or breakfast 😉 with a cup of coffee. Awww perfection!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Base:

1 cup soft pitted dates

1 cup almond flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. water

Blend ingredients in a food processor until combined. Press date mixture into a lined (wax paper) 9X9 glass dish. Place in the freezer.

Middle Layer:

2 cups soft pitted dates

1 tbsp. peanut butter

3 tbsp. tahini

1/2 cup hemp mylk

1 tbsp. mesquite powder (*see note below)

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Pour on top of the base mixture and use a spatula to spread it evenly into the corners of the dish. Place back in the freezer.

Top Layer:

1/2 cup raw cocoa powder

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 tbsp. pure maple syrup (optional sweetener)

Mix ingredients in a cup. Use a microwave if needed to melt the coconut oil.

Pour on top and spread chocolate sauce evenly over the caramel-date layer.

Sprinkle with topping of your choice or keep plain (I used chopped pistachios and Brazil nuts).

Place in the freezer for 8 hours (or over night). Cut into slices and serve!

*Note on Mesquite Powder

So when I first heard about Mesquite powder, I thought it would taste like smoky BBQ; not so… it has a sweet nutty caramel-like flavor, making it ideal for a natural sweetener in desserts. Mesquite powder is ground from the pods of the mesquite plant and is high in protein, low on the glycemic index and is a good source of soluble fiber, calcium, iron, lysine, manganese, zinc, and potassium. Nice…

Yema {Crunchy Caramel, Gooey Custard Treats}

Yema are luscious little Filipino candies with a creamy custard center covered in a thin crunchy caramel shell. I made 20 or so for a party tomorrow and I’ve already eaten 6…oops. I would best describe them as baby crème brûlée with a slightly denser custard. These decadent treats will melt in your mouth and be gone before you know it!

Ingredients

Custard

10 egg yolks

1 (14 ounces) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tbs. lemon zest

1 tsp. lemon juice

Shell

1 cup sugar

Tips & Utensils

*Coat your fork with canola oil to prevent caramel from sticking when retrieving the custard ball.

* Freezing the egg yolk mixture will make it easier to shape. If you don’t want to wait, you can put a little bit of cooking oil on your hands to prevent the mixture from sticking.

Instructions

1.In medium sized bowl, combine egg yolks, condensed milk, zest and lemon juice. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.

2.In a non-stick pan over low heat, pour the egg yolk mixture. Use a heat resistant spatula to stir the mixture until thick enough to hold shape. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of pan to prevent burning. Remove from heat. Stir mixture until lumps have smoothed. cool. Shape into 1-inch balls.

3.In a pan over medium heat, add sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent the sugar from burning. Sugar will start to melt, clump and then liquefy. Remove from heat when the sugar has caramelized and the crystalized lumps are gone.

4.Tricky part! Carefully drop custard balls one at a time into the caramel pan, turning gently with an oil-coated fork. As you can see…I haven’t mastered this part yet ;). You’ll want to achieve an even and complete coat of caramel around the ball. Remove the caramel coated yema with forks and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Allow to cool and wrap them individually in cellophane.

Fleur De Sel Caramel Cupcakes

Ingredients:Cupcake Batter:
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups white flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2/3 cup cold milk

Cinnamon swirl:
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. brown sugar
½ tbsp. butter

Frosting:
3 cups confectioners sugar (sifted)
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. whipping cream
¼ cup fleur de sel caramel sauce (+ ½ cup for drizzling)

Directions for cupcakes:
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-In a large mixing bowl mix soft butter and sugar until blended and creamy. Add eggs and beat until incorporated.
-Add vanilla
-Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and add to the butter mixture. Then add and stir in milk.
-In a small separate bowl mix the cinnamon, brown sugar and butter together. This will be sprinkled in between layers of cupcake batter when pouring it into the cupcake pan.

Directions for frosting:
-With an electric mixer, whisk together sugar and butter.
-Mix for 3 minutes or until creamy.
-Add vanilla and cream and whisk for an additional minute.
-Add more cream if needed to reach your ideal consistency.
-Mix in ¼ cup of fleur de sel caramel sauce.
-Save the rest of the caramel sauce for drizzling

Vanilla Bean Toffee Popcorn

This is SERIOUSLY good stuff. Here is a step-by-step guide. Super easy. I’m loving how you can see the little specks of vanilla (but, if you don’t have vanilla bean handy, extract will do just fine)!

Ingredients:

8 cups of popped popcorn (2 microwave bags of popcorn are perfect)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean scraped if you’ve got it)

*****

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 300F

Place 8 cups of popcorn in a large deep bowl. (I used Orville Redenbacher’s Buttered Popcorn) Make sure that no unpopped kernels fall into the bowl!

Split one vanilla bean (lengthwise) and scrap out the vanilla caviar with your knife. Add the vanilla caviar to the brown sugar and mix it in with your fingers, to break-up the clumps of vanilla.

now…

Cook over a medium heat while stirring:

1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of light corn syrup in a pot over medium heat.

* Hold the baking soda until later…

Bring the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil. Keep stirring!

Now, let it sit for 5 minutes WITHOUT stirring. It will begin to look like this…

Remove from the heat and add your 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. This is when the magic happens!

Stir until you get this creamy looking color.

Now pour that heavenly stuff onto your popcorn. Stir until the popcorn is evenly coated.

Place the popcorn on a baking sheet lined with a silpat or wax paper. Bake for 30 minutes at 300F.

After 30 minutes, take it out of the oven and place it on a windowsill or someplace where it can cool off.

The toffee should harden in 5-10 minutes.

Once it has cooled off, break the popcorn into bite-size pieces and enjoy!