Last week I shared my recipe for Grain-Free Shortbread Wedges, crumbly and buttery and just in time for the holidays. Now it is time to share how I morph that recipe into delectable shortbread bars that are delicious on their own, but go completely over the top when dipped in caramel and sprinkled with sea salt. They are perfect on their own, but really shine when paired with afternoon tea, or piping hot coffee or hot cocoa.
Shortbread is one of my favorite recipes to make. The ingredients are wholesome and simple, plus the finished bars are not too sweet. I find that I need less sweetness these days now that I eat real food on a regular basis. A small amount of good quality honey is all it takes to make these shortbread bars the perfect bite after a holiday meal. And since shortbread is traditionally lightly sweetened, these grain-free shortbread bars are perfect to pair with a touch of sweet caramel on occasion.
Grass-fed butter is rich in vitamin K2, which is responsible for proper absorption of vitamins A and D. I prefer using grass-fed butter in cookies and baked goods because the vitamin K2 is not broken down in the heating process. So when I eat my salty-sweet shortbread bar, I know that it is at least my best version of a homemade treat that won’t make me sick.
Grain-free Shortbread with Salted Caramel Glaze
almonds, cream, honey and sea salt
for the shortbread
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour (buy it here)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour (buy it here)
- 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt (buy it here)
- 1/4 cup honey (buy it here)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into small pieces (buy it here)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
for the salted caramel
- 1 cup heavy cream, not ultrapasteurized (find a source)
- 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt (buy it here)
- 1 cup honey (buy it here)
special equipment
to prepare the shortbread
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, and salt. Pour honey over the top. Add butter pieces and vanilla. With a pastry blender, or with your hands, combine ingredients until they form small crumbs. The dough should stick together if you pinch some in between two fingers. Lay out a long piece of parchment and dump the crumbly dough into the center.
- Between two pieces of parchment paper, roll the dough out into a long rectangle. Using the pizza cutter or a knife, cut the rectangle lengthwise in half, then cut across every 2 inches or so creating a pair of shortbread bars end to end with each cut. Using the small spatula, transfer the bars to a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately slide parchment to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before dipping into caramel.
to prepare the caramel
- Prepare a shallow pie plate by filling it halfway with cold water. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small saucepan, heat the cream and salt over a medium heat until bubbles start to form alongside the edges of the pan. Add the honey and stir until completely heated through.
- Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan, taking care that the thermometer not touch the bottom of the pan.
- Lower the heat to medium to keep the mixture at a slow simmer. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, cook the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes or until it reaches 255 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn off the heat.
- Carefully lower the saucepan into a bowl half-way full of cold water. Mix with a wooden spoon as the caramel cools and thickens. Tilt the saucepan to the side so that the caramel pools on one side. Dip completely cooled shortbread bars halfway into the caramel and then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt immediately.
- Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator to harden completely. Store in an airtight container.
Love it? This is a guest post by Kendahl of Our Nourishing Roots who generously contributed this recipe to Nourished Kitchen as a way to keep your appetites tantalized while I take my family on a mini-vacation to the hot springs. If you’d like to contribute a guest post to Nourished Kitchen, shoot me an email.
Dipping these cookies in caramel sounds delicious. I’ll have to try it next time I have some cream. These shortbread cookies are very similar to my grain-free almond snowball cookies.
Oh my goodness these look so decadent and delicious.
What a terrific presentation Jenny!
Hi Jenny,
I see the almond flour source states that it is made from blanched almonds but not soaked or sprouted. Would it be necessary to further soak the flour to remove the anti-nutrients before baking or is the blanching enough to remove the anti-nutrients?
Thanks.
Blanched almond flour does not need to be soaked. The bulk of antinutrients reside in the papery skin surrounding the almond. When an almond is blanched it is first soaked (though not as long as recommended in NT), the skin slipped off and the almond dried and then ground.
I don’t think blanched almonds are soaked. They are just boiled and slipped out of the skin.
Thanks for posting a shortbread recipe! I look forward to trying it.
Sounds/looks yumE. Unsure of the reason for step 2 under “to prepare the caramel” though (Preheat oven to 350 degrees.)
We have nut allergies…any suggestions for replacing the almond flour?
These look amazing…I want one!
Can you do sprouted whole grain flour? That would be my preference but for the fact that I am grain-free for now.
We use sorghum flour to make our gluten-free items. That would work for your nut free needs also.
I made your shortbread yesterday, so good! Wish I had seen this earlier, I’ll have to try it another time, I love salted caramel!
It’s just another excuse to make shortbread again, right?
I can’t find the print button anywhere. Help!?
Is this possible to make with ghee instead of butter(casein free)?
I don’t see why not. Go for it!
