It’s almost the end of the Whole30/Paleo month and I did pretty well – not perfect – but not too bad. Feeling proud of myself, I thought I’d explore a Paleo dessert (as I am human after all).
Paleo “allowances” are a bit easier to work with than Whole30, using almond flour instead of wheat flour and substituting milk for coconut milk. These substitutions felt doable to me and I had the ingredients in my cupboard so I hit my kitchen to experiment.
I decided to make Millionaire’s Shortbread as I have always enjoyed this dessert in the non-diet version. If you’ve never had the pleasure, imagine these bars sort of like a homemade Twix Bar – shortbread on the bottom, a layer of caramel, and then a layer of chocolate. Could this be just as good with the Paleo version? Well, I made this twice, tweaking it the second time, getting it as close to perfect as possible. The shortbread layer was good as is, however, it took me a few different tries to find the right “caramel”. I say “caramel” as the Paleo versions do not include traditional sugar or dairy so technically, they are just gooey ingredients mixed all together but I came up with one I liked more than another and from there, the bars were topped with chocolate, which can never lead you wrong.
Paleo Millionaire’s Shortbread

Total Time: 1 Hour
Makes: 8 Thin Slices
SHORTBREAD
- 1 ½ CUPS ALMOND FLOUR
- 3 TBS COCONUT OIL, MELTED IF USING SOLID TYPE
- 2 TBS RAW HONEY OR MAPLE SYRUP
CARAMEL LAYER
- ¼ CUP COCONUT SUGAR
- ½ CAN (APPROX.. 7 OZ) COCONUT “CREAM”, FULL FAT
- ¼ TSP SEA SALT
- ½ TSP VANILLA
CHOCOLATE LAYER
- 5 OZ. DARK CHOCOLATE (AT LEAST 50% COCOA, WITH 70% OR HIGHER PREFERRED)
- SPLASH OF COCONUT OIL
Directions

Notes
If you don’t have coconut oil: for the shortbread base, lard will work as it is actually Paleo approved, and for the chocolate layer, a splash of non-dairy milk will work. You’ll want to do a tad of research about which non-dairy milk substitutions are best, as soy, rice, and oat milk are not Paleo whereas almond, cashew, and hemp all are.
The original “caramel” layer I made involved almond butter and more coconut oil but I found it made the overall dessert taste too much like coconut oil since it was then being used prominently in all 3 layers. If you don’t mind the taste of coconut oil and want to cut down on the time it takes to make the caramel layer, simply mix ½ cup nut butter, 3 TBS coconut oil, and 1/3 cup raw honey or maple syrup. Mix together and pour onto a shortbread layer. Still allow for freeze time but this method cuts down total time to only about 30 minutes.