Caramel Cranberry Apple Pie Bars

Good Morning all.  These bars are so wonderful that the post had to be made immediately!  Yes they ARE THAT good.  I found this recipe yesterday on Vanessa's page: Clean Eating With a Dirty Mind (when I was puttering around, flipping through the facebook newsfeed.  Thank you facebook for driving me towards amazing recipes, even if they were a little daunting looking, especially for a early morning making session.  

I wanted to bring a treat in to the office, and what better way than to share wonderful treats, freshly baked!?  If you can think of a better way, then keep it to yourself... or just do it and surprise everyone.  As you know by now, I love to bake.  It's simply one of the best things ever.  And this morning I couldn't sleep, so up out of the bed I arose and into the kitchen for a therapy baking session.

One of the biggest things I learned this morning, do NOT be afraid of making the caramel.  It's super simple and makes the house smell A-Mazing!  Yes, every kitchen should smell like this ALL the time!!  What a way to wake up.  With that said, make the caramel topping first and get your bake-on.

Caramel Topping
Ingredients:

1/2 cup grass-fed butter (or ghee)
1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup canned coconut milk, full fat (room temp.)
3 cage-fee egg yolks (Save one of the egg whites for later)
few pinches of sea salt

Directions:

1. Over low heat melt the grass-fed butter in a medium saucepan. Then add the coconut palm sugar and combine with the melted butter using a whisk. Now add the coconut milk and whisk until combined.
2. Stir in the egg yolks one at a time with the whisk. Then stir in a few pinches of salt. Let the mixture sit over low heat for about 5 minutes, use a whisk to stir the mixture intermittently.
3. Now turn up the heat to medium high until the caramel mixture starts to boil. Whisk then let boil for a few minutes. Remove from heat, stir and allow to cool. At this point it should be the consistency of a thick soup and taste incredible. Go ahead, lick the whisk, I won’t tell.
4. Set aside 1/2 a cup of caramel to drizzle on top of your Paleo Apple Pie bars.

Cranberry Apple Pie Bars
*Makes 16  nice square bars

Ingredients:
1 cup thinly sliced apples, peeled and cored (2 apples)

1 cup of rinsed cranberries (fresh if possible, but frozen work too)1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (sifted)
3/4 cups coconut flour
2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold grass-fed butter (or ghee)
3 cage-free eggs
1/4 cup canned coconut milk, full fat (room temp.)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg white (reserved from the caramel sauce)
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Then grease an 8×8 glass pan. Peel, core and cut your apples into thin slices (I did this while the caramel was simmering).
2. After you have set aside 1/2 cup of caramel, take a medium sized bowl and mix the sliced apples and cranberries into the remaining caramel and set aside.
3. In a large bowl use a fork to mix together your dry ingredients, almond flour, coconut flour, coconut palm sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Now cut your cold butter into small squares and mix into the dry ingredients using a hand mixer until crumbles start to form. Then set aside.
4. In a small bowl combine the 3 eggs, coconut milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Make a crater in the center of the dry mix and pour the egg mixture into the center. Stir the dry mix into the wet until combined.  I used a rubber spatula to make sure all ingredients were incorporated, you'll have a nice dough ball. Divide the dough in half and separate it into two sections. Take one half and press evenly into the bottom of your greased 8×8 glass pan.
5. Spread the caramel soaked apples and cranberries evenly over the pressed dough at the bottom of the pan. Take the other half of the dough and pat evenly over the sliced apples until completely covered. I did this in small batches, making sure that it covers all the apples.   
6. Using a small bowl or cup make an egg wash using the reserved egg white and tablespoon of water, use a basting brush to brush the egg wash on top of the dough. 
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and you hear the apples sizzling.
8. Let cool and then slice into squares. Drizzle the 1/2 cup of remaining caramel over the top, you may need to warm this up so it will drizzle nicely.
9. Enjoy.
   

Notes:
For the apples I used 2 average apples, but the original recipe calls for a variety of apples.  Since I had only 2 and they HAD to be used immediately, I subbed in a single cup of cranberries.  Feel free to try the original recipe with all apples, I bet it's wonderful.