Take your low carb magic cookie bars to the next level with sugar-free salted caramel sauce. This might be your ultimate holiday cookie recipe!
When it comes to food and recipes, there really is no end to the inspiration to be found. Almost everywhere I look, I see something that inspires me to get into the kitchen and create something delicious. Mind you, I do spend an inordinate amount of time looking at food, so that might account for it. It’s hard not to be inspired when you are staring directly at the source of inspiration for the better part of every day. I always hunting it out, be it on the internet, in a book or magazine, in a grocery store or in my own pantry. And thankfully, food inspiration is willing prey and let’s me catch it quite frequently. So frequently, in fact, that I can’t keep up and find that I have more ideas for recipes than I have time for. It would take me several lifetimes to complete all the recipe ideas I have. First world problems, I suppose.
Apparently many people have inspirations on my behalf too. Readers send me ideas for low carb recipes, often a high carb favorite they’d like to see made over into something more fitting for their way of life. And sometimes I inspire them as well, getting them into their kitchen to try their hand at adapting one of my recipes to suit their needs. It’s most certainly a mutual inspiration situation!
This recipe was inspired by Esther, a lovely reader who has been wonderfully supportive over the past few years. She loves my recipes and I think she may have tried a large majority of them. She is dairy-free, so she has to adapt my recipes to suit her needs. I suppose in that regard, you could say I inspire her to create her own recipes. But this time, she inspired me with an offhand comment on Facebook. The minute she mentioned it, I knew I had to try using my low carb caramel sauce in a magic cookie bar recipe.
My whole family thanks you for the inspiration, Esther! These were beyond delicious.
Salted Caramel Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ¾ cups almond meal or any nut meal or flour I used Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Flour|
- ¼ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- ¼ cup butter melted
Topping:
- 1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- ¾ cup sugar-free chocolate chips such as Lily's
- 1 recipe Low Carb Salted Caramel Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- In a 9x13 baking pan, whisk together the nut meal, sweetener, coconut flour and butter until well-combined. Press firmly into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake crust 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown around the edges.
- Remove and let cool at least 15 minutes to firm up.
- Sprinkle crust with flaked coconut, chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Pour caramel sauce evenly over everything.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until bubbly and browning around the edges.
- Remove and let cool, then cut into bars.
Notes
Saturated fatty acids: 10.85g
Total fat: 21.46g
Calories from fat: 193
Cholesterol: 16mg
Carbohydrate: 8.15g
Total dietary fiber: 3.97g
Protein: 4.01g
Sodium: 112mg
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Amber says
I started crying when these turned out so poorly. I’ve never had an issue with your recipes, and you’re absolutely my go-to when I want a never-fails recipe. So I was just dumbstruck when these were such a disaster. 😭 I followed your recipe exactly and sprinkled everything over the cookie crust in the order given. However, the toppings layer with the caramel didn’t adhere to the cookie crust and I ended up with shortbread cookies and a completely separate caramel candy “bar” sitting on top. They taste great, but certainly a mess to eat, and a disappointing presentation.
Nikki says
These reminded me of a bar my mom used for Christmas when I was a teenager. There were multiple kinds of chips in them, so this is what I used for the topping. It was so yummy!
1/2 c coconut flakes
1/2 c pecans
1/3 c milk chocolate chips
1/4 c white chocolate chips
1/4 c butterscotch chips
All chips are Lily’s baking chips
Diana Koen says
Carolyn, whenever I want or need a new idea or healthy recipe for a meal or dessert, I go to your site and it never disappoints!
Thank you for this easy, delicious and perfectly doable recipe for Salted Caramel Magic Cookie Bars. Mr. Muncher and my grandson munchers were happy to each have a mouthful before I stashed them in my secret pantry! The recipe worked perfectly without making any changes (except I did add a few white chocolate chips). The caramel sauce was the perfect amount and the star of the toppings.
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Eden says
So, I know this was in 2014 but you said Esther was a reader who made most of your recipes and made them dairy-free. I need to talk to Esther! How would she make one of your cheesecakes dairy-free? How would she make your chocolate chip cream cheese bars dairy-free? I have made several of your recipes but am also dairy-free so I am skipping over half of them. I would love insight especially when it comes to cream cheese in a recipe.
Thanks for your excellent recipes. I love seeing each new recipe you come up with. So creative.
Carolyn says
Have you tried Kite Hill Cream cheese?
Eden says
I have tried it. I keep looking at your Death by Chocolate Cheesecake wondering if I could make it dairy-free. I might just have to bite the bullet. Thanks for your feedback.
Carolyn says
It will be pricy but I find it works well for baking in cheesecakes. There’s definitely a bit of an aftertaste but that might be masked by the chocolate.
Renecha says
Caramel sauce turned out so delicious. I’m so excited to make these bars! Has anyone made these with toasted coconut flakes? It’s all I have on hand.
Carolyn says
Those would work!
Renecha says
Thank you, Carolyn! I ended up using both the toasted and the regular coconut and both were delicious. I think I enjoyed the toasted slightly more. The only issue I had was that because I layered the coconut after the crust, the top layer kept separating from the coconut/crust. I’m not complaining, though because it was still one of the most magical low carb desserts I’ve had. Next time I plan to mix the toppings with the caramel to hopefully glue everything together.
I’m fairly new to low carb and have been enjoying your recipes! You have truly mastered the art of balancing healthy ingredients and indulgent flavors. I’ve shared several of your recipes with a FB Keto Club. Thank you for sharing!!
Jane says
Carolyn,
I just put a batch of these in the oven. The caramel sauce is the best thing I’ve ever tasted, low car or otherwise! It is a thing of beauty.
It’s been a year since I went low carb to fight my diabetes and your website is a beacon of light in a meat and veggie world. Thank you for all your efforts and expertise, I am a better low carb baker than I was a high carb baker and it is all thanks to you.
Jane from Ottawa.