For those of us who love to bake (and eat our baking, like me), do you ever get that craving for something? Yeah, me too. I don’t know why but this particular night I had a craving for those cafe style Pecan Pie bars that are oh so sweet and nutty. Trouble was, I only had a handful of pecans and was missing a couple other ingredients. I looked at what I did have and I had heaps of cashews. That’ll do. That’s how these Honey Caramel Cashew Bars came about.

Even though I limit my grocery shopping to $150 per fortnight, when I’ve got a bit leftover, I like to buy a few less common ingredients like nuts, just in case I get the urge for something baked, adding to a stir fry or adding a crunch to a salad. Cashews are my favourite but then again I do love most varieties of nuts. No need to really chop them up. Just a bit of a rough chop will do. I also found that this recipe all came together by prepping everything in the microwave and then finished off baking in the oven. It was really quick to put together.

I baked a base which was a lovely buttery, shortbread type base but you could just use biscuit crumbs with added melted butter.

Next make the honey caramel filling. I did this all in the microwave. I could’ve used maple or golden syrup but I thought the honey would go well with the cashews, which it did.

Add the chopped cashews to the caramel mix.

Then pour onto the partially baked shortbread crust.

Bake until golden brown and bubbly on top. You’ll need to let it cool down completely before eating. It will solidify upon cooling.

The caramel oozes down into the base and then solidifies with the cashews. It truly is delicious, although very sweet. It definitely curbed my craving. You could use pecans or any kind of nuts. I can’t wait to try it with macadamia nuts, walnuts, peanuts or, eventually I hope, pecans. 

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Honey Caramel Cashew Bars

A smooth honey caramel smothering cashews on a buttery shortbread base.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 18

Author Anne

Ingredients

Shortbread base

• 250 gm butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2.2/3 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Honey Caramel topping

• 100 gm butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 cups cashews roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C and prepare a 20x25cm slice pan with baking paper.
2. In a microwave proof bowl, melt butter.
3. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved.
4. Mix in flour and salt.
5. Press into slice pan and bake until just pale.
6. For the topping, melt butter in a microwave proof bowl.
7. Mix in brown sugar until dissolved.
8. Stir through honey and cashews.
9. Pour onto shortbread base and bake until golden and bubbly (approx 20 mins).
10. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Recipe Notes

Other nuts can be substituted, eg macadamias, walnuts, pecans, peanuts.
Honey can be substituted with maple or golden syrup.
Drizzle with melted chocolate once cooled.

Adapted from Pecan Pie Bars by Just a Taste