Tahini Millionaire Bars (DF)

I adapted these Dairy-free and gluten-free Millionaire Bars from Ambitious Kitchen’s Vegan and Paleo version for a friend of mine that can’t do dairy. I love having treats for us to share together, and these quickly became one of my favorite treats to make, they aren’t overly sweet, and the tahini adds a nice warmth to them. I used a long, rectangular tart pan for these, so if you wan to make a small square pan cut the recipe in half. The recipe is made in three steps, with cooling after each step. These are a great make-ahead treat, as letting them cool overnight in the fridge will firm them up even more.

Layers of goodness

And a peek of my finger

Dairy-Free Tahini Millionaire Bars
Time: 45min - 1hr
Yield: 18 bars

Shortbread Crust
2 cups fine almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup packed, light brown sugar
1/4 cup melted vegetable oil, cooled but not solid (coconut oil would work here, I just use Crisco because it’s neutral in flavor)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp binder (I use psyllium husk, but you can use guar gum or xantham gum, as well)

• place all of your ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Place the dough into a prepared tart pan. I place parchment paper on the bottom, use a little oil to help if stick if you need to. Then press your crust into place, put another piece of parchment on top and cover with pie weights. You can bake it without the pie weights, it will just be a little poofier and not as even on top. Bake at 350F for about 20min. Take out and let cool all the way.

Tahini Maple Caramel

1 cup tahini
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tbsp solid vegetable oil (as above, I used Crisco)
pinch of salt

• Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and boil for exactly one minute. Remove from the heat and pour into your cooled tart shell. Smooth it out evenly, and then cool again until completely cool (about 20min in the fridge should do it.)

Vegan Chocolate Ganache

1 cup Enjoy Life Vegan Chocolate chips*
2 tbsp solid vegetable oil (as above, Crisco)

• Using a double-boiler method, melt the chips and the vegetable oil until completely smooth. Pour onto your tahini caramel layer. Cool completely (I put mine outside for about 20min because it was very cold last night, but fridge should work too. Waiting overnight to cut them works really well, also.) Then slice and enjoy!

• For my double-boiler I use a metal or glass bowl placed on top of a pot with just a few inches of water in it. Bring that to a boil to heat the bottom of your bowl, but make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl, you just want the steam heat. Wear a glove to hold your bowl, it can get hot.

• *I find that these melt very well, I do not know how well other vegan chocolates melt, but if you have a favorite brand by all means use that. For people who aren’t dairy free, try to avoid making ganache out of chips, as chocolate chips have an additive in them to keep them from turning to blobs in chocolate chip cookies. If you can, find a baker’s chocolate. I’d suggest a semi-sweet for this, but if you like dark chocolate, bittersweet will work well.