Raw Vegan Caramels with Chocolate Nut Butter

These Raw Vegan Caramels are adapted from a recipe at Averie Cooks

These are beautiful little bites of chewy, sweet goodness.

I took Averie's advise and added some homemade chocolate butter on top

just to make them even more perfect.

I made a chocolate sauce by blending sugar free peanut butter with cocoa powder and

NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia

The main sweetness comes from ground up dates.

Make sure if you're using whole dates to remove the pits.

Thanks to NuNaturals, they are sugar free except for the date sugar.

When you have the 'caramel' dough, flatten it out on a stick free surface to about 1/2 inch thick.
Refrigerate to firm the caramel.

 I combined the dates with sunflower seeds.  Blend the Sunflower Seeds first and then add in the other caramel ingredients. 

I had better success pulsing the blender much of the time until a paste formed.

The original recipe calls for pine nuts, but I'm saving money using sunflower seeds but
I'm sure that these would be even better using Pine Nuts.

Raw Vegan Caramels with Chocolate Nut Butter Frosting

Caramels

1 Cup Raw Unsalted Sunflower Seeds (or Pine Nuts)

15 Pitted Medjool Dates

2 Tbs. Olive Oil (if using Pine Nuts, omit the oil)

2 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia

Pulse Sunflower Seeds until pulverized.  Add in the dates

and pulse until lumpy batter forms.  Add in other ingredients and

continue pulsing until smooth and lay out on a non stick surface.

Push batter down to form a large 1/4 inch thick rectangle.  Refrigerate for

30 minutes to firm up caramels before icing.  Cut into squares.  Store in a

sealed container.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

16 oz Jar of Natural Peanut Butter

1/4 Cup Palm Sugar or other sweetener

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbs. Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia

1 Tbs. Non Dairy Milk

Pinch of Sea Salt

Blend in a food processor until smooth.  Store in a sealed container

in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 2 months (they won't last that long but they could)

See the original recipe for other options and flavors. I think next time

I will make a smaller batch and use the Pine Nuts.

I'm also thinking that some coarse Sea Salt sprinkled in would be a great addition too!

Guilt free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free delicious little bites of sweet enjoyment!

Fantastic heathy recipe.  Thanks again Averie....

Enjoy!

Make sure you've entered to win in the NuNaturals giveaway!

Sugar Free Sunflower Seed Butter

This is the Sunflower Seed Butter mixed with a Mocha powder.  Lot's of variety options for this.

Blend the nuts, scraping down sides until
the smooth texture you want is made.
You can add in a variety of flavors to this
base or just enjoy the Sunflower flavor.

 

I'm storing the Sunflower Seed Butter in a canning jar.
Don't think that this one can be preserved by canning method but stores in the freezer well for at least 1 year.

This nut butter has so many variations:

Use Cashews, Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts or Brazil nuts instead of Sunflowers.

I used Sunflower Seeds today because I found 1 pound for just $2.50

so

it's definitely an economical option to store bought nut butters.

After I made up this first batch of Sunflower Seed Butter, I poured half in another container.

Then I stirred in 1 Tbs. of Cocoa Powder and 1 Tbs. of Caffix Coffee Substitute to

make a Mocha version of this dipping sauce. 

It can be flavored many different ways to suit your own tastes.  Vanilla, Raspberry, or mix in your favorite jam to create an even richer sauce.  It can be heated to pour over desserts as well.

This Sunflower Seed Butter makes a great gift too.  Make up a few batches, pour into jars and store them in the freezer for last minute gifts.  They will keep for at least a year if kept sealed and frozen.

Enjoy!

Brazil Nut Brittle w/ Sugar Free Options

Raw Sunflower Sesame Seed Crackers

These are slightly spicy but go well with a sweeter spread like peanut butter shown here or something cheesy or even meat.