I love chocolate. I blame my mom (sorry, mom). And the days when she or one of my sisters or I would make a pan of brownies and my family would inhale the entire pan in record time. I am blessed to have a mom who loves to bake and our home always smelled of homemade bread, cookies and brownies.
Now as a health coach and mom who works hard to feed my family nourishing foods that promote health, I still have absolutely no problem with a treat once in a while. But these days I try to choose my treats wisely. I try to choose treats that are delicious (never waste a treat on something mediocre!) and that completely satisfy my chocolate cravings or sweet tooth with healthful, real food ingredients and without harmful ingredients that sabotage our health like sugar, white flour, artificial flavors or colors, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, trans fats, processed oils and chemical preservatives.
These Salted Caramel Almond Clusters fit the bill perfectly.
My family all loves these salty sweet treats but lets be honest:
I make them for me.
Salted caramel, almonds and chocolate. Three of my favorite things all in one delicious little bite.
And the best part?
It’s all real food with just a very small amount of sugar in the chocolate chips. So you can enjoy them completely guilt free. As long as you don’t eat 10 or 12 at once. But I have to warn you they are pretty addicting so that is not out of the realm of possibility.
Almonds contain lots of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium and vitamin E. The health benefits of almonds include lower blood sugar levels, reduced blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels. You don’t need to fear the fat content of almonds, as they actually reduce hunger and promote weight loss.
Raw honey is a far healthier sweetener than processed white sugar. It doesn’t cause the same blood sugar spike or increase in insulin levels, and the glycemic effect is moderated even more when it’s paired with a healthy protein like in these little treats. According to Dr. Josh Axe, raw honey contains 22 amino acids, 27 minerals and 5,000 enzymes. Raw honey contains vitamins B6, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin. The bee pollen in raw honey helps improve immune function, fight infections and ward off seasonal allergies. Raw honey promotes antioxidant activity and a bit of raw honey at bedtime even improves sleep. You never want to heat raw honey as this destroys most of the health benefits.
Dr. William Sears and Dr. Josh Axe both list dark chocolate as one of the top 10 highest antioxidant foods. Dark chocolate has an ORAC Score (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) of 21,000, and Dr. Axe places it third on his list of highest antioxidant foods behind only Goji berries and wild blueberries. Hooray!! We can enjoy a small piece of dark chocolate or a few dark chocolate chips as a healthful treat every single day. Milk chocolate obviously has more sugar added and fewer health benefits, which means we need to eat it in moderation and as a once in a while treat.
If you love your chocolate like I do, its also important to choose the purest and best quality chocolate you can. I personally love Enjoy Life chocolate chips, chunks and baking chocolate. Enjoy Life products are free of gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts and fillers. Perfect for those of us with food allergies. But even if we suddenly didn’t have food allergies, this chocolate is so good I doubt I would ever be able to switch back to anything else!
Salted Caramel Almond Clusters
Ingredients
- 1/4 c raw honey
- 1/4 c almond butter (make sure you use pure 100% almond butter with no sugar or other added ingredients. I prefer the fresh ground almond butter available locally at Fresh Market or at many natural grocery stores. I also sometimes order Kirkland Almond Butter from Amazon)
- 1/2 tsp unprocessed sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 c whole almonds (I usually use roasted and salted almonds from Aldi in this recipe, if you use raw or unsalted Almonds I would increase the sea salt to 1 tsp.)
- 1/2 c Enjoy Life chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the honey, almond butter, sea salt and vanilla.
- Add almonds and stir until they are all coated.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using two spoons, drop spoonfuls of the caramel almond mixture into the parchment paper. I usually get about 36 clusters.
- Put your baking sheet in the freezer while you melt the chocolate for the topping.
- In a small saucepan over VERY low heat, slowly melt the chocolate chips until the chocolate is smooth and will spread easily. Stir often to prevent burning. If your heat is too high, your chocolate will become thick so its important to use very low heat and be patient. As soon as your chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat.
- Use a spoon to spread a bit of the melted chocolate onto each cluster.
- Return the baking sheet to the freezer for 1-2 hours to let the clusters harden. Store Salted Caramel Almond Clusters in the freezer until you are ready to enjoy, as they will get soft and gooey at room temperature.
- Try not to eat them all at once!
Notes
Sources:
draxe.com/the-many-health-benefits-of-raw-honey
https://authoritynutrition.com/9-proven-benefits-of-almonds/
Sears, W., & Sears, M. (2010). Prime-time health: A scientifically proven plan for feeling young and living longer. New York: Little, Brown and Co.
2 thoughts on “Salted Caramel Almond Clusters”
There is no candy bar out there that is better than these clusters. So good!
Thanks, Russ! I have to say I agree 🙂