Homemade Dairy-Free Macadamia Nut Caramel
This recipe was born of a sugar craving….
The only thing sweet that I had in the house was coconut sugar….and I had been contemplating eating it right out of the can with a spoon. I mustered up some self-control and decided that I had to mix it with something and save myself some dignity. I wanted caramel. Bad! The macadamias in the fridge came to mind so into the Vitamix they went and macadamia nut caramel was born. Oh sweet victory!
Homemade Dairy-Free Macadamia Nut Caramel
All you need is 4 ingredients and just a few minutes and then you'll have a tasty, healthy snack. Perfect for apples and any other of your favorite fruits.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw macadamia nuts
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1-2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- In a high-powered blender, blend until creamy.
- Serve with apple slices, or shamelessly eat with a spoon while standing in the kitchen (not that I did that!).
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Bonus: this caramel is actually pretty good for you! Macadamia nuts contain the lowest percentage of omega-6 fats (which we need, but already get WAY too much of in our modern diets). According to Mark Sisson:
“[Omega-6] is easily oxidized, highly unstable for cooking, usually rancid on the shelf, and, thanks to government farm subsidies and public hysteria over animal fat, it’s in absolutely everything nowadays”
Here is a comparison:
Omega-6 Content Various Nuts (1/4 cup)
- Walnuts – 9.5 g
- Almonds – 4.36 g
- Cashews – 2.6 g
- Macadamias – 0.5 g
- Brazil nuts – 7.2 g
- Hazelnuts – 2.7 g
- Pistachio – 4.1 g
- Pine nuts – 11.6 g
- Pecans – 5.8 g
So, I feel pretty good about eating macadamia nuts when compared to other nuts. Now this does not mean that you can eat huge amounts of nuts, they still pack a pretty heavy caloric punch and you can easily meet your recommended daily caloric intake prematurely in the day if you snack on nuts continuously!
Now for the coconut sugar, thats healthy too! It’s lower on the glycemic index scale (doesn’t spike the old blood sugar as fast as other sweeteners) and it also contains some vitamins and minerals.
Here comes another comparison:
Glycemic index of sweeteners: (note that I do NOT advocate eating agave because it is also low on the scale….but that’s a whole blog post in itself!)
- Stevia 0
- Xylitol 7
- Agave 15-30
- Brown Rice Syrup 25
- Coconut Sugar/Nectar 30
- Raw Honey 35-58
- Sucanat 43
- Organic Sugar 47
- Maple Syrup 54
- Blackstrap Molasses 54
- Evaporated Cane Juice 55
- Raw Sugar (Turbinado) 65
- Corn Syrup 75
- White Sugar 80
- High Fructose Corn Syrup 87
- Glucose 100
- (source)
Sea salt contains tons of natural minerals if you buy the right kind. Do not use table salt! It is highly processed and stripped of its natural mineral content. We use this brand. If you are curious, I found this awesome breakdown of the nutritional content of natural sea salt. Put it in everything you eat, please!!!
I think this pretty much justifies my indulgence. I hope you enjoy it too!
CLICK HERE to Pin this Recipe
Hi, my name is Kate.
I love food. Real food. We eat all of the things that nursing school taught me were bad for you: butter, eggs, bacon, and raw milk.
I am a Nurse, a Mom, and a Real Food loving blogger. Just trying to save the world.
This sounds lovely 🙂
I am super excited to try this! Thanks for sharing your ideas with us. I have been making your elderberry syrup for my family… so far no sickness! Just wanted to thank you for your healthy insight and ideas. I may not comment all the time, but I appreciate this blog so much!
Thank you Melissa!!! That makes me feel soooooo good! I don’t always know if people appreciate my recipes 🙂
this recipe sounds sooo amazing!!! I’ve been making a ‘cooked’ caramel with coconut milk, and while it is good, if not used right away, it goes bad in the fridge. Plus it requires some cooking time and a pot to wash. Your caramel recipe should have a long shelf life in the fridge, so that it will be available for use in small quantities at a time. And so easy to make! I am so excited to try this!!
I just came across this recipe on Pinterest and literally stood right up, got the ingredients together, and had it made within 20 minutes of reading it. I had some with a banana right away. AMAZING recipe that I'm sure I will make again and again.
Glad you liked it Molly. I have eaten it with a spoon before, ran out of apples and could not stop myself. Yum! 🙂
I’m not sire if it was because I made a half batch but it didn’t work at all for me :/
Really? Mine works every time. Did you get all of the measurements right?
I did 🙂 and made it in the vita mix. The only thing I can think of was because it was a half batch there wasn’t enough there to get it going …..as soon as I turned the speed up it all stuck to the sides ….after 15 min and scraping the sides down every min I gave up and we ate it as is. Yummy ! But not smooth Carmel 🙂 the kids loved it on banana . I’m going to try it tonight with Brazil nuts .
love this idea! do you think this would "harden" if cooled…like on a regular caramel apple? definitely will be making this!! 🙂
It makes a great dip for apples, but I don’t think it is sticky enough to make an actual caramel covered apple. But, if you get it to work, let me know!