Date Butter

So, not too long ago, I came across a "healthy junk food" round-up on First We Feast. One of the recipes that caught my eye was the "salted caramel". I was extremely dubious that dates could be made to taste like caramel, but it apparently tested well, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I'll be honest: it doesn't taste like caramel. It is, however, delicious! I am definitely keeping this recipe for future reference! I would probably make a smaller batch in the future though. I feel like it kind of lost something after being in the fridge. But I was eating it by the spoonful fresh! Seriously, this stuff is delicious!

Here's what I'd do next time:

Date Butter
1 c. pitted dates
2 Tbsp. almond butter (or a bit more, it really does add a lovely richness!)
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds only (pod can be used to make "vanilla sugar")

I soaked my dates in warm water to speed the process along. After an hour or two they seemed like they'd plumped up nicely, so I drained them and got started.

There don't really seem to be a lot of other ingredients relative to the dates; can 1/4 cup of nut butter really be enough for 2 cups of dates? Well, as I said, I might experiment with going slightly heavier on the almond butter next time, but that amount really did seem to be enough! It lends a nice, buttery richness to the whole thing. Beautiful!

When I made it, seeds from one vanilla bean went into twice the amount of dates. And that was really delicious. However, I found the vanilla flavour to be pretty subtle, so I think I'd like to try doubling down on the vanilla next time to make it really come through.

Seriously though, if you've got a sweet tooth or you're looking for a healthy(ish) snack to pack in someone's lunchbox or you just love dates... give this a try! It is very good!