“The universe is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to become sharper.”

— Eden Phillpotts

I am welcoming a new love into my life: tahini!

I believe that I only have ONE recipe on here with tahini in it?! How is that possible?! And it’s from almost 4 years ago!! What. The. Heck. Anyways! This tahini caramel is out of this world. Dare I say that I prefer this to just a regular old caramel? I just might…

This exciting mix of being dairy free, baking with whole ingredients that actually taste good, and doing it all with a 6-month-old while also having been unable to really go anywhere since he was born is truly quite an adventure! I can no longer gain inspiration for things by going places, so it’s been far too much screen time and imagination for me to really get ideas for baking, for life, etc., which I both love and then also sort of dislike. I am constantly making lists in my head about places I want our family to travel to once we actually can, telling Oliver how many incredible things we will do once it’s allowed and safe, how fun airplanes are (I also love airports…), all of the food he’s going to get to try! Even just making these lists and going over them with my baby, yes, I have full on adult conversations with him, excites me as I want to truly spoil him with travel and life experiences!

All of this being said, during one of my weekly as-fast-as-possible grocery trips, I picked up some tahini and welcomed it like a long-lost friend. Is it a super unique ingredient? Not so much. Is it an incredible flavor that Oliver will be trying on his foods soon? Absolutely!! He began to try foods with spices on them this week and, let me tell you, cinnamon roasted carrots were a (messy) hit! So, while I sit here every day, or while I’m chasing our quick little 6-month-old around the house, I think of all of the foods Oliver is going to try when we can get out of our few block radius, jump on a plane, get in the car and drive for a few hours, whatever we can do to up his culture. For now, it’s going to start at home, start with this simple jar of tahini!

Thank you for reading my daydream above while I completely just skip over the fact that there’s a recipe below! As we want Oliver to be as enthusiastic about life as possible, having it start with food should be no surprise! This little dude sat with me as I made these, which also means it is fast AF to throw this together!! The shortbread crust? Takes maybe 4 minutes. The caramel? 5 minutes. While that is all setting up and you melt the chocolate: 10-15 minutes. FAST. AF. Aside from the tahini, which is subtle but has a beautiful aftertaste I might add, the star of this is the chocolate. Heck yes, I am talking about the Almond Milk Taza Chocolate (heart eye emoji). IT’S DAIRY FREE YET TASTES LIKE FULL ON MILK CHOCOLATE. What?! How?! It’s incredible. Also with nothing but 6 common ingredients, so dang satisfactory!! I have no words except go get yourself some!

And there we have it. My daily thoughts for you with a quick recipe for some tahini caramel bars attached! Thank you for humoring me, now go scoop up your baby, your dog, yourself, and treat yo’self to some of these incredibly delicious and perfect and smooth bites of heaven!

shortbread ingredients

Almond Flour—9 oz, or 2 C

Salt—1 tsp

Honey—2 TBL

Coconut Oil—3.75 oz, or ½ C

process

In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt

Melt the honey and coconut oil together

Add this melted mixture to the dry ingredients

Mix until combined, should hold together when pressed

Press into an 8x8” pan, freeze while making the caramel

tahini caramel ingredients

Tahini—3 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL

Coconut Sugar—3 oz, or ½ C

Vanilla Extract—2 tsp

Oat Milk—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Cinnamon—½ tsp

process

In a small saucepot, combine the tahini, coconut sugar, vanilla, milk and cinnamon

Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes

Let cool slightly, and then pour on top of the shortbread

Put back in the freezer for the caramel to firm up

chocolate ingredients

Taza Almond Milk Chocolate—5 oz, or 2 bars

Coconut Oil—1 TBL

process

In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and coconut oil

Melt and mix until homogenous

Pour over the caramel layer, put in the fridge to set

Once set, remove from the pan/dish and cut into desired size and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

When it comes to Thanksgiving, lemon may not be something you instantly think of. There are always those pumpkin, apple, or pecan pies, which are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but why not something a little lighter? A little something something to refresh that palette after you eat 5 helpings of mashed potatoes and way too many servings of stuffing (if there is such a thing!)?

These lemon cranberry swirl bars, I believe, are the answer to all of your “I’m so stuffed, I can’t eat another bite of anything else” feelings. I always thought that my mom was silly for being absolutely in love with any dessert that involved lemon, I mean come on mom, no chocolate = no dessert. But these bars have changed the game completely.

Maybe you aren’t sold because you’re not really a lemon meringue pie type of person, or, you’re like me, who needs something super rich and way too decadent to even consider it a dessert. WELL MY FRIENDS, this has even me converted.

It could be the fact that the crust is like one big sugar cookie…

Oops…

But let’s look beyond that! There’s this amazingly tart, yet sweet, lemon curd that has these mesmerizing cranberry swirls all over it. How can you not just love that? While lemon may be a far-fetched flavor during November and December, cranberry is certainly going to making its appearance more than once.

So, there you go my lemon lovers and soon-to-be, a dessert that is equally refreshing as it is vibrant in all sorts of intense flavors. Plus there's the added fun of making the cranberry swirl in any design, I could do that for hours. I guess my mom will start needing to share her part of the dessert table this year!

crust ingredients

Butter—14 oz, or 3 sticks + 4 TBL

Sugar—7 oz or 1C – 1 TBL

Eggs—1

Yolks—2

Salt—½ tsp

Flour—20 oz, or 4 C

crust process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

Once light and fluffy, add in your egg and yolks.

When combined, add in the flour and salt.

Mix until your dough is formed, refrigerate to chill and until ready to use.

When you are ready to prebake the crust, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

On a floured work surface, knead the dough so that it becomes more pliable and easier to roll.

Roll out your crust into a rectangle that is about ¼” thick and is about an inch bigger than the size pan that you’ll be using. I use a 9” x 13” pan, therefore rolling my dough into a 10” x 14” rectangle.

Take your crust and press it into your pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Poke holes in it with a fork, this works as a vent, therefore no big air bubbles will come up in your crust while it is baking.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, just until the crust begins to become slightly brown.

Let it cool until you’re ready to use for the filling.