I’m not a fan of ultra pasteurized heavy cream, but it’s all I can find in my area. I’ve asked at the farmer’s market, I’ve driven randomly through back country roads, I’ve roamed to the end of the cyber space and back to not much avail. I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t live in a very raw milk friendly area, even the 2 people I’ve found that sell it barely want to talk about it, and I have to assume it’s out of fear. I’ve only been able to find raw goats milk thus far and I can’t get that until January. Will the ultra pasteurized work?
Yes, you can make caramel with super pasteurized cream. I made caramels often before ever coming to traditional foods. Work with what you have!
The butter link doesn’t work on the website. Would like to see what you recommend to buy. Thanks!
Thanks for this post, Jenny. Love your holiday recipes. The grain free ginger bread men were also fantastic. They have been our xc ski snacks for last two+ weeks straight! Filling and delicious!
We’ll be making this shortbread with coconut oil since our little one cant do casein (hopefully will grow out of it?). Hate for her to miss out on the wonders of caramel – has anyone tried using coconut cream to make something that’s similar to caramel? Thought I’d ask before risking wasting good ingredients. Thanks!!
That’s a great idea Dina, to use the coconut cream. I should try that the next time I make this recipe and I will let you know if it works.
Didn’t see the bottom note that said this was a guest post. Love this recipe, Kendahl, and thanks for replying. If I have anything valuable to share from my coconut cream caramel experience I’ll post it here.
Yes, please do! I am now very curious to hear how it turns out…
My boys can’t have any dairy at all. May I use coconut oil in the cookies?
Yes absolutely. I have heard some people have trouble with coconut oil in shortbread because it runs everywhere, but I can’t imagine why since butter melts too, and IT doesn’t run out when I make the cookies with butter, you know? Let me know if it works. I am assuming that it will work and be quite delicious
Thanks!
This looks great – I think I will make these tomorrow for my shortbread decorated cookies!
I just made these cookies this morning, and they are delicious! My daughter can’t have dairy, so I substituted coconut oil for the butter and it worked wonderfully! I’m so happy to have found these cookies. They are easy, inexpensive and are so yummy! Thank you!
i was going to try it w/coconut oil too.
and probably will try coconut cream and maple syrup for the caramel. i know from experience on these blogs that i’m in the minority.. but i don’t like to heat honey… i buy raw honey for it’s raw properties… so i don’t cook it. for the same reason, i don’t cook milk or cream either.
mine r in the oven right now!
Yay!
salted caramel (made with honey) is an absolute favorite. i think i need to mop up the drool pooling on my keyboard. merry christmas Jenny!
Rachel (Girl in An Apros), cute!!!
these cookies are YUMMY!!! and soooooooo easy!
has anyone successfully tried using coconut milk and maple syrup instead of cream and honey?
I just made these for dessert tonight and they turned out amazing! a huge hit! Thank you for sharing!
Great recipe! I had my 3 year old help me make them yesterday and it was fun and easy. I did find them to be really salty. Did anyone else have this problem? I used sea salt that I ground in my salt grinder so it was a coarse grind. It could have been my mistake as I was doing this with a little one but will reduce the salt by 1/3 or 1/2 next time. Thanks for all the great info on your site! I’ve been sipping my perpetual chicken broth all day
Jenny, I absolutely LOVE your website and your posts. Thank you so much for all you do to help us learn how to eat for life. I think this shortbread sounds amazing and I can’t wait to try it, however, I think I may be missing something. It seems you may be contradicting yourself, or I may just misunderstand, but you say these would be perfect on their own, but really shine when paired with afternoon tea, or piping hot coffee or hot cocoa. But didn’t you just say we shouldn’t drink coffee, tea or any caffeinated beverages?
This isn’t my post, actually. (Actually, neither this nor the coffee post were written by me. They’re both guest posts for Nourished Kitchen), and I don’t typically edit guest posts at all. Personally, I don’t recommend coffee or tea or *any* caffeinated beverages. We drink vanilla rooibos tea which does not have any caffeine.
As for chocolate – we avoid that, too. But that wasn’t always the case which is why you’ll still find a handful of chocolate recipes on the site.
I was the one who wrote those words you quoted, and I do drink decaf coffee and homemade hot cocoa (sparingly) with these cookies without too much trouble to my adrenal glands or digestion (I am on GAPS). Feel free to drink herbal teas or another warm mug of something lovely with these shortbread bars.
Oh boy. Salted caramel that doesn’t involve an ungodly amount of sugar or canned condensed milk. I’m in love. Can’t wait to make these!!
I would love to hear how these turned out with the coconut oil and milk replacements!
I tried the caramel recipe, substituting 1/3 cup coconut cream and 2/3 cup coconut milk for the heavy cream, and it has worked very well. Too well. I haven’t tried it with just coconut milk, but watching how it changed during the cooking process, if you cook it a little longer, I suspect it might also work out fine.