While our first shipment of MIA bars hasn’t arrived in the UK just yet, we just couldn’t miss out on all the fun that came with Chocolate Week.  So to get in the spirit, we managed to get a few MIA bars sent from Madagascar to Elisa at Happy Skin Kitchen so she could create something special for the celebrations last week.  For those who saw the picture of her delicious delights on instagram, here’s the full recipe. 

MIA Pumpkin Caramel Snickers

By Elisa Rossi from www.happyskinkitchen.com @happyskinkitchen

Autumn is definitely upon us and there is nothing that gets me more excited than pumpkin! It’s probably one of my favourite vegetables as I love how it can be easily used in savoury and sweet dishes. This is one of my favourite ways of using them. The peanut butter pumpkin caramel is just to die for! These pumpkin snickers are just the perfect treats to keep in the freezer for when a sugar craving strikes. They have a nutty and gooey base, super caramel middle layer and a crunchy chocolate coating which I made using MIA 70% dark chocolate.

Ingredients (Makes about 8-10 bars):

For the base:

2 cups of ground almonds

3 tablespoons of almond butter

1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil

6 tablespoons of maple syrup or agave nectar

For the pumpkin caramel:

1/2 cup of maple syrup

1/3 cup of runny peanut butter (almond butter will work as well)

2 tablespoon of coconut oil

3 tablespoons unsweetened pumpkin or butternut squash puree

1 to 2 teaspoon of mixed spices (depending how much flavour you want to add to the caramel)

A pinch of sea salt

For the Chocolate coating

2 bars of Mia dark chocolate – melted

¼ cup of roughly chopped pecans

Method

Line a brownie tin with some parchment paper

For the base, simply mix all the ingredients into a bowl until you have a sticky kind of cookie dough consistency. Transfer the dough to the tin and with your fingers press it down and spread it across the tin as evenly as you can. Place the tin in the freezer while you are making the pumpkin caramel.

For the Pumpkin Caramel, in a small pan whisk together the maple syrup, peanut butter, coconut oil, pumpkin puree, mixed spices, and sea salt over medium-low heat until completely smooth and silky. About 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

Next pour the caramel on top the base and shake the tin around to make sure it gets evenly spread. Place the tin back in the freezer to set for at least 1 hour.

Remove the tin from the freezer and slice it into bites. With a fork dip them into the melted chocolate and sprinkle on top of the chopped pecans. Place the bars into a tray covered with baking paper. Place them back into the freezer to set for around ½ hour.

Any leftover can be stored in the freezer.