PECAN TOFFEE BARS

These low-carb treats are a favorite with the Genesis Health Solutions team! They have a shortbread crust texture with a crunchy pecan toffee topping. The toasted pecans with the sweet maple flavor are amazing. This recipe is adapted from alldayidreamaboutfood. They will make a wonderful low-carb addition to your holiday dessert table. You can change the extract flavoring to suit your tastes, too. Vanilla extract is more traditional and very good, while the maple extract creates a richer flavor. These are a perfect maintenance recipe, as well. Of course, they don’t plug into your GHS daily checklist, because…. well, it’s a holiday!

Plan: (Maintenance)

Print Recipe

Serving information: Makes 8-10 bars.

INGREDIENTS

Crust

1-1/4 cups almond flour
1/4 cup Swerve Confectioners
1/4 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1/4 cup Kerry Gold Butter, chilled and diced into pieces

Topping

3/4 cup Swerve Granular
1/2 cup Kerry Gold Butter
1/2 tsp vanilla or maple extract
Pinch of Himalayan sea salt
2 Tbsp Swerve Confectioners (if needed)
3 cups pecans (1-1/2 cup whole-1-1/2 cup chopped)

INSTRUCTIONS

Crust

Preheat oven to 325⁰F. In a food processor bowl, combine almond flour, Swerve and salt. Pulse a couple of times to mix well. Sprinkle with the diced butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can also cut the butter in with a fork or pastry cutter.)
Press into the bottom of an 8×8 inch square baking or foil pan. Bake 12-15 minutes, until just beginning to brown on the edges. Remove and let cool while preparing topping.

Topping

In a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine Swerve and butter, stirring until Swerve is dissolved. Bring to a boil (may need to reduce to low heat) and cook without stirring until mixture darkens to amber – about 5-7 minutes (depending on your cookware).
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla or maple extract and salt. If the mixture appears to be separating, stir in 2 Tbsp of Swerve confectioners until it comes back together.
Sprinkle crust evenly with pecans. Pour toffee mixture evenly in a small stream over the crust and pecans. Bake another 15-20 minutes, until topping has darkened and bubbles thickly. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.