Date Paste - A natural sweetener

Date paste is one of the healthiest and most economical sweeteners you can make at home. Plus it is so easy and quick to make.

Makes about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS
450g pitted dates
3/4 cup water
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Pack your pitted dates real tight in a glass jar.
• Pour the water over the dates, cover and let soak overnight.
• After the dates have soaked, transfer the entire content of the jar, including the water, to the bowl of your thermomix or food processor.
• Add vanilla extract and salt and process for 5 - 8 minutes or until really smooth and creamy.
• Transfer back to the glass jar and place in the fridge where it will keep for about 3 months.

What foods can I use Date Paste in?

Any liquid sweetener (honey, agave nectar, maple syrup) in most recipes can be replaced with date paste. I have used date paste in pretty much everything.

How much date paste should I add to my recipes?
If you are making baked goods I would replace the liquid sweetener (ie honey, maple syrup) with exactly the same amount of date syrup as it may alter the consistency if you change the quantity of wet ingredients. However for other recipes you might be able to experiment with the quantity a bit more. For smoothies and recipes where it’s easy to adjust the amounts I would just add the date paste to taste. The date paste is watered down with water so it may not be quite as sweet as other sweeteners, so you might need to add more if you want it a bit sweeter.


Nutritional snapshot:
Dates contain loads of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron and magnesium and are great for constipation and weight loss.

Chocolate Chunk Biscuits GF

These are really good and easy to whip up.  If you wanted them to be nut free just use 1 cup on sunflower seed butter.  We made our own almond butter using raw almonds and blending in the Thermomix.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter 
1/2 cup Almond butter
⅓ cup raw honey
1 egg, whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 to 1 cup Chocolate chunks (use a dark chocolate bar roughly cut up or dark chocolate chips)

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 180 C
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out a dollop of cookie mix and pour onto baking sheet. Space out so cookies do not form together when they bake.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, be careful not to overcook these.
Put on cooler rack.
Enjoy!

These last well in an airtight jar. They were still great day 3.