The Great Recipe Exchange: Caramel Almond Dream Bars & Toblerone Shortbread

Caramel Almond Dream Bars

A few weeks ago @maggiesavage sent me a message asking me if we'd like to do a recipe exchange and then blog about our results. I thought about it for about 2 seconds and said "sure!". Then I found out that Maggie cooks and bakes gluten free and vegan on her blog She let them eat Cake! What I know about vegan and gluten-free baking could fit in a shot glass, but I like a challenge. Maggie suggested that I would re-glutenize her recipe and she would de-glutenize mine. Easy enough right?

I had no idea what some of her ingredients were! After asking Maggie a bunch of questions and hitting Google pretty hard I figured out what all the ingredients did in the recipe and proceeded to replace them with their gluten-laden counterparts.

What I got was a wonderful, delicate shortbread topped with ooey gooey caramel and toasted almonds. Deeee-lish!

Caramel Almond Dream Bars original recipe by Maggie Savage

For the base:
1 c. butter, softened
½ c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
2/3 c. ground almonds
¼ tsp sea salt
½ tsp cinnamon

For the Caramel:
¾ c. milk
¾ c. sugar
1/3 c. clear corn syrup
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp butter

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 335˚F and grease an 8x8 pan.
2. Toast the sliced almonds on a cookie sheet.
3. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until whipped. Add the vanilla and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, ground almonds, sea salt, and cinnamon until combined.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
6. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until edges start to get golden brown.
7. While your base is baking, prepare your caramel.
8. Place milk, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and whisk to combine.
9. Cook on medium heat, whisking regularly, for 3 minutes.
10. In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch into the hot water water and add to the saucepan.
11. Cook this mixture until it thickens (stirring constantly) for approximately 20 minutes. You want your caramel to be a little bit runny.
12. Remove from heat and add butter.
13. Pour slightly cooled caramel on top of your base.
14. Sprinkle with toasted almonds.




I sent Maggie my Toblerone Shortbread recipe. I will be posting the original recipe below and Maggie will be posting her gluten-free version on her blog, be sure to head on over and check out what she came up with!

This shortbread is light and buttery with chunks of my favourite holiday treat, Toblerone bar, running through it. What's not to love?

Tolerone Shortbread

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Toberlone Shortbread original version

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. icing (powdered) sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. coarsely chopped Toblerone bar

1. Preheat oven to 300˚F.
2. In a medium sized bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth.
3. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add vanilla and salt until combined.
5. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour just until mixed.
6. Stir in 1/4 c. of the chopped Toblerone.
7. Scrape dough into an ungreased 8"x8" pan.
8. Lightly flour your fingers and pat mixture to an even thickness.
9. Using a fork, lightly prick dough every inch.
10. Bake in lower third of the oven until edges are deep golden and centre is lightly golden, 30-40 minutes.
11. Using a serrated knife, cut into fingers, squares or diamonds.
12. Melt the remaining Toblerone and dip 1/2 of each cookie into the melted chocolate and place on a rack to cool.
13. Store in an airtight container, in a cool place or the refrigerator, for up to 2 weeks.

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Enjoy,

Amanda