Learn how to make date paste. This easy date paste recipe is the perfect whole foods sweetener to replace honey and sugar in recipes. While I use whole dates in many of my recipes, I am beginning to adapt them to use date paste because it makes the process of baking so much faster!
Contents
What is Date Paste?
Date paste is sweetener made from dates and water. It is perfect to use in place of honey. It isn’t as sweet, and it packs in fiber and extra nutrients that most sweeteners lack.
Often, I use whole dates for my baked goods. When I bake with dates, I add dates to a blender along with other wet ingredients, and blend until smooth. This method works great, but it means bringing out the blender every time you make a batch of cookies or muffins.
I prefer not to sweeten my beverages, with the exception of really enjoying date sweetened drinks. The taste is lighter and less sweet, and of course, with a caramelly flavor that complements coffee and chocolate so well.
Uses for Date Paste
Date paste is similar in texture to honey, but isn’t as sweet. When I use date paste in recipes, I tend to use more than I would if I were sweetening something with honey or date syrup.
If you have a child like mine who wants sweet foods all the time, and shuns all savory foods, coming up with tricks to work more nutrients into foods is so important.
While the calories and sugar content of baked goods made with honey and baked goods made with date paste are very similar, date paste adds fiber. polyphenols (an antioxidant), and potassium.
Replacing regular baked goods with those made with healthier flours and sweeteners is a good step towards eating a cleaner diet, and I also find that treats made with whole foods are more satiating, meaning I don’t usually overeat them.
Recipes that use Dates as a Sweetener
I have many recipes on Sunkissed Kitchen that use dates as a sweetener. I am working on adding directions to substitute date paste for the whole dates — so stay tuned, and bookmark or PIN any of these you’d like to come back to later!
- Gluten Free Date Bars
- Double Chocolate Muffins
- Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee
- Banana Raspberry Bread with Dark Chocolate Chips
- Healthy Chocolate Frosting
- Chocolate Chia Pudding Breakfast Bowls
- Chocolate Quinoa Cake
- Gluten Free Gingerbread Loaf
- Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Topping
Date Paste
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dates pitted
- 1 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Soak pitted dates in hot water for 5 minutes.
- Add the dates and the soaking water to a high speed blender or quality food processor.
- Process for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. This takes a while, so just keep letting it process until there are no visible pieces of skin, and the color lightens to a caramelly color.
- Store refrigerated for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
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Did you come up with a substitution for using date paste instead of dates?
I’d like to know this too.
Fantastic use of a pack of dates, so worth it so smoothies alone!