Date Caramel

You won’t believe how easy it is to make date caramel at home. You only need four ingredients and a few minutes to make the tastiest homemade date caramel! It’s the perfect healthier caramel sauce alternative.

If you need a healthier alternative to traditional caramel dip, you need to try making date caramel! Not only is it much easier to make than traditional caramel, but clean-up is a breeze, making it a great addition to any dessert, yogurt bowl, smoothie, or on its own as a caramel dipping sauce.

 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• With a high-powered blender (like my Vitamix), it takes a few minutes to make this date caramel. Throw all the ingredients into the blender, and you’ll have a healthier caramel in no time.
• You only need 4 ingredients, simple as that.
• While I love dipping my apple slices into a caramel dip, this date caramel is much more versatile. You can use it as a sweetener for a smoothie, oatmeal, yogurt bowl, protein shakes, and more! You can even spread it on waffles, pancakes, toast, or use it in energy balls.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• dates — I’m using pitted medjool dates. I love using dates as a white sugar substitute as they are rich in natural sugars, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals, such as potassium (source)! I prefer to buy the pitted version as it’s more convenient, but you can buy regular medjool dates and remove the pits yourself. The dates should be plump and soft.
• salt — a pinch of kosher salt to bring the flavors together. If you want to turn this into a salted date caramel, feel free to add more salt.
• vanilla extract — a bit of vanilla extract to add more flavor and sweetness.
• milk — you can use regular whole milk but if you want this to be plant-based, swap it for almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, or your favorite milk alternative.

How to Make Date Caramel

• To a blender, add the dates, salt, vanilla, and ¾ of the milk. Blend until smooth. Add additional milk, one tablespoon at a time, to thin out the caramel if desired.
• Use immediately or store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• If you add too much milk and the caramel is too runny, simply add a couple more dates.
• If you’re in a cozy autumnal vibe, you can add a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or apple pie spice to the caramel, along with the salt.
• If your dates have dried a bit, you can make them soft by soaking them in hot water for 10-20 minutes. Drain before using. Soft dates will blend much more smoothly.
• I use a Vitamix, but you can also use a very high-powered food processor.
• As date caramel is not exactly the same as traditional caramel, I would avoid baking it with it and instead drizzle it over baked goods.
• Try it on my homemade banana snickers bites!

Make Ahead Tips

• Meal prep: store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
• Freezer: you can freeze the date caramel for up to three months. Make sure you leave some space in the container, as the caramel will expand as it freezes. You can also freeze them in an ice cube tray so you can thaw the caramel as needed.

More Kitchen Staples To Make

• Homemade Applesauce
• Homemade Pumpkin Puree
• Homemade Plum Puree
• Homemade Brown Sugar Syrup

Other places to connect with me
@carmyshungry on Instagram
Facebook
Shop my Amazon faves
Email: [email protected]