Homemade Healthy Toffee Bars Recipe- Paleo, Raw Vegan, GAPS Legal, Grain Free, Gluten Free

Growing up, my mom would make these really yummy treats- cookie on the bottom, chocolate on the top, which she'd call toffee bars. I never really understood why those were called toffee bars- isn't toffee like caramel? But either way, they were a great treat that I looked forward to having.

The other day I was heading out to a special party in honor of the birth of my sister Violet's baby, and I know that because I am currently on such a strict diet, I couldn't expect there to be anything there that I could eat, let alone a treat, so I decided to pack along Paleo Reset legal foods, including a small treat- mainly cashews, with a little bit of dates to hold it together, and carob powder for flavor. It was so good that I decided to make it again for my family, this time measuring out exact amounts.
My family absolutely loved it, despite it having only 9 dates for the entire batch, so not exactly very sweet.
I made this with carob powder since cocoa powder isn't allowed on my current diet, but feel free to use cocoa powder in place of the carob powder. I would have made them with my own homemade carob powder from foraged carobs, but I'm currently out and the carobs aren't all the way ripe yet.

I had a hard time figuring out what to name this, but then I realized that it is most similar to my mom's toffee bars- only healthy, paleo, and vegan. So there it is.

Homemade HealthyToffee Bars Recipe- Paleo, Raw Vegan, GAPS Legal, Grain Free, Gluten Free

Ingredients:
Bottom layer
1 1/2 cup cashews
6 large dates
Top layer
1/4 cup carob powder
3 dates
1/2 cup walnuts

Instructions:
1. Grind your cashews in a coffee grinder or food processor until pretty fine.

2. Break up your dates into small-ish pieces, and grind them together with your cashews, so the cashews get ground further, and this time get mixed with ground dates. I used a coffee grinder, and put in a date and a half with each 1/3 cup cashews, or so, which was the perfect ratio for grinding it up. If your dates are smaller and you are seeing that 6 dates are not enough to hold your cashews together, add another one or two, as needed.

3. When you finished grinding the dates and cashews, it should be sticky enough to hold together, but not sticky enough to get your hands dirty. Mix it up well.

4. Roll out the cashew and date mixture between two pieces of parchment paper until it is the thickness that you like. I don't think you need to have a lot of this at once to enjoy your treat, so I rolled it thinly so you can get as many out of it as possible.

5. Now for the top, chocolate layer (I'm calling it chocolate, but it really is carob, just clarifying)- grind up your walnuts, and then grind it together with the carob powder and dates, in batches, until it is all fully combined. Mix it well.

6. Roll out your chocolate layer super thinly between two pieces of parchment paper, even thinner than your cashew base, as there is less chocolate mixture than cashew mixture. Try rolling it so that it is the same shape as your cashew base, or as close as you can manage.

7. Take your top chocolate layer and lay it on top of your cashew base, put parchment paper on top, and roll it out, so that the chocolate and cashew layers stick together.

8. Using a pizza cutter, cut your bars into the shape and size that you like them. I actually cut these a little too big- next time I will cut them even smaller.

9. Store the bars with parchment paper in between them, in the freezer or fridge until you eat them.

Enjoy!

Ever have toffee bars before, either the "real" kind or the paleo version? Any idea why they're actually called toffee bars? Does this look like a recipe you'll be trying out?
What would you name this recipe? Do you think toffee bars is the right name?