Caramel Butternut Bars
For mother’s day, I decided to bake my mom something! I combined a few recipes together: the butterscotch bar is from family circle magazine, and I just veganized it. The base caramel recipe is from the Glad Cow Cookbook/dog hill kitchen, and I modified it to my liking. If you want to make extra caramel to ensure you have enough, the leftovers make awesome caramel candies.
Caramel Butternut Bars
for the bars
- 1/2c Earth Balance (melted)
- 1 3/4c packed light brown sugar
- Substitute for 2 eggs (I used Ener-g)
- 2c Self Rising Flour
- 1 teaspoon butter rum extract
- 1c chopped pecans
preheat oven to 350 F. combine all ingredients together in a mixer (note: when using ener-g egg replacer, I always use warm water, and wisk with a fork until frothy). smoosh batter into a 13 x 9 pan (or use an 8×8 for thicker bars), and bake for 25 minutes. While the bars are baking, prepare your caramel topping.
for the caramel
- 1/2c Earth Balance
- 1/2c white sugar
- 1/2c light brown sugar
- 1c soy creamer, or soy milk
- 1/2c light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
combine all ingredients, except vanilla in a medium sized sauce pan, and bring to a boil. cook over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes until sugar mixture reaches 248 F (243-5 F for softer caramel). Make sure the sugar mixture doesnt boil up too high; if it does, reduce the heat. Once at 248 F: Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, let sit for about a minute until mixture thickens a bit (The longer your caramel cools, the more it will firm up, so time it right to where your bars come out of the oven about 10 minutes before your caramel is done), and pour over butterscotch bars. use a spatchula or spoon to spread caramel evenly over the surface of the bars. sprinkle with chopped pecans, and allow to cool for a few hours, or overnight. cut and serve!
Mandee Said,
May 9, 2009 @ 4:26 am
They look amazing, especially the caramel layer!
celine Said,
May 9, 2009 @ 7:07 am
looks delicious!
Kala Said,
May 9, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
Oh yum, those look amazing!
Melisser Said,
May 9, 2009 @ 3:43 pm
Ooh, girl! I need to make these, but with different nuts on top, maybe cashews?!
samantha Said,
May 13, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
This looks gorgeous! I would love to make this,I was hoping someone could tell me what Earth Balance is as I’ve never heard of it(I’m in the UK) perhaps it’s something simple that just goes under a different brand name here?
Sina Said,
May 14, 2009 @ 5:38 am
Caramel … that’s enough to make me drool already but topping it with nuts makes the bars even more irresistible!
Samantha: Earth Balance is a vegan margarine.
samantha Said,
May 14, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
Thanks Sina!
Thanks to you my daughter will have one of these in her lunch box.
jennifer Said,
May 18, 2009 @ 11:42 am
your recipes look wonderful! especially these :) keep em coming!
Nicole Said,
June 16, 2009 @ 4:56 pm
These look absolutely incredible! I’m going to make these tomorrow, I think!
leslie Said,
June 17, 2009 @ 10:19 am
this is my first time on your blog! very nice! these caramel bars look absolutely amazing!
Tessa Said,
July 17, 2009 @ 10:17 am
I made these bars last week. They were delicious! Thank you for posting the recipe. I really enjoyed making and eating them…I’m going to post about them on my blog in the next few days if you’re interested in seeing how they turned out. Mine definitely weren’t as pretty as yours but they tasted great!
christie lee Said,
September 14, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
When I made these, the cookie base was a little too hard, and not sweet enough. Any suggestions?
xo
kristen Said,
September 14, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
christie lee- the hardness might have something to do with your oven temperature. you might want to get an oven thermometer just incase! my oven is off by a whole 50 degrees F! If it’s still an issue, maybe try more earth balance, or adding a bit of liquid, like soy milk?
you can always up the brown sugar, too, for a sweeter bar. :) let me know if you need more help!
Weekend Carnivore Said,
September 18, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
Holy Cow! I have to just pretend I never even saw these or I will have to spend another week in the gym to be allowed just the one.
christie lee Said,
October 11, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
that sounds good… I know for a fact that my oven temp is off- I bake and cook amazingly, but since I have moved into this apartment, I have messed up so many things!
xo
Sina Said,
November 10, 2009 @ 9:35 am
Wow, I made these recently, omitting the pecans and spreading a layer of chocolate on top instead and they were really good! Even the picky omnis liked them - but who doesn’t like caramel + chocolate anyways?
Katie Said,
December 6, 2009 @ 10:02 am
I’m thinking of using this caramel layer to make a vegan version of Turtles (pecans, caramel and chocolate). Do you think it would work if the corn syrup was replaced with brown rice syrup?
kristen Said,
December 6, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
Katie- while I haven’t tried it yet, brown rice syrup would most likely be a great substitute for corn syrup. I’ve seen caramel recipes that call for BR syrup before. I’ve been meaning to try this, because… let’s face it, corn syrup is gross. Let me know how it goes!
Elisa Said,
February 17, 2010 @ 9:42 pm
I made this recipe and while it was very good, the caramel never set up and hardened, it remained liquidy. I didn’t use a candy thermometer but I cooked it for a while, and let it bubble for about 10-15 minutes. :(
kristen Said,
February 18, 2010 @ 7:04 pm
Elisa- a candy thermometer is essential to making this caramel. the corn syrup must reach a certain temperature to eventually end up firm. I had to cook mine for a 30-45 minutes the first time I made it, and the temperature window between the different “stages” of candy (hard ball, soft ball, etc) is really small. if you don’t have a thermometer, it’s very easy to mess this up.
sorry for your troubles! better luck next time.
Patty Said,
May 3, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
These are brilliant! And what a super-sweet treat for Mom. Way to veganize a creamy caramel - you’ve got skills. Thanks for sharing. :)
Patty Said,
May 3, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
…and your logo ROCKS.
kristen Said,
May 3, 2010 @ 4:14 pm
thanks, Patty! I wish I could take credit for being the food scientist behind the caramel, but the base recipe actually came from Dog Hill Kitchen (as I credited). :) I just edited slightly it to my liking.