I like chocolate – in moderation. I’ve sort of chocolate-d myself out lately, so I needed a break from it. I decided to focus on caramel this week instead.
These salted caramel cashew bars were inspired by an ice cream sundae.
I found myself ordering the sundae, eating the caramel and cashews, and then just picking at the ice cream. So, I decided to try to recreate the dessert minus the ice cream.
Now, it may sound like these bars would be too salty (salted butter, salted cashews, pinch of salt on top), but they need the salt to balance out all of the sugar in these guys.
Otherwise, the bars would taste really sweet and sort of flatly boring.
The salt keeps interesting. Mini science digression – salt allows you to more fully taste sugar, so it tastes better with a bit of salt.
The day that we talked about baking and taste in chemistry was the day that chemistry finally started to be interesting for me.
While we’re talking about salt, please don’t use regular table salt on top of these bars.
It has smaller grains and is saltier than a finishing salt like fleur de sel, so they may end up too salty if you use iodized (table) salt.
More salted caramel recipes!
Salted Caramel Cashew Bars
Ingredients
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Shortbread Crust
- 1/2 cup . salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Everything Else
- 2 cups unsalted cashews
- Pinch of fleur de sel optional
Instructions
- To make the caramel, add butter, brown sugar, and heavy cream to a heavy saucepan.
- Whisking regularly, bring to a boil.
- Boil for 5 minutes, whisking regularly.
- Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract.
- Let sauce cool while you make the crust.
- Preheat oven to 300 F. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until well-combined.
- Stir in flour until just incorporated.
- Press crust evenly into prepared pan.*
- Prick the crust with a fork all over the base.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and middle is light golden brown.
- Remove crust from oven, and let cool in the pan to room temperature.
- Sprinkle cashews over crust.
- Pour 2 cups caramel evenly over cashews and crust, and sprinkle with fleur de sel, if using.
- Place bars in fridge, uncovered, and chill until set.
- Cover, and chill remaining caramel.
Notes
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
akkiernan says
Oh, My. These look great and i am making them ASAP. That whole salty sweet thing…LOVE!
Anne @ circusberry.wordpress.com
kateheartseating says
Me too!! Sweet and salty is the best! I hope you enjoy these bars!! =)
April @ Angel's Homestead says
I love that this uses cashews instead of peanuts, my husband’s favorite nut. Thank you so much for sharing with Saturday Spotlight. Have a great week and come back soon!
kateheartseating says
They’re my husband’s favorite nut, too!! =) I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for hosting, and have a great night!
nicolem says
This looks like something my boyfriend would LOVE (he’s a freak who actually doesn’t like chocolate, but loves caramel and everything cashew). I just wanted to ask, for the salted caramel sauce, how much does the linked recipe yield? Does a batch of it give you pretty much the 2c needed for the bars or is there extra? Thanks :)
kateheartseating says
That’s awesome! I hope you two both enjoy these!! =) I had extra; it makes just over 3 cups. I just put the extra in a jar in the fridge and heated it up as needed. We ate it pretty quickly, so I’m not sure how long the extra sauce will keep, though.
Lori @ A Bright and Beautiful Life says
These look like a winner. I’m going to make them for my hubby who doesn’t like chocolate ~ go figure. But we both love nuts and caramel so we’ll be able to down these, no problem. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
kateheartseating says
Thanks! I love caramel as an alternative to chocolate desserts. I hope you two enjoy these bars!! =)
Shannon {Cozy Country Living} says
Wow!! These look so good! My husband would love these! Thanks for sharing:)
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! I hope you two enjoy them!! =)
ntcreations says
ummm yep… those look awesome!!! Thanks for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays @ Nap-Time Creations. So glad you stopped by! Emily
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! Thanks so much for hosting =)
Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen says
I don’t think I could ever chocolate myself out but I sure would love some of these!
kateheartseating says
Haha! I had really (really!!) overdone it. I hope you enjoy them!! =)
Shiloh Barkley says
these look fantastic! found you through trick or treat tuesday!
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! And thanks for stopping by! =)
Angela says
OHHHH YUM!!!! This sounds amazing!!! Found you through Jam Hands Link Up Party! Looking forward to following along! Would love for you to check out my site… https://lemoinefamilykitchen.blogspot.com
Angela
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! =) I will pop over and say hi at your site, too!
sweetnothingsbj says
Over from Flour Me….
these look so good…am bookmarking.
Would follow but don’t see a Google Friends link.
kateheartseating says
Thanks! I will have to look into Google Friends and get on there! I’m on Hello Cotton, Blog Lovin’, Google+, FB, Pinterest, and have a RSS feed if you would like to follow my blog.
Simplee Sue says
My favorite nut and I love gooey. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I never made this kind of recipe before. There’s alway a first.
We may have met by chance…but we become friends by choice.
https://simpleesue.com/frivolous-friday-soup-kitchen-recipes-best-ever-vegetable-soup
kateheartseating says
These bars are sort of like a big candy bar. Hope you enjoy them!! =)
yagottahave says
Two of my favorite things together–salted caramel and cashews! I have to try them! They look sooooo good.
kateheartseating says
Thanks!!! I hope you enjoy them!! =)
Vicky from Mess For Less says
Yum! Cashews and caramel! Two of my favorite things. How can this not be good? Visiting from a pinteresting party. Just pinned!
Christi says
Oh my goodness, these look SO good! Thanks for sharing!
kateheartseating says
Thank you!! =)
Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later! says
I LOVE cashews & these look absolutely delicious! Would love for you to come share this & any other recipes over at Sweet & Savory Saturdays! https://dessertnowdinnerlater.blogspot.com/2013/02/sweet-savory-saturdays-1.html
Hope to see you there!
~Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later!
kateheartseating says
Thanks! I would love to come by and share this!! =)
Christy says
These look amazing! I’ve pinned them to try later. I’m visiting from Too Much Time on my Hands.
kateheartseating says
Thanks so much!! I hope you enjoy them! =)
Brenda @ChattingOverChocolate.blogspot.com says
Y U M ! :)
Homegrown & Healthy (@grownandhealthy) says
These are not the kind of recipes that I want to read in the middle of the night. It looks so good! I think I’ll pick up some cashews in the morning ;)
kateheartseating says
Haha! I thought you were going in a different direction when I started reading your comment. They were pretty delicious – a lot like a big, caramel/cashew candy bar. =)
Shauna {The Best Blog Recipes} says
Wow, my husband would LOVE these! So glad you posted this…. now I can make him a special treat and he’ll think I’m a wonderful wife. Well, he already does but I will be even more awesome in his eyes :)
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! I hope you both enjoy them! They earned me a few awesome wife point, too!! =)
MaryB says
These sound delicious! I will be making them next week. I’ve made salted peanut bars before and while they were good, none were just right. Some were too sticky and some were too cakey. I love shortbread and love cashews – this combo sounds just perfect with the saltiness. Knowing me, I will also try them with my absolute favorite nut – almonds. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! These have a lot of caramel on them, so if you don’t like them to be too sticky, you may want to cut the caramel back by 1/4 or 1/2 cup. Using almonds would be a great idea, too! I hope you like them!!! =)