Salted “Caramel” Date And Almond-Butter Dip
 
 
First, let’s be real: This dip, while creamy and sweet and a delicious dip for apples, pales in comparison to real caramel; you certainly won’t be fooling anyone. However, as a more healthful alternative to the sugar-laden caramel dips that you’ll find next to the apples at most produce stands these days, it totally works!

The star ingredient in this dip is dates, which not only lend a caramel-like sweetness to the dip, but also provide fiber and other nutrients (iron, potassium, B vitamins). (If you love dates, I think you’ll really love this dip.) When you purée the dates and combine them with nut butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt, some sort of magic happens, and the end result is greater than the sum of its parts. Apples, of course, are our preferred “dippers” here, but I think pears and bananas would be great too.


Yield: about 2 cups

VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE
Author:
Ingredients
  • -- 9 oz. pitted Medjool or Deglet Noor dates (about 1¾ cups, lightly packed) *
  • -- 2 cups boiling water
  • -- ¼ cup almond butter (or other nut butter), preferably unsweetened **
  • -- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • -- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • -- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
  • -- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more (or less) to taste
Instructions
  1. Place the dates in a large bowl, and pour the boiling water over the dates. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dates soak for 15 to 60 minutes: Softer Medjool dates will need only about 15 minutes to soak; drier Deglet Noor dates will need about an hour to soak.
  2. Drain the dates, reserving the soaking water. Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved soaking water. Process until a smooth paste forms; it should have the texture and consistency of apple butter or fluffy peanut butter. If the date paste seems too chunky or not smooth enough, add more of the soaking water, a teaspoon at a time, until it is smooth. (Each time I’ve tested this recipe, regardless of the type of dates I used, I’ve needed 2 tablespoons total of the soaking water to get a smooth paste.)
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients—almond butter, lemon juice, vanilla, maple syrup, and salt—and process until thoroughly combined and smooth. (If you’d like a thinner consistency to pour or drizzle over fruit, add additional soaking water, a teaspoon at a time, and process until desired consistency is reached.)
  4. Scrape into a bowl, sprinkle with additional sea salt if desired, and serve with apples and/or other fruit for dipping. If not serving the dip right away, store it in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to a week. (Personally, I think this dip tastes even better the next day, after the flavors have had some time to meld overnight in the fridge.)
Notes
* I’ve tested this recipe with Medjool dates and Deglet Noor dates, and both work well, so use whichever you prefer, or whichever is easier to find. Deglet Noor dates are smaller, drier, and chewier than Medjool dates; you’ll need about 30 Deglet Noor dates to equal 9 oz./1¾ cups. Medjool dates are larger and softer (so they tend to purée a little more easily) and arguably a little sweeter (with more of a caramel-like flavor) than Deglet Noor dates; you’ll need only about 14 to 16 Medjool dates to equal 9 oz./1¾ cups.

** Creamy, dry-roasted, unsweetened almond butter is the only nut butter I’ve tested in this recipe. (My favorite almond butter is MaraNatha Creamy Roasted Almond Butter, which contains just 1 ingredient: dry-roasted almonds.) However, I imagine that other nut butters—cashew butter, even peanut butter—would work just fine in this recipe. I’d recommend using an unsweetened nut butter though, as the dates already provide plenty of sweetness. Also, if you’re using a salted nut butter, then you might not need to add as much salt to the dip; start with less, then taste and add more if needed.


Recipe adapted from Real Sweet: More Than 80 Crave-Worthy Treats Made with Natural Sugars by Shauna Sever.
Recipe by Wholesome Family Kitchen at https://www.wholesomefamilykitchen.com/recipe-3-healthful-kid-friendly-snacks-featuring-apples/